For Kiel Tutin, it all comes back to girl groups. The in-demand celebrity choreographer—who has worked with everyone from Jennifer Lopez to Katy Perry and BLACKPINK—points to the early influences of British pop groups like the Spice Girls and Girls Aloud for helping him fall in love with pop music, image-making, and dance. And, in the years since, his work has taken him full circle, having received international renown for his work with BLACKPINK, including choreographing the K-Pop group’s record-breaking Coachella performance and winning a VMA for their “Pink Venom” music video.
While he has plenty more exciting projects lined up with other artists (including BLACKPINK member Jisoo’s upcoming solo project), Kiel has his sights set on expanding his repertoire and creative output, perhaps beyond choreographing for others.
In conversation with SO.GAY below, Kiel Tutin opens up about falling in love with pop music, the big breaks in his career, finding his footing in the K-Pop world and his future aspirations.
SG: Hi, Kiel! Where in the world are you right now? Tell us what you’re up to right now.
KT: I’m currently in LA, and I’m here for maybe another week or so before I go back to the UK for Christmas. We’re in a big rehearsal week, workshopping choreography for, like, six songs for someone special. So it’s a big, big week for me.

SG: Before we get into everything you’ve accomplished in your career, I want to go back to the beginning and just hear a little bit more about where your love of dance really came from, and maybe also about who the first people were that you saw in the media or on TV that helped inspire that passion?
KT: From the minute I was born, the Spice Girls really consumed my being. I think my first concert was the Spice Girls when I was, like, one or two years old. It was after Gerri had left, but I had everything. I had the dolls, I had the pencil cases, the camera. I think that really set the groundwork for my love of girl groups.
After the Spice Girls went their separate ways, there was a British girl group called Girls Aloud that really took over my whole life. My room was plastered in their posters, I went to all the concerts, I still have all the CDs and the dolls to this day. They were just electric. I always say that my love for dance comes from my love of music, and I think a group like Girls Aloud exposed me to so many styles of creativity, because they didn’t go by one formula. They were creative. They tried different genres, and they were just fun and exciting and explosive, which made me appreciate not just dance and music in their basic form, but the fun and the creativity that you can have with live performances. I think that was a big baseline setting up the girl group love, which then came into fruition when BLACKPINK erupted onto the scene. It was that same spark that I saw in those groups, and the world noticed it, which is why they’ve had the success that they have. So, that’s on the group side.
Then there’s definitely the icons that every little gay boy in the world was inspired by. Britney Spears is obviously a given. I don’t think I even need to comment on the influence that she’s had on so many queer creative people. I was actually on the way to the airport to choreograph for her Domination residency where I got the text message that it unfortunately had been canceled. So that was a dream that was just about to happen, but everything happens for a reason. Jennifer Lopez is another one that I was lucky enough to work with.

SG: What would you consider your first big break, or the thing that opened up the most opportunities for you towards the beginning of your career?
KT: There hasn’t been one big thing. It’s been a slow build, like a spider web, which is how this industry works. It’s very connection-based, and there are spurts like you’re in a pinball machine where each thing has opened me up into the next one. In the Western world, working with Jennifer Lopez was definitely the closest to what felt like a big break over here, because it exposed me to the whole US industry and kind of pivoted me to include this into my vision, because before that, I was kind of just in the Eastern world focusing on Asia.
SG: And part of that focus is working with BLACKPINK. Can you describe your working relationship and collaboration process with them?
KT: It started over 10 years ago when I met the girls in Korea when they were trainees at YG Entertainment, so we met on a very level playing field. They were these hard working trainees, and they were actually fans of me and my fellow dancers at the time, which was amazing looking back at it. We were teaching them and training them in dance and dance styles, and we were all kind of a similar age. We came back a year later, and the trainee group had gotten smaller, and it was just the four girls, and they were waiting to debut. So it was another kind of little check-in—a little to visit to see how they were doing. And then I didn’t see the girls for maybe four years. In that time period, they became global superstars, and then I was lucky enough to begin working and choreographing for them.
The way that the K-pop industry has included choreography into its creative process is they do a lot virtually. So, they might have a performance director based in Korea that receives these choreographic submissions from different choreographers and then kind of fuses them. So, there were a lot of projects where I would create my full choreography, I would virtually send it over to Korea, and then it was a waiting game to see what the final product looks like. I would see the girls at an award show, and I would see the girls at Coachella. So it was little tidbits along the way.
Finally, they were asked to headline Coachella, and the girls personally asked me to come and collate all of their ideas and enhance them into the Coachella set. The way that K-pop concerts are structured are very for the fans. The fans want to see a certain thing. The fans want to see the music and the choreography, kind of as is advertised. So there’s not much you can stray from in terms of what you’ve already presented. So Coachella was a big opportunity for me to get creative within the scope of the BLACKPINK brand and make my version of what I would want to see, what the fans want to see and what they don’t. It was a really big moment for the Western world to see.

