Why Beyonce Matters

If you haven’t seen Single Ladies (Put a Ring on I t) you’ve missed a remarkable, complex, and stunning moment in American dance history.

Ralph Ellison defined the vernacular as a

“dynamic process in which the most refined styles from the past are continually merged with the play-it-by-eye-and-ear improvisation which we invent in our efforts to control our environment and entertain ourselves…the styles and techniques of the past are adjusted to the needs of the present, and in its integrative action the high styles of the past are democratized.” (Ellision qtd in Malone, 2).

Without the clever, captivating direction and layered production of music-video-making greats like Michel Gondry and Spike Jonze this music video stands out for its sassy minimalism. Black and white. Just three dancers. Simple costumes. No set. What holds it together? It is not the retrograde gender politics of Beyonce’s lyrics. Tarius “The Dream” Nash’s production does not compare to what Swizz Beatz lends to Beyoncé's 2005’s ‘Check Up on It.’ The song does not have the vocal harmonies of early Destiny’s Child. What makes this video so totally rad is the movement.  

B’s T&A’s are not on display. There are no zoomed in shots of isolated body parts, sweaty and thrusting. There is no semi-narration of heterosexual romance, such as in Justin Timberlake’s video “My Love” (featuring Timbaland and TI) that shares the same clean black and white landscape lighting, rhythmically changing from positive to negative. What makes Single Ladies so great is what is embodied in the choreography; the exhibition of the resilient, alternative narrative of African-American vernacular dance.

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To see the Effervescent Collective’s surprise Single Ladies attack, click here.