Choreographer Laurieann Gibson has helped Lady Gaga with her often spectacle-filled performances. ‘She is so fearless,’ Gibson says of Gaga.

Laurieann Gibson is pressed for time — even at breakfast. The in-demand choreographer is noshing on bacon and scrambled eggs before she’ll race to LAX to catch a Chicago-bound flight. There she will join her busiest client, Lady Gaga, to tape a performance for Oprah.

This after a hectic month spent completing Gaga’s “Judas” video and HBO concert special (she directed both), traveling to Atlanta to film an upcoming BET reality competition, shooting a vacuum cleaner ad and promoting her E! docu-series, “The Dance Scene,” which follows Gibson and her team of dancers and choreographers as they prep artists and industry events. The show is averaging 1.1 million viewers weekly.

Since her days as a Fly Girl on “In Living Color,” Gibson has choreographed for longtime collaborator and friend Sean “Diddy” Combs, Mary J. Blige, Alicia Keys, Katy Perry and Gaga, among others. Her dance work with the latter singer, whom she affectionately calls Gags, has yielded 10 videos, including “Bad Romance,” which earned Gibson a Video Music Award for choreography in 2010. The 2003 Jessica Alba flick, “Honey,” was based loosely on her life.

Gibson is accustomed to the pace. On a tour of the Hollywood dance studios where she does her work (and later used to film the E! show) she hopped around as she juggled projects: Kelly Rowland in one studio rehearsing for a video, teen pop upstarts Destinee & Paris in another. She managed to find time for a moment with Pop & Hiss.


People might not know that you’ve been with Lady Gaga from the beginning. How did that union start?

She came to me like, “I got dropped and I don’t really know if I have it in me to know what I need to do to make my dream come true.” And then she played me her record and I said, “Listen, I’ve got enough for the both of us, let’s go.” We started designing her opinion as a live performer and what that would be, what the records would feel like visually. How would “Just Dance” turn into “Poker Face,” into “Bad Romance”— and now the “Monster Ball” [tour].

A lot of her visual aesthetics have been compared to Madonna. As her creative director what are your thoughts on that?

Listen, [Madonna] should be bitter because I did it on purpose, and you can quote me. I did it on purpose because for all those kids who believe that you can’t, I wanted to let them feel that you can. And that’s what I represent, that’s what Gags represents. That’s what this movement represents.

been pretty tight-lipped on this BET project. What can you tell us about it?

It’s called “Born to Dance: Laurieann Gibson.” We auditioned 20 girls from three different cities. These girls, like me, were in their canopy bed dreaming of an end place and nothing around them said it was possible. I talk about it and I cry because I think of who let these girls down. When someone says you’re not good because they are intimidated by your gift, I’m going to help them not internalize that.

What can you tell us about the new Gaga album?

“Born This Way” is shaping up to be creative ecstasy. I think what I most love about this project is she is so fearless and the freedom that I’ve gotten since day one to stretch my gift. It’s hard to work with an artist that’s like, “I don’t want to do that.” You can’t push them. Where she is like, “Let’s go, and add more sprinkles.” It’s like a rubber band. It stretched me. She did an incredible job on the new album. It’s a visual fantasy for me. There’s no place we can’t go.

[Edited 5/10/11 19:53pm]

A lot of her visual aesthetics have been compared to Madonna. As her creative director what are your thoughts on that?

Listen, [Madonna] should be bitter because I did it on purpose, and you can quote me. I did it on purpose because for all those kids who believe that you can’t, I wanted to let them feel that you can. And that’s what I represent, that’s what Gags represents. That’s what this movement represents.

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Girl...

[Edited 5/10/11 20:20pm]

Can't hate on her.

Timmy84 said:

A lot of her visual aesthetics have been compared to Madonna. As her creative director what are your thoughts on that?

Listen, [Madonna] should be bitter because I did it on purpose, and you can quote me. I did it on purpose because for all those kids who believe that you can’t, I wanted to let them feel that you can. And that’s what I represent, that’s what Gags represents. That’s what this movement represents.

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Girl...

[Edited 5/10/11 20:20pm]

Trying to understand this quote. She ripped off Madonna because kids may have believed you can't rip off Madonna?

Mars23 said:

Timmy84 said:

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Girl...

