Meet the Mastermind Behind the M3GAN Dance

We’re only a few weeks into 2023, but this year has already gifted us an instantly iconic horror girlie. I’m talking, of course, about M3GAN, the AI-powered killer doll at the center of Universal’s wildly successful film of the same name about a robotics engineer who creates an android companion for her orphaned niece. 

As soon as the first M3GAN trailer dropped last October, she instantly became the gay internet’s latest obsession. And how could she not? With her merciless one-liners, penchant for pop remixes, and runway-inspired look, I’ll be crushed if M3GAN doesn’t inspire a thousand Halloween costumes and drag looks.

But it was M3GAN’s dance moves that instantly launched her to social media stardom on TikTok and beyond. During a particularly memorable moment from the film’s trailer, she zeroes in on her victim, a conceited toy company CEO played by Ronny Chieng. Before going in for the kill, she launches into a mesmerizing dance complete with twirls, a wall pose, and even an aerial cartwheel. The heavily memed routine quickly blew up on TikTok, where the hashtag #m3gandance has over 253.5 million views as of this writing. 

Where did this dance come from? It’s hard to imagine M3GAN without it, but it turns out the dance was a late addition to the film, included at the suggestion of director Gerard Johnstone. And it was New Zealand-based dance teacher and choreographer Kylie Norris who crafted M3GAN’s iconic moves, performed to perfection by her student, 12-year-old actress Amie Donald, who plays the doll in live-action.

“I think it all started because Amie and her mum were asked where Amie learned her skills,” Norris, who runs Norris Studios with her mother Carolyn, tells Them. ��And they mentioned that they had trained solely with myself and my faculty at my dance studio.”

Prior to filming M3GAN, Norris had taught Donald for years. In 2019, Norris accompanied a then-9-year-old Donald to the Dance World Cup in Portugal, where she took home a silver and a bronze medal, becoming the first New Zealander to ever do so.

Donald’s gift for movement is on full display throughout M3GAN, and not just in the memorable trailer moment. The decorated young dancer perfectly captures the poise and precision of her robotic counterpart. With the voice of 18-year-old actress Jenna Davis layered on top of Donald’s mechanical gestures, the effect is uncanny, bringing the doll to eerie life.

But the inclusion of the dance scene gave Donald and her teacher the opportunity to truly showcase their talents. During production, when director Gerard Johnstone decided to incorporate M3GAN’s dance into the movie, he briefly met with Norris and movement coach Jed Brophy to outline his vision for the now-legendary scene. From there, Norris and her longtime student were given plenty of freedom to bring the doll’s moves to life.

“A couple of weeks later, Amie came into the studio — in costume! — and we got to work,” Norris says. “It was incredibly natural and organic creating the choreography with Amie as we know each other so well. I went with my gut instinct and thought, ‘If Gerard hates this, he won’t use it!’ When it comes to choreography, I just do me.”

Donald and Norris’ close collaboration was especially useful because Donald had a limited view on set. As M3GAN, she donned a prosthetic face with tiny eye holes, which made it easier to recreate her face using CGI, but harder to see exactly where she was moving. Luckily, Donald was so familiar with the choreography that she pulled off the flawless doll dance seen in the movie, including the breathtaking aerial.

When it comes to the dance’s meteoric social media rise, Norris is still taking it all in.

“I see memes and edits pop up all the time. I’m just genuinely surprised by how much this one has gone viral,” Norris adds. “Love them all!”

M3GAN’s dance moves have already become so iconic that they became part of the film’s viral guerilla marketing campaign. First, an entire dance troupe worth of women sporting her signature blonde wig, pussy-bow-accentuated babydoll dress, and Mary Janes performed a dance routine at M3GAN’s Los Angeles premiere in December, swaying creepily to Taylor Swift’s “It’s Nice To Have A Friend.”

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But as the movie drew closer, more and more M3GAN cliques popped up around the country, spreading the killer doll’s agenda everywhere — and I mean everywhere. They’ve shown off their now-infamous dance moves on NFL football fields, the Empire State Building, an American Girl doll store, and the Today Show Plaza, to name just a few stops documented on the movie’s official Twitter account.

Although Norris hasn’t directly instructed any of these promotional M3GANs, she says she “love[s] seeing these performances influenced by the original choreography.”

In fact, at the time of our interview, Norris was still waiting to see M3GAN’s dance moves on the big screen in New Zealand. Regardless, she’s stoked for moviegoers to realize that a lot of real human talent — both her own and Donald’s — went into the robot’s unnerving dance moves.

“I think people will freak out seeing a doll moving in this way and realizing it’s not CGI,” she says.

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