Video Analysis Essay

I found Sara Bareilles's official music video for 'Brave' to show as my video on YouTube. This video is obviously a music video, but it still stretched my personal definition of what dance is.

In the video, Sara Bareilles is singing her song ‘Brave’ while random, ordinary people dance. She starts off the video with a shot of herself dancing in the street or in a park or something. The next few shots are of ordinary people dancing, in unusual places. Examples include in the middle of an office, the street, the gym, a college library, the mall, and so on. We are not given any specific names, but the video portrays these people as normal, everyday citizens. Since it is Sara Bareilles’s song, I’m guessing she owns the song. The video came from her VEVO page: SaraBareillesVEVO. The link to the video is:

Even though we are introduced to Sara, the main focus of the video is the dance. The random dancers are dancing in very public places and, along with the song, show a definition of apathy. Watching the dancers dance made me smile. The dance moves are very bold, loud, and unique moves that show us that dance is art. Even though it may be embarrassing to dance at a bus stop, it’s okay because dance is a form of expression. You can feel however you want, and dance portrays the emotions. The end of the video reveals that these dancers are listening to no music, and this is the part that stretched my definition of dance. When I think of dance, I automatically think of music. The fact that these dancers are not dancing to any music really emphasized the song’s title and the idea of being brave and just dancing. Before watching this video, my definition of dance was an expression of emotions through movement and music. However, after watching this video, my definition has changed to something like dance: a form of personal and expressive art that is unique to you and only