How Katy Perry Can’t Dance (And Why I Love Her For It)

Dancing and music videos go together like Fred and Ginger.

Janet Jackson lead the rhythm nation and Britney Spears followed in her choreographed steps. But the women of the noughties are falling short, preferring poses to fancy footwork.

But less dancing can only lead to better music.

Hortense from Jezebel is saddened by this state of affairs:

Being able to pull off some amazing choreography used to be a requirement for pop stars: Michael, Janet, Justin, Britney, Beyonce, and Madonna, all rose to this challenge. But lately it seems like dancing has been replaced by posing.

She lays into Katy Perry complaining that in California Gurls her performance is “essentially—a come hither stare in a lavender wig”. Her main beef seems to be that these women are trying to sell their sexuality, but aren’t doing it very well because they don’t have the moves:

…most of these women aren’t quite sure of themselves as dancers, and the disconnect, in terms of the confidence (or lack thereof) portrayed in their movements, sometimes makes the messages they attempt to send in their songs seem a bit off. When Janet Jackson danced to “If,” she came across as confident and in control. When Christina Aguilera shows up on stage with a Lite-Brite heart strapped to her vagina, she looks, well, kind of stupid, no?

Yes, they do look stupid. But why are these women required to dance at all?

Growing up in the MTV generation it is easy to confuse music with dancing, but it is possible to have a musical ear but two left feet.

Katy Perry writes her own lyrics and has a hand in the musical production. She also needs to perform her songs, which any professional songstress can tell you takes technical skill.

She is not a very good dancer, but when you strip away all the distractions of her music videos you see that she is very, very good at her job.

Britney Spears, on the other hand, is a very good dancer. Singing takes a back seat in her performances where the requirement for long and involved dance routines means that she often lip-syncs to pre-recorded material.

She fails as a singer but succeeds as an entertainer, which is what music videos at her time required.

Dancing in videos adds nothing to the quality of the music that is produced. In fact, it can take away from the music, forcing the singer to spend weeks learning choreography that could be spent crafting songs. Isn’t the purpose of pop to be music that WE can dance to?

It’s a shame that women have to sell their sexuality along with their songs. In an ideal world we’d lose the props, lose the footwork and let the music stand on its own.

All a song needs is a woman, a guitar and heartbreak.