SG: What are some of the differences of working on a music video versus a big performance moment like Coachella? I feel like part of working on a music video like “Pink Venom” is helping to create such lasting images and choreography that are solidified in a music video medium. It’s almost more solidified, in a way, because that’s also the first visual package we get around a song.
KT: It’s definitely different. For music videos, you want to create something that’s going to live in perpetuity as a polished, well-thought-out product. But then also on the other side, being this creative cultural moment, which is similar to a live performance. But there are so many other factors that we have to consider, and sometimes I think that’s what I’ve learnt, and I’m still learning about my job, is that dance and choreography isn’t always the most important thing about a show. Sometimes that has to be sacrificed, for the artist, for the fan interaction, for the show.
SG: When you have a big moment like that—when a music video wins a VMA or a Coachella performance goes viral—do you start hearing from other artists or other groups that want to work with you and have a moment like that of their own or just because they love your work so much. Does that open up a bunch of opportunities?
KT: My work in the K-pop arena has definitely been spearheaded by my work with BLACKPINK, and not only because I’m never trying to replicate what I’m doing with BLACKPINK with other people, but also because of my ability to be a chameleon and customize things for other artists.

SG: What can you tell me about working with Jisoo specifically? Because obviously, when you’re breaking out of a girl group—and she’s already released some material—but there’s a lot of anticipation for moments like that and that must result in some added pressure. You’ve worked together before, but I’m also guessing that working with a solo artist versus a group is fairly different.
KT: In normal circumstances, working with a solo artist is quite different to working with a group. But I think in this particular instance, I’m lucky that we’ve built a level of trust already. I’ve now known Jisoo for over a decade, and I’ve been entrusted to create for her as part of the group.
Now I’m really appreciating that trust with not only the choreography, but also with the performance direction. I’m big on loyalty and being able to stay true and grow with an artist, which I think is really special as she embarks on this new endeavor and era, where she’s showing herself in a new artistic light. I’m really honored to be a part of that discussion and process. She’s lovely. We have the best time. She can speak and understand English a lot more than she makes out. So we always have a good time. She’s a hilarious human being. as well, which I think not a lot of people know about her.
In terms of the pressures of it, I’m now well-accustomed to the pressures within the K-pop industry, and I also hold myself to a really high standard. I’m a perfectionist. I like to provide and produce the best material for the artist, but that also drives me. The pressure drives me to do bigger, do better. It’s not just within K-pop, either; I think it’s a global thing. I was the same when I was a huge fan of Girls Aloud: I would be hanging onto every little tidbit that was released. There’s the Swifties and there’s the BeeHive…everyone is so deeply connected—especially now with social media—to their favorite artists, right? They want to see them do well. They want to see them celebrated so I can understand and appreciate the pressures.
I always like to bring it back to just the human element of it, because I think of myself in that situation. A lot more people are now speaking up about the pressures from fans and wanting to satisfy the fans’ desire for the music and content, but it’s just as important to remember that you can spread positivity wherever possible. Everyone’s going to have an opinion, but that’s why I love fanbases like the Swifties. There’s positivity that can be shared around for everyone, because at the end of the day, it’s just music, it’s just entertainment, and it can speak to larger themes of how we want to treat people.
SG: Looking forward to the future, you obviously have a lot of exciting things happening. But when you think about the future of your career, do you picture yourself continuing to go all-in on choreography. Do you want to broaden the scope of how you get involved with artists creatively? How are you envisioning that for yourself?
KT: I was always performing as a child. I came out of the womb singing and dancing. I said earlier that my love for dance always came from my love for music, and then kind of grew to encompass the performing sphere. I used to go to London to audition for the West End and all of these things before dance kind of took over—I really just fell into it and then it consumed my entire life—because I maybe had a natural talent in it and loved it. I was in a really successful global dance crew, and then I started transitioning into a career of it, and I was touring and teaching. It’s been project after project that I don’t think I’ve been able to step back and kind of reevaluate the path, which I’m incredibly blessed to have stayed busy on and somewhat thriving in for 10 years.
But now I’m really excited to zoom out, take a breath and just re-evaluate. I love going, going, going, but I think now it’s about making more intentful decisions about who I work with and what I work on, because I would love to expand into music and film and TV. It would also be quote, unquote, “easy” for me to direct a music video. I see creative briefs in my head when I listen to music. It’s an exciting thought for me to have that I want to do more things, and it’s just about bringing those into fruition.

SG: Let’s end with naming some of the artists that you’ve worked with so you can share a fun little memory or anecdote from working with them. Let’s start with J.Lo!
KT: I went to her maybe 50th birthday party in Miami. It was at Gloria Estefan’s house, and I could list and list and list the people that were there. I’ve been on a few private jets with J.Lo. We’ve had a blast together.
SG: Katy Perry.
KT: Katy Perry is so fun. Funny! I loved working on the new songs. When I first heard “Gorgeous” with Kim Petras, I was like, “Well, this is a banger.” Getting to hear all of the new songs as a lifelong Katy Perry fan was icing on the cake.
SG: Lorde.
KT: New Zealand’s homegrown sweetheart. I went to her first concert ever in an arena back in 2013, and she’s kind of been one of my musical idols, so getting to be on an island in New Zealand for four days filming the music video in the sun? I’ll remember that forever.
SG: Last one is BLACKPINK. What is something that we haven’t spoken about today that would be fun to share?
KT: Maybe just the fact that after all this time and the huge global superstars that they are, I will still always remember them as the 18-year-old girls that would bow and giggle when we would walk into the studio back in 2014. They’re just the same girls.
Check out more from our exclusive photo shoot with Kiel Tutin below, and follow him on his instagram, here!




