How Britney Spears Used Dance to Affirm Her Power and Speak to Fans

The New York Times

When Britney Spears testified at a hearing in Los Angeles Superior Court in June 2021, she revealed how her guardians rigorously ruled her life for 13 years, and called the arrangement “abusive.” But he also emphasized a way he always had to retain some control. She continued to dance.

Spears said she created “most of my choreography” when she was talking about rehearsals in 2018 for a season of shows in Las Vegas that would have been titled “Britney Domination” but ended up being cancelled. “By that, I mean I developed the choreography and personally taught it to my dancers.”

There are “tons of videos” of rehearsals for the show on the internet, she said, adding that “I wasn’t just good at it: I was great.”

It was a strong way of reminding those who listened to her of the confidence that Spears has always conveyed, on stage, throughout her entire career. Dancing, Spears maintained complete control of her body, which was otherwise the subject of constant scrutiny — over her virginity, her weight, her wardrobe. Through movement, she conjured up a world of her own making, in which she was in fact the boss.

With her expansive arm gestures, quick twirls and abdominal dexterity, Spears has always used dance to communicate her strength. Brian Friedman, the choreographer responsible for some of the most famous dance numbers in the singer’s career, pointed out that there was a noticeable shift in her approach to dancing after the conservatorship was put into effect in 2008.

“I think that was her way of showing that she was in control of something, because there were so many things that she had absolutely no control over,” Friedman said in a telephone interview. “So to be able to walk into the studio and say that I didn’t want to do this, I wanted to do that, and that she wanted to create her dance moves was something that gave her some form of power.”

When Spears announced an “indefinite hiatus” from her work in early 2019, she began posting videos on Instagram that showed her dancing. Most of the clips showed her twirling alone, in a loose and clearly improvised style, on the marble floor of her California home.

In the videos, she looks at the camera directly, and only looks away for pirouettes or occasionally tossing her hair. These aren’t the moves of an experienced stage performer or a pop star; it’s more experimental steps, as if she’s still looking for the right move, not trying to repeat a step to perfection.

Under the guardianship regime, Spears’ videos became a subject of debate and speculation. While some fans applauded them, others were annoyed by her lack of style and the stare she displayed. “Anyone else feel awkward or uncomfortable watching this?” one person asked in the comments of one of the videos in February.

For Spears, though, the point she had to make was simple: The goal was to “refind my love of dance again,” she wrote in a March post. In other messages, she said she danced like that for up to three hours a day, with her feet protected by bandages to prevent blisters.

For dancers and choreographers who have worked with Spears, her focus on dance on Instagram makes perfect sense. “In a period of her life when she didn’t have freedom, it gave her freedom,” Friedman said.

Sharing her impromptu dance sessions also allowed her to connect directly with fans. Brooke Lipton, who danced with Spears from 2001 to 2008, said in a telephone interview that “the dance told the world she needed help — not to mention it directly, because it was banned.”

If Spears is still capable of the occasional “fouettés,” pirouettes on one leg, it’s because she spent her life rehearsing in a dance studio. Lipton, Friedman and others say that the singer had a range and dedication similar to that of professional dancers, and that this was accompanied by an almost supernatural talent for learning choreography quickly.

“She grew up dancing,” said Tania Barton, who started dancing in malls with the budding star in 1998. “There are artists who dance in certain parts of a show. There are artists who move very naturally. And then there are people like Britney, who is really capable of dancing as well as the dancers who accompany her”.

Spears’ attention and care to the way she presents herself when in motion reveals that she understands her body the way a dancer does — as an artistic instrument. First-rate choreographers have created dance numbers for her, as well as other pop stars. The difference, Elizabeth Bergman, who researches commercial dance, said in a telephone interview, “is the way she performs the choreography.”

In the years before her tutelage, Spears carefully chose the choreographers she worked with. Valerie Moise, aka Raistalla, who worked with Spears on shows and videos in 2008 and 2009, points out that these collaborations contributed to the enduring popularity of jazz funk, known for its intricate, precise moves.

“That style is practically a culture for her,” Moise said in a phone interview. “Accentuates the way she wants to express herself.” And Spears did more than simply carry on the tradition of other pop artists who were known as good dancers before her.

“Of course we had Madonna, Michael and Janet, and they were fantastic,” Lipton said. “But dance was evolving at a time when Wade and Brian were expanding expectations of what dancers can do,” she said, mentioning Wade Robson and Friedman, two of the choreographers Spears collaborated with most frequently. Their dance numbers were faster than the previous generation, with more movement and action per bar. “All the bars were being taken,” Lipton said.

When learning choreography created by others, Spears used to express her opinion when a step didn’t feel comfortable for her body, and from time to time she suggested movements of her own. “She was the boss, completely,” Baron said of Spears early in her career. “I don’t mean that in a negative way. But if I didn’t like something, I made it very clear.”

From an early age, Spears recognized that dance is a medium in which it is not possible to defraud presence or artistic talent. “When you dance, you don’t just take a step; you have to feel it,” she said at age 12, when she was the star of The Mickey Mouse Club.

Randy Connor, who choreographed Spears’ dance in the classic video for “… Baby One More Time,” said he believed her ability to convey feelings with and through her body was an important part of her early appeal as a star. “That resonated strongly with a lot of people, because she moved with such conviction,” he said in a telephone interview.

Emerging in an industry known for artifice, Spears used dance as a form of transparency with fans. Everyone knows that there is no way to dub a dance move.

“That’s how she really communicated as an artist,” Friedman said. Even before Spears’ tutelage began, he added, “she couldn’t really say everything she thought, in public, in interviews. But when she danced, she didn’t hide anything.”

Spears’ songs have become coming-of-age or identity-affirming anthems for others, and learning her dance moves has helped fans explore aspects of her identity with the same boldness she projected with her body. Mimicking her performances allowed them to “feel the spirit of Britney”, as Jack says in an episode of “Will & Grace”, after he shrugs his shoulders and punches the air like she does in the choreography of “Oops!…I Did”. It Again”.

Lipton emphasizes that Spears chose dance steps that allowed anyone watching to follow along.

“She did the choreography but with a little less,” Lipton said. “At a time when we were all turning and manoeuvring, she would just smile and point her fingers in our direction, before stepping back into step with us. It wasn’t something impossible to reproduce.”

If Spears and her fans embraced the force of her movement, many critics went in the opposite direction, and often described her dancing as a gimmick used to make up for a lack of vocal talent. Other young pop stars like Jessica Simpson and Avril Lavigne bragged about not dancing, as if it made them more authentic performers.

In 2002, the Associated Press identified a crop of “anti-Britneys” who allegedly challenged the idea that “you have to roll around in tight clothes to be sexy and successful in pop music.”

Friedman says Spears’ dancing was her art, not a way to industrialize sex appeal. “As Britney’s choreographer for many years, I never developed moves to satisfy anyone else. The goal was always to make her feel empowered in her body.”

In “Britney: For the Record”, a documentary filmed in 2008, in the early days of the guardianship, Spears speaks as if she was already aware of how important dancing would become to her, after being subjected to the control of others.

“Dancing is a huge part of me and who I am. It’s something my spirit just needs to do,” she says. “Without the dance, I would die.”

When defending the end of the guardianship, 13 years later, she identified as one of her moments of rupture a specific occasion when she was denied the right to control her body. Spears stated that at a dance rehearsal in early 2019, when she said she wanted to change a step in the choreography, she was told she wasn’t cooperating.

She voiced her response firmly in court: “I have the right to say no to a dance step.”