[Edited 5/10/11 20:20pm]

Trying to understand this quote. She ripped off Madonna because kids may have believed you can't rip off Madonna?

Guess being a little koo-koo-krazy is a requirement when working with Gaga.

Love Madge in that GIF, BTW!

so she's admitting that she rips off Madonna?

So it's the creative partner that's the problem.

Gaga needs to get rid of her. Her choreography leaves a lot to be desired anyway, and I really cannot believe she just tried to justify ripping off another artist by saying that doing so encourages others to go after their dreams. That shit just doesn't even make sense.

Waiting for the GaGa apologists

Its a cycle of ripping off though to be honest, because Madge was far from an original herself no matter how her fans tend to think so

armpit said:

So it's the creative partner that's the problem.

Gaga needs to get rid of her. Her choreography leaves a lot to be desired anyway, and I really cannot believe she just tried to justify ripping off another artist by saying that doing so encourages others to go after their dreams. That shit just doesn't even make sense.

Yeah, she lost me with that one too. Maybe it was edited badly or something. idk.... If I was Gaga, I'd ask Ms. Gibson to chill with the transparency thing right now. It kind of contradicts the creative image that Gaga is trying to project.

SoulAlive said:

so she's admitting that she rips off Madonna?

well, with all the evidences it would be a lot more embarassing denying it

Timmy84 said:

A lot of her visual aesthetics have been compared to Madonna. As her creative director what are your thoughts on that?

Listen, [Madonna] should be bitter because I did it on purpose, and you can quote me.

Girl...

[Edited 5/10/11 20:20pm]

I know she had the nerve to diss Madonna, while the artist she works for praises Madonna and has already worked with her.....need to sit her behind down somewhere

This is clearly bait. The interviewer clearly wanted to get Laurie Ann to say that Gaga steals from Madonna. The Laurie Ann response doesn't even make sense, and it's obvious her answer was edited. Ugh, I will be so glad when this Gaga-apes-Madonna shit dies down. It's sickening.

people are calling lady gaga this musican because she can play the keyboard, but truthfully im just not impressed with someone learning how to play a keyboard. And her voice is just average, she has a tolerable singing voice.

TotalAlisa said:

people are calling lady gaga this musican because she can play the keyboard, but truthfully im just not impressed with someone learning how to play a keyboard. And her voice is just average, she has a tolerable singing voice.

She's played the piano since she was a little girl. And, can you honestly look at that BTW acapella and say that's an "average" voice?

go2theMax said:

SoulAlive said:

so she's admitting that she rips off Madonna?

well, with all the evidences it would be a lot more embarassing denying it

true

TotalAlisa said:

people are calling lady gaga this musican because she can play the keyboard, but truthfully im just not impressed with someone learning how to play a keyboard. And her voice is just average, she has a tolerable singing voice.

Everyone is entitlted to their opinion, but please err on the side of accurate. If you care enough to put someone down, maybe there is something YOU are missing.

She is not "learning how to play a keyboard" and her voice is not "just average, tolerable". Can you sing? I bet not. Pushes her "average" a little higher each time that gets pointed out, huh.

SEANMAN said:

This is clearly bait. The interviewer clearly wanted to get Laurie Ann to say that Gaga steals from Madonna. The Laurie Ann response doesn't even make sense, and it's obvious her answer was edited. Ugh, I will be so glad when this Gaga-apes-Madonna shit dies down. It's sickening.

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Spinlight said:

TotalAlisa said:

people are calling lady gaga this musican because she can play the keyboard, but truthfully im just not impressed with someone learning how to play a keyboard. And her voice is just average, she has a tolerable singing voice.

Everyone is entitlted to their opinion, but please err on the side of accurate. If you care enough to put someone down, maybe there is something YOU are missing.

She is not "learning how to play a keyboard" and her voice is not "just average, tolerable". Can you sing? I bet not. Pushes her "average" a little higher each time that gets pointed out, huh.

im not putting her down as a person. Im just talking about strictly talent. I just don't feel that the artist of today, even the ones people claim as talented really aren't as talented as artist of yesterday. We just have to deal with the cards were dealt with, and thats mediocre artist who are overrated and hyped.

