Twerking on a chain-link fence; doing a split on concrete in the rain; bouncing a basketball off multiple body parts, between effortless pirouettes: When Normani released the music video for her irresistible single “Motivation” in August, the message was clear. Not only could she sing — she could also really, really dance.

A rising pop singer, on the order of a young Beyoncé or Britney Spears, