Tony Testa

Tony Testa
Born	Anthony Joseph Testa (1987-03-31) 31 March 1987 Fort Collins, Colorado, U.S.
Occupations	Choreographer, Filmmaker, Photographer, Mixed-media Artist
Years active	2005–present
Spouse	Stefania Spampinato ​ ​ (m. 2018; div. 2020)​
Website	www.tonytestaofficial.com

Tony Testa (born 31 March 1987) is an American choreographer, film-maker, photographer, educator and performer.¹²³⁴

Testa started dancing at age eight in his hometown of Fort Collins, Colorado at Westin Arts Academy & Artistic Fusion Dance Academy.⁵ His career as a choreographer began at 16 years old when he made a demo reel using his mother's video camera. The reel was seen by Janet Jackson, who hired him to be a choreographer for her promotional tour shortly after.⁶⁷⁸

After moving to LA in 2005,⁹ Testa choreographed for Britney Spears,¹⁰¹¹¹² Jennifer Lopez,¹³¹⁴ Versace,¹³ Ariana Grande,¹³ Demi Lovato,¹⁵ The Grammy's,¹³ and over 20 K-pop projects for SM Entertainment.¹⁶¹⁷¹⁸ He was hired by director and mentor Kenny Ortega¹⁹ as an associate choreographer for Michael Jackson's final tour, This Is It,¹⁰²⁰ and co-choreographer for Dancing With The Stars, The Rocky Horror Picture Show,²¹ and Descendants 2.²²

In 2010, he choreographed Kylie Minogue²³ in "All The Lovers", "Better Than Today" and "Get Outta My Way" music videos, and in 2011 was the associate director and choreographer for her Aphrodite: Les Folies Tour.²⁴ In November of that same year, Testa co-directed the opening of the American Music Awards with Wade Robson, and served as the Creative Director for both Season 1 of The Voice UK²⁵ and for One Direction on Saturday Night Live (Season 37, Episode 18).

His choreographies have been featured at the LACMA alongside Noah Purifoy's "Junk Data",¹³ and in shows directed by Franco Dragone.⁹ In 2021, he was on the cover of GASP ZINE: issue 10 "The People's Issue",²⁶ and his photography was shown at both GASP GALLERY and in Vanity Fair Magazine (Italy).²⁷

Testa is also a dance educator for the New York City Dance Alliance²⁸ and Monsters Dance²⁹ conventions.

In 2021, Testa & long time collaborator, Wade Robson, co-created an experimental short film featuring choreography performed by Testa. After its premiere on films.dance "DisInteGrated"³⁰³¹ was an official selection for 6 film festivals including Hollyshorts³² where it screened at the world famous Grauman's Chinese Theater. With an original musical score by the British jazz singer, Zara McFarlane,³³ DisInteGrated won best experimental film at the Los Angeles Movie Awards⁹ & was featured on Nowness.³⁴

In 2023 Testa and Keean Johnson, co-directed "Origin" starring Popin' Pete and Robert Green. The film was shot mainly underwater, where Testa called upon his freediving experience⁹ to make the picture. The performers trained for several days in a scuba diving training facility to prepare for shooting. Origin premiered live at the Monsters Dance finale in a warehouse in Brooklyn, NY (2023)³⁵ & was an official selection for the BronzeLens Film Festival in Atlanta, GA.³⁶

After apprenticing with Greek Theater Director, Dimitris Papaioannou,⁹ Testa's focused shifted away from commercial projects and towards creating original works. He converted his garage into a blackbox theatre and began prioritizing choreographic experiments with a camera.

In 2022 he assembled a group of 22 performers and created a deeply ambitious film & photographic series which premiered at a horse barn/hunting lodge³⁷ in his hometown of Fort Collins, CO.³⁸

“Human movement connects individuality to the power of the whole at every phase: in the studio, in the camera, in the performance space and in our collective awareness”, Testa says.

B1 was met with universal praise by ArtsMeme,³⁹ & LA Dance Chronicle.⁴⁰ "His use of props and technology was incredibly inventive and meshed well with his choreography, which combined tap, contemporary, hip-hop and, surprisingly, boxing. The piece felt cinematic and visceral, packed with energy", said Steven Vargas for the LA Times.⁴¹ His solo performances of "Human Remains", an excerpt of the B1 film, were performed live by Testa at Congress viii in Los Angeles, & at the TED 2025 flagship conference in British Columbia.⁴²

B1: Movement Through Images has since exhibited in Burbank, CA, Phoenix, AZ,⁴³ & Vancouver, B.C.