Inside Britney's VMA Rehearsal: It's Britney Bitch

LAS VEGAS — Britney Spears stands onstage, face low and
obscured by her cowboy hat. Her lips aren't moving,
except to laugh, but she's not here to practice singing —
she's at the Pearl to move.
All afternoon, everyone's been waiting for Britney to
rehearse for her VMA performance. Britney Watch, as you
might call it, takes the form of excruciatingly long
periods of waiting punctuated by brief bursts of news,
which can almost resemble activity from afar, even when
nothing's actually happened yet. Britney's in the air,
Britney's landed, Britney's in the building. There's the
anticipation (what will she be like?), the worry (what if
she doesn't show?), and the doubt (can she still pull it
off?). But if the skeptics saw what a few of us at MTV
News were privileged to witness late Friday afternoon at
the Pearl Concert Theater in the Palms Resort Casino,
they would doubt no more.
Britney as a tabloid figure has loomed so large of late,
it's hard to imagine that there was a time when it was
just Britney the performer. Britney the dancer. Britney
the star. And while she wasn't yet at full steam — after
all, these were dry runs at the Palms to get her blocking
straight and stage lighting situated — glimpses of what
she used to be and what she could still become were there
even in these early rehearsals. "Gimme More" might not
have won everyone over on first listen (see "Britney
Spears' New Single Gets Club-Tested In Vegas"), but it's
kind of like "Slave 4 U" or "SexyBack" — the videos in
those cases helped sell the songs. But in this case,
Britney's performance this Sunday will not just help sell
the song, it will help sell her.
"OK, here we go. Three, two, one, track," a female voice
announces over the PA system in the Pearl. Spotlights
sweep back and forth, strobes flash, and a silver-gray
curtain parts. Spears stands to the side, in jeans and a
white tank top that reads "James," hat tipped over her
face. The song starts, but she turns her back during the
opening line, "It's Britney, bitch," striking a pose of
pure attitude.
She's flanked by a few dancers, who at first seem asleep,
crouched low, but come awake once Britney drops the
"bitch" line. More come out as Britney sings, "Gimme
more," until she's got more than a dozen onstage. A
half-dozen aerialists are also to join the action, later
on, though they weren't present at this stage in the
rehearsal.
With each run-through, a choreographer gives Britney more
steps to weave in as she gets more comfortable with the
routine — and as she gets more comfortable, that white
tank top edges up to expose even more midriff. Her
dancers get more suggestive, pulling and pushing and
dragging each other across the stage. But Britney remains
dominant, treating one like a boy toy, stepping over him,
and tossing him aside when she's done with him. That
part's easy — a move that takes a little longer to learn
is to fall into a column of her dancers, who push her
back standing up, like one of those trust exercises you
do at camp.
It could just be a sexy dance move, or it could be
symbolic for Brit: To get back to the top of her game,
she has to give a little too. And then, she turns her
back to everyone once more for her closing line — "I just
want more" — leaving everyone watching wanting more too.
Catch all the star-packed VMA action direct from Las
Vegas on Sunday. MTV News' preshow kicks things off live
at 8 p.m. ET, followed by the big show at 9 p.m.
thanx mtv.com