Dance in Film · 2017
I'm Better (2017)
Missy Elliott and Sean Bankhead turn a hip-hop video into a compact movement laboratory: aerialists climb silks, masked ensembles hit graphic formations, dancers rebound from exercise balls, and a submerged cast moves for the camera.
I'm Better is a 2017 dance film centred on Aerial Dance, Modern Fusion & Commercial. For dancers, it's a chance to see these styles performed on screen — the phrasing, partnering, and musicality that the same dances carry onto a real floor.
Jump to the 4 indexed dance sequences ↓
Dance styles featured
Where to watch: Free official video on Missy Elliott’s YouTube channel; Apple Music also maintains the 2017 video listing, verified 2026-08-12.
The dance sequences in I'm Better
4 sequences — what is danced, by whom, and where to find it.
Aerial-silks ensemble
Aerial SilksChoreography Sean Bankhead
Dancers hanging in ribbons of fabric inside a sharply lit science-fiction tableau.
The apparatus changes the ensemble’s vertical logic: suspended dancers climb, wrap and pose above the floor while the edit preserves a strong graphic silhouette. The sequence folds contemporary-circus vocabulary into Elliott’s futuristic music-video world without treating the silks as background decoration.
Exercise-ball ensemble
Commercial / Industry DanceChoreography Sean Bankhead
An ensemble bouncing from oversized exercise balls without losing its sculpted formation.
The dancers rebound from unstable spheres while maintaining camera-facing shapes, converting a familiar fitness prop into a choreographic constraint. Balance, impact and recovery give the passage its elastic pulse.
Illuminated welding-mask formation
Commercial / Industry DanceChoreography Sean Bankhead
A dark formation punctuated by glowing welding masks moving as one.
Sean Bankhead organizes the masked dancers as a light-bearing unit, making synchronized spacing and head direction readable even when faces disappear. The choreography turns costume technology into part of the ensemble’s timing and geometry.
Underwater ensemble choreography
Danced by Missy Elliott; unnamed dancers · Choreography Sean Bankhead
Missy Elliott and a futuristic ensemble flipping and articulating phrases beneath the waterline.
Submersion slows weight transfer and makes limbs trail through resistance, so the cast must coordinate breath, orientation and suspended timing rather than rely on ordinary floor traction. Elliott’s team treats the pool as a distinct performance environment, not a visual insert.
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