Beyonce gets called out all the time, why is britney and lady gaga escaping from this??

honestly i don't care really if she has a broad octave range, but its more so with people hyping up her voice like its mariah carey or something.

most artist like beyonce and lady gaga who try to do both sing and dance never master both aspects, which is why i like either artist that are vocalist strictly or dancers/entertainers strictly.

Only one person to me mastered both and that is Michael Jackson.

[Edited 5/11/11 11:26am]

SEANMAN said:

TotalAlisa said:

people are calling lady gaga this musican because she can play the keyboard, but truthfully im just not impressed with someone learning how to play a keyboard. And her voice is just average, she has a tolerable singing voice.

She's played the piano since she was a little girl. And, can you honestly look at that BTW acapella and say that's an "average" voice?

i can go to like a music festival or board walk and hear bands with female singers who sound just as good or better than lady gaga.

TotalAlisa said:

SEANMAN said:

She's played the piano since she was a little girl. And, can you honestly look at that BTW acapella and say that's an "average" voice?

i can go to like a music festival or board walk and hear bands with female singers who sound just as good or better than lady gaga.

LOL

The fact that she said "and you can quote me" makes it pretty fucking obvious that she meant exactly what she said.

Ask 50 random people on the street who Gaga's main influence is and they'll all say Madonna. Guaran-fuckin-tee it. Now Laurie Ann admits it and Gaga stans still wanna deny it? That's hilarious. Admitting it is the best thing to do right now because it's so blatantly fucking obvious they'd just look stupid continually trying to deny it.

But honestly, who fucking cares? I don't give a shit if she sounds and looks exactly like Madonna as long as the songs are good. Just like I don't give a fuck that Ne-Yo emulates MJ - cos he makes good music. For the most part.

Unfortunately.... in my opinion none of the songs from the album are anywhere NEAR as good as anything on "Fame Monster" and they are a lot more derivative. But you know, obviously other people dig it and that's cool.

Even though I haven't been too into any of the three songs we've heard so far, I'm still looking forward to the album cos chances are I'll dig at least a few songs on there.

It's hilarious because WE know that Madonna isn't all original either (I'm a fan of her's and I can admit it). But nobody in her camp ever said "oh we're copying Deborah Harry or oh we're copying from Marilyn Monroe just so we can be part of some kind of revolution."

Laurieann has said some pretty wild, "are you high" kind of statements so I can believe she actually said this, whether people wanna accuse the journalist for bad editing.

I'm sure Gaga probably screamed at Laurieann for that comment.

Timmy84 said:

I'm sure Gaga probably screamed at Laurieann for that comment.

Nah, I doubt it. I mean I think part of their whole gameplan is just saying and doing whatever the fuck to keep people talking, I don't think they care too much if it's good or bad.

Having said that, there was that one journalist who allegedly made Gaga cry with regards to the whole Madonna thing and I don't want to accuse her of being disingenuous emotionally, so who the fuck knows. They obviously know which things they are taking from Madonna and have come to terms with the fact that people are saying it, so they probably don't care anymore, in fact I wouldn't be surprised if they do something in a future video that blatantly rips off another really famous thing Madonna did, on purpose, just to keep the fire going, it gives both the stans and the haters something to talk about at the end of the day.... and with songs that are weaker than previous efforts, they'll do whatever they can to keep people talking.

Militant said:

Timmy84 said:

Nah, I doubt it. I mean I think part of their whole gameplan is just saying and doing whatever the fuck to keep people talking, I don't think they care too much if it's good or bad.

Having said that, there was that one journalist who allegedly made Gaga cry with regards to the whole Madonna thing and I don't want to accuse her of being disingenuous emotionally, so who the fuck knows. They obviously know which things they are taking from Madonna and have come to terms with the fact that people are saying it, so they probably don't care anymore, in fact I wouldn't be surprised if they do something in a future video that blatantly rips off another really famous thing Madonna did, on purpose, just to keep the fire going, it gives both the stans and the haters something to talk about at the end of the day.... and with songs that are weaker than previous efforts, they'll do whatever they can to keep people talking.

Sad. But it's still troubling. I doubt the Madonna comparisons won't stop after this album's run is over and done. This is the period where an artist is in trouble of being overexposed. I wish her success but maybe she needs to watch her hired help though...

