Check Out Tobias Ellehammer’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tobias Ellehammer.

Hi Tobias, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My story begins when I was born and raised in Denmark. With creative and supportive parents I quickly found my way towards the arts after growing up with music by artists such as prince and sting frequently playing in the living room. Prince was always my favorite. Since a very early age the act of storytelling was always what fueled me and at first I expressed this in the form of drawing comics and writing books. Other creative activities presented itself & after loosely training breaking and primarily freestyle while learning to play the drums simultaneously, I discovered the JT-My Love music video. The choreography made my jaw drop and I immediately tried to piece together my own first segment of choreography. This video, song & of course legendary choreography by Marty Kudelka, all became what made me fall in love with choreography in the first place. I was 12 years old. My parents always took me to watch various plays in the theater and one day they took me to watch a Swedish dance group called Bounce during our 1 year of living in Stockholm. What they did in this show was so beyond inspiring and as much as the company specialized in street dances, some of what left the biggest impact on me was a stunning solo performance where one dancer managed to fuse ballet and breaking.
All these factors lead to my life long relationship with movement and before I knew it I was taking multiple dance classes a week—both choreography and freestyle based—while also teaching my own classes where I tested out my choreography at an age of 15.

I went all in, took a one year dance education back in Copenhagen called Danseuddannelsen and quickly started working immediately after. I toured with European artists, performed at award shows, musicals and multiple plays. Slowly I started contributing as well with choreography and I began assisiting choreographer Toniah Pedersen on multiple shows like xfactor dk. Suddenly, after getting convinced to fly to London and gamble on an audition, I found myself working and living in the UK.

I ended up spending 8 years in London where I purely worked as a dancer at first and then slowly began teaching and choreographing as well. I worked with names such as Kylie Minogue, Liam Payne, Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Jason Derulo, Tom Jones, Olly Murs and more. This was the time where I ultimately rediscovered my love for storytelling but on a deeper level—moving and connecting people—with bigger conceptual dance videos. I released and fully funded a series of world traveling dance videos—BURNITUP!, BlackOrWhite, Scream— that blew up and landed millions and millions of views. This catapulted my career and put a spotlight on my work. Before I knew it was travelling the world teaching internationally getting to connect with different communities in different countries I had never been to, I was choreographing for major K pop groups such as Super Junior and Jungkook, dancing and contributing choreography for Kylie Minoque and choreographing the Solo dance music video by Martin Jensen that landed nearly 80 million. views.

Ultimately I started to be too comfortable and my growth was on a standstill. I wanted to keep developing so I made the decision to move to Los Angeles. Looking back now 4 years in, this may be the best decision I ever made, however scary it may have felt at the time. Getting to work with Justin Timberlake and Marty Kudelka, the 2 people that made me pursue and fall in love with choreography in the first place was the ultimate full circle moment. Especially dancing next to Justin, performing the iconic my love choreography that started it all for me, at the Forget Tomorrow World Tour in my hometown Copenhagen, felt incredibly unreal. I got to both choreograph and dance for Justin. During these years I also found an even deeper love for teaching and mentoring and I launched my own dance company “ANOMALY” with a homebase at Millenium Dance Complex. I used to always think that the best way to make an impact and truly move someone to make them feel something, was via a big video or any piece of art—& as much as I still believe this can be achieved—I now believe the most powerful way to change someone’s life and make an impact is by shaping relationships and genuinely connecting as humans. I put my all into helping my dance company members to grow and accomplish their goals. We’re a family, unified by the passion to challenge ourselves and our craft while establishing an environment where we all feel safe enough to look and feel crazy. Like we can’t dance. This is incredibly important to me. It’s a mindset game—shifting from feeling defeat when we can’t immediately do something—and instead feel excitement when you discover the new movement pathways you can’t yet do. This means that we’re still growing and that’s the beauty. Learning to love just that. The process and the magic in how it never ends. Making mistakes because that’s how we learn and get better. Perfection is truly the death of greatness—& we push for greatness.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
There’s been tough times throughout my entire career. From juggling multiple injures in lower back and sprained ankles—taking you out for longer periods while you heal and rebuild. Thankfully now I’m much wiser than I was when I was younger and I’ve learned how much I need to do daily if I intend on moving painlessly. From the food I eat, to the many strengthening exercises, and the priority of sleep and recovery. Learning to take care of my body changed everything for me. Other struggles can be the uncertainty of not knowing when the next gig comes in, financial difficulties, starting over from scratch in a new country and having to learn and navigate everything again.. but toughest for me has always been being away from family and the people you love..and in that same breath—losing relations with friends from back home simply because of how different our life’s are and how tough it is to keep in touch with the time difference and just never seeing each other. Choosing this business does come with sacrifices and not a single step of the way is easy. You really have to love it deeply for it to be worth it. Speaking of loving it—I had moments where I fell out of love with dance and I had to remind myself what truly fulfilled me and which aspects of the industry made me happy. I believe it’s incredibly important to check in with yourself, especially in a business with so much judgement and rejections that can affect your self worth. Just remember, there’s no one like you. That’s your superpower. Comparison is the thief of joy. Listen to your heart and move towards the direction that makes you happy. We live in a day and age where you can take dance in so many directions. Choose the ones that fuel your fire.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
My intensives and in general any of my workshops and masterclasses and trainings with my dance company ANOMALY has a strong focus on exploration and curiosity for what seems impossible to do. Perfection is the death of greatness if you ask me and i translate that into all my classes when I teach. I encourage my students to make mistakes in order to help them to discover their boundaries and to push themselves beyond their limits. I never judge anyone for making any “mistakes” in my classes but like I always say, I may judge them for the mistakes they aren’t making. Creating a safe and supportive space to really train and push yourself to the limit without any judgment or the sometimes competitive toxic trait of dance industry classes has always been the goal. I teach my students to tackle the most difficult phrases and routines while also diving into several foundational drills, weight transfers and polyrhythmic exercises to ensure that everyone leaves with something even if not all of the routine sticks fully. To ensure that everyone leaves with valuable tools in their tool box to continually explore. However besides all of those elements what I really teach my students is the power of a strong mindset, something that comes with shifting your perspective to what it means to really do a good job taking class. Not just playing it safe and getting the steps right but pushing your boundaries and falling in love with the process of exploration, curiosity and discovery for new things you are yet to figure out. Making “mistakes” and feeling crazy, but identifying that feeling as a victory and a pathway to greatness and growth rather than to failure and judgement. Additionally during my intensives we have a no filming policy plus a deep dive individual feedback session where I deliver each student my constructive criticism to enhance their growth going forward.

This mindset also translates into my approach as a choreographer, dancer and artist overall and is noticeable in my work. I always love trying new things, and discovering new pathways or ways you can do things choreographically and performance based as well as with any type of storytelling I embark on. Always curious, never scared of the challenge. There’s truly no feeling that beats that moment of discovery when you finally figure out how to execute what you’ve been trying to solve. That feeling is my drive and always has been. I think this has lead to the reputation I have for making (some times) complex choreography and movement that stands out with its own easily identified unique voice. I’m proud of that. My all time favorite choreographers and storytellers all have unique voices that you can recognize immediately from miles away.

So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
I think to lead with love. It’s always been about the love. Dance to me is about the exchange, and truly is the one language we all speak. We all started doing this because we love it and because it’s fun. It’s easy to forget when it turns into a career but nevertheless, incredibly important to keep reminding yourself of. And then to stay curious of course. To hold yourself accountable on exploring new pathways and continually test boundaries allowing yourself to feel and look crazy. That perfection is the death of greatness and that it’s about the journey not the destination.. but most of all, that it’s about the people you meet along the way and the memories you create together.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tobiasellehammer?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/TobiasEllehammer?mibextid=LQQJ4d
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@tobiasellehammer?si=Gv_XF64CmGssPIZQ
• Other: https://www.instagram.com/anomalydancecompany?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

Image Credits
Jeremy Jackson