Beyonce Knowles, a Dreamgirl on Tour

Friday, February 02, 2007

Beyonce Knowles is singing and dancing from Hollywood to Europe on a whirlwind schedule with a recent performance of Listen at Wetten Dass in Germany.  The 2007 Grammy Awards, scheduled for February, will be preceded by Clive Davis’ star-studded pre-award party that includes Beyonce and an impressive list of talent.  She is busy recording five new videos in a hectic seven days before embarking on a world tour to promote the second release of her hit B’Day, along with three new songs including Beautiful Liar with Shakira..  The tour features a handpicked all-female band, a group of ten women selected from auditions held by Beyonce in five different cities.  This one promises more great music on one CD and exciting videos on DVD.

There has been some unfavorable criticism, however, of her video productions.  It has been mentioned that the dancers are being paid less than desirable salaries in order to produce a large volume of videos in a short time.  Since Frank Gatson, her choreographer, has refused to work with these dancers, she has been able to eliminate the middleman and lower the standards of the music industry by paying them much less.  For dancers in videos by top artists, such as Beyonce, the salary is customarily $3,000 for two rehearsal days and two final shoots.  Since music video performers are not unionized, she has not broken any rules; however, there is a Dancers Alliance that was created for non-union dancers.  As a token of good faith, the production company of the videos, RSA Films, is attempting to maintain good working relationships by compensating some of the dancers with standard agency fees. 

Beyonce is planning an MTV production in the UK that will focus on such things as diverting unwanted media attention to celebrities’ weight and other personal imperfections.  Beyonce tends to surround herself with the people she loves and is able to throw aside much of the media gossip that invariably follows the superstars.  She and Jay-Z, her constant companion, will perform at the Saturday night South Beach Super Bowl Party extravaganza at Lummus Park.  Once again, Beyonce, along with hosts Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony, may well outshine the other party animals and Penthouse bunnies this year.