Ever since Destiny’s Child, Beyoncé has strung hit after hit. A perfectionist, she goes to great lengths to satisfy her fans and the music industry, and her discretion is one of her sharpest assets. Never where you expect her, she springs the surprise and it works. Take one of her best-known hits, Single Ladies: here are 12 things you didn’t know about the video — let’s see whether you’re a real fan.
Single Ladies: an iconic piece of choreography
1. Two men dreamed up the choreography
Working with JaQuel Knight, choreographer Frank Gatson Jr built the video’s famous dance. Beyoncé is far from his only credit: he has also worked with Usher, J.Lo and Michael Jackson. Now you know who to thank for that hip-roll of yours.
2. That iconic choreography is a copy
Frank Gatson has admitted he took his cue from a dance performance dating back to 1969. He watched it beside Beyoncé, and the two of them thought: “Add a touch of modernity and this could be really cool.” As they say, a fault confessed is half redressed.
3. Queen B needed a month and a half to master the routine
On screen the singer makes it look effortless. It was nothing of the sort. She has never hidden it — she wants everything perfect. To be certain she was the best, she worked flat out with her choreographer, the kind of discipline that turns training into a flawless performance.
4. The shoes change during the video
At first glance the costumes stay the same from start to finish. Look closer and the shoes change. As Frank Gatson explains, the choreography was so punishing — much like the way music calls on the body as much as the mind — that the dancers kept breaking their shoes. The switch is so discreet, though, that the naked eye barely catches it (unless that’s because you were too busy watching Queen B’s backside).
Beyoncé, exacting about who dances beside her
5. Around a hundred women auditioned to dance beside Beyoncé
The choreographer insists that the audition for the video was a walk in the park. For the singer’s tour, after all, they auditioned some 5,000 candidates. Beyoncé wanted a woman with genuine star presence, in the line of the greatest timeless style icons. According to Frank, Queen B is the kind of woman who isn’t afraid of other women.
6. One of the dancers started out as a stand-in
The dancer they had chosen was due in New York for the shoot, and she didn’t make it in time. So they asked the charming Ebony William to step in beside Ashley Everett. According to Frank, both young women are still touring with Queen B. As they say, one woman’s loss is another’s gain (damn karma).
7. One of the dancers was hurt during the shoot
After some twenty takes, Ebony came within an inch of breaking her ankle. She danced on regardless. Against the crew’s advice, she said: “Nothing and no one is going to keep me out of Beyoncé’s video.”
Single Ladies, a hit that wore everyone out
8. Single Ladies was shot in a single take
Scenes are usually shot one at a time. For Single Ladies, things went differently. Beyoncé wanted the result seamless and perfect (and perfect it is). So the dancers ran the whole choreography more than fifty times. The video lasts three minutes and twenty-eight seconds; the shoot ran between eight and twelve hours.
Frank says eight hours were all it took, while the singer herself admits it was closer to twelve. Which makes it easier to see why Queen B had to catch her breath at the end of the video.
9. Around 40 people worked on the shoot
Three women on screen, dressed and styled identically — and behind them, a great many pairs of hands: a camera operator, a hairstylist, a stylist, someone on the dolly, someone else on the crane.
