Coach of Britney talks about preparing for the video!

Last week, fans were treated to the premiere of the clip Hold It Against Me by Britney Spears. The sleek look deep into the lives of celebrities was a new aesthetic for the star, who joined Jonas Akerlund in the video.

Although the dance scenes were choreographed by Brian Friedman, a martial arts expert Steven Ho was the singer who helped to develop their movements in the battle against itself.

"I've been very lucky to work on large projects, and the producer of the clip, Hagai Shaham, thought that my fighting style would be a good idea for Britney and Jonah. I was responsible for training Spears, choreographing the fight and adjust the wires to the scenes of levitation", Steve told MTV News about their participation in the project.

"I always wanted to work with Jonas", he reveals. "I knew it would be a great fight choreography with the visual effects that are the hallmark of Jonah, so I was very excited about this project. Jonas wanted a fight with superhuman strength and with elements of brutality - which is my strong lead as the scene of action, so we definitely were in the same line of thought throughout the process."

Not only were Steve and Akerlund who were willing to mortal combat, but Britney herself warmed to the idea of hitting a clone. "Britney was really excited during the whole process. It was a grueling scene of dancing and acrobatics, but his passion for video and professionalism would not let her give up", said Steve. "We had to save several scenes of Britney close to really taking a punch in the face 'by itself'. We shot that scene several times, and she had a great time in this part and had great sportsmanship."

"Britney was very excited to learn to fight, she is an athlete", Steve said. "I understood the concept of Jonah was partly about the duality of yourself - we all handled it, then who does not have a good time battling her alter ego?" 

The challenge, however, was doing the fighting moves of Steve work with the dance steps of Friedman. "It was really great working with Brian. He is a true professional. He was very careful with our fighting style to be consistent with the dance, and it worked so well", Steve recalled. "Our tests were on the same stage, was very helpful to have comments from Brian, since your view is of a dancer"


It seems that one of the most remarkable movements of the fight were the steps with the high heels of Britney, who was her idea.

"Britney was great time to incorporate what I had done the tests, and how skillful performer, she was able to increase giving their own touch to the fight. There is a quick moment in the video that shows Britney giving small steps in high heels. This was a detail that she suggested and I thought I would give a nice and 'soft' pause in the fighting", he said. "Jonas cut the music to enhance the sound of high heels right now, and is actually one of my favorite scenes of the clip."

Apart from Britney's two other main characters in the fight were the high heels and long dresses. "The costume was one of the stars of the fight", explained Steve. "At first I was worried about dealing with the tail of her dress. There were discussions between Jonathan, the designer [B. Åkerlund] and assistant fashion [Renel Padora] about the possibility of shortening the tail for safety. After I showed it to my wife [the designer Nina Petronzio] pictures of dresses, she literally said, 'I'll kill you if you cut the tails'. We just entering the tails as 'weapons'. We treat them as if they were razor sharp, giving another reason to skip Britney and try to escape them."
 

Speaking this much-talked about fight scene, watch a funny video that the fan William Marcucci created inspired a round of Mortal Kombat.