Maddie Says Shia "Wasn't That Bad At Dancing"

For the past 24 hours, my flesh has been covered in an aggressive layer of goosebumps. The reason: the music video for Sia’s “Elastic Heart”, the stunning followup to the phenomenal "Chandelier" video. In the new vid, Maddie Ziegler (aka the "Chandelier” avatar/Dance Moms star/recipient of an enormous balloon bouquet from Sia) and Shia LaBeouf (aka Louis Stevens/Transformers star/performance artist) dance-act their faces off. It's all things evocative and raw and I may get choked up every time I watch it? ANYWAY, in an interview with Cosmopolitan, Ziegler talks about her second project with Sia, what her post-“Chandelier” life has been like, and what it was like working with LaBeouf.

I could've read 4,000+ more words on Ziegler's experience working with LaBeouf.

The 12-year-old dance supernova tells Cosmo that when she found out she’d be shooting the video inside a giant birdcage opposite LaBeouf, she got to researchin':

I was like, "Wait, who's Shia?" So I looked up pictures of him and I was like, "Oh, okay, he's familiar." Then they were like, "He was in Even Stevens and the movie Holes and I was just freaking out. I was like, "Oh my god, I'm having a Disney moment here."

Oh, youths!

Initially, Ziegler was “confused” that non-danseur LaBeouf was cast in the video, but did say “he wasn’t that bad at dancing … I mean, it wasn’t full dancing for him and even for me it wasn’t full dancing.”

Even though it wasn’t “full dancing,” Ziegler calls shooting the video “definitely one of the most tiring things I’ve ever done in my life.” I mean, I feel physically drained every time I watch it, so I can only imagine. Actually, no. I can't imagine. It's too physically draining to even imagine. I have too weak a constitution for this sort of thing.

My favorite excerpt from the interview happens when Ziegler is asked if she and LaBeouf had a blast while shooting the video:

We had fun on set definitely, but when we got into it he got super serious. He was running around, he was punching the cage, and screaming and doing a lot of pushups. He just kept doing it and I was just standing there like, Uhh, does he always do this? I don't usually just see people screaming and getting into character, I was a little intimidated but I understood.

You'd think all those years of being subjected to the tantrums thrown by Abby Lee Miller and the Dance Moms would've prepared Ziegler for this. The lesson: Nothing can prepare you for LaBeouf slamming his fist into an enormous birdcage.

Oh, wait. I totally lied. My actual favorite excerpt from the interview happens when Ziegler is asked if she and LaBeouf have remained in contact:

He texted me today and told me, "Brilliant job on the video." And I was like, "Who is this?" I don't even know how he got my number! He's like, "Shia." And I felt bad. I was like, "Oops, didn't realize that."

So hilarious and adorable. Maddie Ziegler is a national treasure. May she and Queen Sia continue to make beautiful music videos together forever.

Images: vann-goghs-ear, realitytvgif/tumblr