Justin Bieber’s 13 dance-driven music videos

Last week, singer-songwriter Justin Bieber released his newest album, Purpose, to the world. In an ambitious move, he announced that he’d be dropping music videos for 13 of the tracks, all of which would come together to create a short film. But what makes this so exciting to the dance scene?

The film, Purpose: The Movement, showcases a bunch of awesome dancers in various styles! Perhaps our favorite (see below) is “Life Is Worth Living”, which features dancers Emma Portner and Patrick Cook. As described by Bustle, “Portner takes center stage, her character suffering a presumably self-inflicted bullet wound that grotesquely blemishes her shoulder throughout most of the video before she finds herself miraculously healed at the end of the video. The video’s narrative fits in clearly with the song’s spiritual lyrics, which depict a struggle prior to redemption.”

The other videos each feature their own set of amazing dancers, such as: Keone and Mari Madrid in “Love Yourself”, showing a sad one-sided love; Pierce Cady, Janelle Ginestra, Valentine Norton, James “BDash” Derrick, Keywane Pandy, Marquis Robinson and Brandon “Beno” Anastascio in an intense rendition of “The Feeling”; Ian Eastwood in an emotional solo in “No Pressure”; Denzel Chisholm, Gusto Clarke, Ryan Davis, Noel Frias, Kendrick Martinez, Jose Ramos, CJ Salvador, Lance Savali, Tony Tzar and Hollywood in the testosterone-driven “I’ll Show You”; and Samaria Barnes, Logan Hassel, Marissa Heart, Taylor Knight, Pauline Mata and Simrin Player with Bieber in the title track, “Purpose.” Not to mention all the dancers in “Sorry”, “What Do You Mean?”, “Where Are Ü Now”, “No Sense” and “Company.” (New Zealand’s Royal Family Dance Crew makes an appearance.)

One standout is “Children” featuring 37 youth dancers responding to the world’s devastation in a dramatic and hard-hitting plea. The timeliness of the video (being released only hours after the Paris tragedy) makes the dancers’ message even more powerful.

While most of the videos showcase commercial or hip-hop dancers and crews “busting a move everywhere from a grocery store to a classroom” (as noted by Hollywood Life), what makes “Life Is Worth Living” special is it’s raw transparency. Watch it below. To see all 13 videos, click here. Props to 24-year-old choreographer Parris Goebel for directing all of them!

Photo (top): Still of Emma Portner and Patrick Cook in “Life Is Worth Living.” To take a dance class led by Portner and her company, The Flock, check out her upcoming workshop on January 3 in Oklahoma.