While most people watched this year’s MTV Video Music Awards from their living rooms, a former ASU student took to the stage during the award show.

Nick Long, who was also a choreographer for ASU’s Hip-Hop Coalition, performed as a backup dancer in Rihanna’s live performance of “Disturbia” in Los Angeles on Sunday.

Long also performed with Rihanna at “Fashion Rocks,” a concert benefiting the nonprofit Stand Up to Cancer that airs Tuesday at 8 p.m. on KPHO (Channel 5).

“Dancing with Rihanna has been amazing considering she’s the No. 1 pop artist out there right now,” Long said. “It doesn’t get better than that.”

Long began his dancing career at ASU with the Hip-Hop Coalition in 2001, where he choreographed for 2 ½ years.

The Hip-Hop Coalition is a student organization that focuses on the use of dance to promote the culture of hip-hop in a positive light.

The group has performed at various charity and sporting events at ASU and throughout the Valley.

Long said that because everyone in the organization was so inviting, he was able to build up his dancing and performing abilities that eventually landed him a teaching job with the Hip-Hop Coalition.

“I used to be the quiet guy in the back of the class,” Long said.

“It’s amazing to walk into the classroom that you first started in, but this time as the teacher.”

Long said his favorite part about hip-hop dancing is being able to do something that he loves.

“Traveling to meet new people and being able to work with talented artists is amazing,” he said.

Interdisciplinary studies senior Jason Davidson has been a member of the Hip-Hop Coalition since 2004 and calls Nick’s choreography creative.

“Nick is always ahead of the game,” Davidson said. “His choreography is always innovative and it’s something you wouldn’t see anywhere else.”

Long said the inspiration behind his choreography actually comes from bad dancers.

“People who were trained in dance know the structure and rules behind it, but people who haven’t been trained break those rules,” Long said.

“It’s always interesting to watch people who don’t know how to dance because the movements that they come up with when they make mistakes give me ideas that I would never have thought to put into my choreography.”

Reach the reporter at allison.carlin@asu.edu.