From Pop Anthem to Ballet Stage: Elliott Wheeler on Orchestrating Elastic Hearts

When Sia’s Elastic Heart hits the airwaves, it’s a pulse of electronics, vocal firepower, and unapologetic emotion. Translating that into the lush, physical world of ballet was never going to be a simple cut-and-paste job. It required imagination, technical mastery, and an ear finely tuned to the heart of both pop and orchestral music.

That’s where Elliott Wheeler stepped in. An arranger, composer, and producer with roots stretching from jazz big bands to film scores, Wheeler took on the challenge of reimagining Sia’s music for Queensland Ballet’s new production - a full-length, 65-minute ballet scored entirely for orchestra and Sia’s unmistakable voice.

The journey from studio synths to soaring strings was equal parts adrenaline, problem-solving, and artistry.

The Orchestral Fight Club

When Wheeler steps out of a recording session, he doesn’t just feel tired - he feels like he’s been in a “glorious fight.”

“You’ve got the music itself, the people in the room, the orchestra, the time pressure of what you have to get,” he says. “You’re thinking through the mixing process at the same time. By the end, you walk out in a bit of a daze, but it’s very adrenalized. And it’s the best part of my job.”

For Elastic Hearts, that “fight” was fought with a 44-piece orchestra, each musician hand-making sounds that had once existed only in Wheeler’s head.

“There aren’t many jobs where 44 people work at the same moment to bring to life something you’ve thought about,” he says. “And if that something started in your tiny brain? Even better.”

From Jazz Charts to Ballet Scores

Wheeler’s path to this project was paved with a love for music in all its forms. Starting piano at five, trombone soon after, he immersed himself in classical and jazz worlds - arranging for big bands before heading into formal brass studies at the conservatorium.

A mentor, composer Peter Kaldor, introduced him to film scoring in the days when recording meant tape reels and mixing boards. Wheeler has since scored for film, TV, theatre, and now, for the first time, ballet.

The opportunity came via a friend on Queensland Ballet’s board, who connected him with choreographer Garry Stewart. The prospect was irresistible: take Sia’s globally loved songs and give them a second life through movement and orchestral colour.

“I’m a massive fan of Sia,” Wheeler says. “I’d produced some of her tracks before, but never like this. It was a chance to bring her music into a whole new world.”

Keeping the Voice, Changing the World Around It

At first, Wheeler planned to arrange Sia’s music purely for orchestra - no vocals. But something felt missing.

“What so many people respond to in Sia’s songs, apart from the incredible lyrics and unnerving knack for melody, is her voice. It’s a force of nature,” he explains.

He went back to Sia’s team, asking for access to isolated vocal recordings. They agreed, giving Wheeler a “tether” for his arrangements: a human anchor in the middle of orchestral waves.

From there, he began deconstructing the pop production. Sometimes, he’d take a barely noticeable detail, like a chopped vocal sample in Elastic Heart, and turn it into a central orchestral motif. In this case, it became a main cello line, driving the piece’s emotional arc.

The Choreographer’s Ear

The music didn’t develop in isolation. From the start, Wheeler and Stewart exchanged ideas about the ballet’s structure, pacing, and emotional flow. Stewart selected songs that spoke to him, and Wheeler shaped arrangements to serve the choreography.

Sometimes that meant rethinking his instincts. For Cheap Thrills, Wheeler delivered a bold, brassy score inspired by Bernard Herrmann’s 1960s film sound - but Stewart wasn’t feeling it. “Right,” Wheeler laughs. “Back to the drawing board.”

Other cues were shaped directly by stage action: a “Flying Through Space” section inspired by swings in the choreography; long, hypnotic rhythms for Stewart to “sink into” without constant melodic change.

The Pop-to-Orchestra Challenge

Pop songs are concise, often built on just a few musical ideas. In the ballet world, those same ideas might need to stretch to eight minutes. At first, Wheeler worried about running out of material - but the opposite happened.

“It was liberating,” he says. “You can take a small idea and build an entire landscape around it, letting the orchestra play to its strengths.”

One key decision was to keep sounds organic - no drum machines or synth pads. All the pop energy had to be translated into orchestral timbres. That meant thinking creatively about percussion, string articulations, and rhythmic layering to preserve the drive of the originals without breaking the classical frame.

The Cinematic Thread

Given Wheeler’s film background, it’s no surprise the score carries a cinematic sensibility. “You want to take people on a journey,” he says. “That’s what the best film music does, and Sia’s songs already have such an incredible emotional core. The melodies are so strong, they stand on their own when played by the orchestra.”

The score moves like a story: dynamic peaks, moments of stillness, emotional turning points. Even without dialogue or visuals, it invites the audience into a narrative arc - one shaped by Sia’s lyricism and Stewart’s choreography.

Favourite Moments

For pure joy, Wheeler points to Move Your Body as a “banger” likely to get audiences clapping along.

For emotional depth, Chandelier stands out: “It’s a happy pop song tinged with heartbreak and tragedy. Sia can sound like she’s crying, laughing, and singing all at once. That’s why it hits so hard.”

And for bold reinvention, Titanium - recast entirely for orchestra - is a personal highlight.

Bringing It Home

The ballet premieres on 6 November, at HoTA on the Gold Coast, now Wheeler’s home. That’s more than a geographical detail - it’s a personal milestone.

“To bring a world premiere of this scale to my community, with a world-class ballet company and orchestra, is thrilling,” he says. “My kids will be there. My friends will be there. It feels like the beginning of a new chapter.”

Advice for Young Composers

Wheeler’s guidance to aspiring musicians is practical: master your instrument early, play in as many ensembles as possible, and say yes to opportunities.

“Don’t treat anything like a demo,” he says. “Finish everything to the absolute best of your ability. At the start of your career, you have time and energy - pour it into building relationships and projects. Those connections can last decades.”

A New Way to Hear Sia

Ultimately, Wheeler hopes audiences leave feeling they’ve experienced Sia’s music anew - whether they know every lyric by heart or are hearing it for the first time.

“It’s about that thrill of so many people working at the top of their game to create something new, right here and now,” he says. “I think it’s going to be a really great show.”