Unholyalliance said:

SEANMAN said:

This is clearly bait. The interviewer clearly wanted to get Laurie Ann to say that Gaga steals from Madonna. The Laurie Ann response doesn't even make sense, and it's obvious her answer was edited. Ugh, I will be so glad when this Gaga-apes-Madonna shit dies down. It's sickening.

[img:$uid]http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c288/darkangel-sd/randomness/UmadTroll.gif[/img:$uid]

Hardly. But it's clearly bullshit. Her "answer" is choppy and hardly coherent.

Militant said:

Timmy84 said:

Nah, I doubt it. I mean I think part of their whole gameplan is just saying and doing whatever the fuck to keep people talking, I don't think they care too much if it's good or bad.

Having said that, there was that one journalist who allegedly made Gaga cry with regards to the whole Madonna thing and I don't want to accuse her of being disingenuous emotionally, so who the fuck knows. They obviously know which things they are taking from Madonna and have come to terms with the fact that people are saying it, so they probably don't care anymore, in fact I wouldn't be surprised if they do something in a future video that blatantly rips off another really famous thing Madonna did, on purpose, just to keep the fire going, it gives both the stans and the haters something to talk about at the end of the day.... and with songs that are weaker than previous efforts, they'll do whatever they can to keep people talking.

No "stan" here (that really is such an overused word), but whether or not the songs are weaker is a matter of opinion. And, at the rate she's going now, "mimicking" another singer is hardly what's keeping people talking. I mean, "The Edge of Glory" hit #1 on iTunes for a reason. "Born This Way" broke a ten-year record set by Janet for a reason. New music keeps getting released from the record for a reason. People like the music. And, lyrically, her new songs blow most of the stuff by her contemporaries out of the water.

[Edited 5/11/11 14:16pm]

TotalAlisa said:

SEANMAN said:

She's played the piano since she was a little girl. And, can you honestly look at that BTW acapella and say that's an "average" voice?

i can go to like a music festival or board walk and hear bands with female singers who sound just as good or better than lady gaga.

Are u really judging gaga's vocal skills? I though U were a janet's fan and if it's so, well that shouldn't matter much...if not, then sorry, I may be confusing with somebody else

SEANMAN said:

Militant said:

Nah, I doubt it. I mean I think part of their whole gameplan is just saying and doing whatever the fuck to keep people talking, I don't think they care too much if it's good or bad.

Having said that, there was that one journalist who allegedly made Gaga cry with regards to the whole Madonna thing and I don't want to accuse her of being disingenuous emotionally, so who the fuck knows. They obviously know which things they are taking from Madonna and have come to terms with the fact that people are saying it, so they probably don't care anymore, in fact I wouldn't be surprised if they do something in a future video that blatantly rips off another really famous thing Madonna did, on purpose, just to keep the fire going, it gives both the stans and the haters something to talk about at the end of the day.... and with songs that are weaker than previous efforts, they'll do whatever they can to keep people talking.

No "stan" here (that really is such an overused word), but whether or not the songs are weaker is a matter of opinion. And, at the rate she's going now, "mimicking" another singer is hardly what's keeping people talking. I mean, "The Edge of Glory" hit #1 on iTunes for a reason. "Born This Way" broke a ten-year record set by Janet for a reason. New music keeps getting released from the record for a reason. People like the music. And, lyrically, her new songs blow most of the stuff by her contemporaries out of the water.

[Edited 5/11/11 14:16pm]

I think the reason TEOG is doing well is because it's not only catchy but it could be a real anthem for something. People can relate to it more than they can relate to the other two songs. That's why it could be a big hit.

go2theMax said:

TotalAlisa said:

i can go to like a music festival or board walk and hear bands with female singers who sound just as good or better than lady gaga.

Are u really judging gaga's vocal skills? I though U were a janet's fan and if it's so, well that shouldn't matter much...if not, then sorry, I may be confusing with somebody else

If people are claiming lady gaga to be this top vocalist yes I will judge it.

No one, NOT even I said janet was a vocalist, I always said she was an entertainer and dancer

Even with that being said, I still find janet's tone more tolerable then lady gaga and definitly more unique.

like i said before, people like lady gaga and beyonce are masters at none, which is why i like either dancers or vocalist, but not in between. If your voice can't wow me, then atleast bring it with dancing and entertainment.

[Edited 5/11/11 14:32pm]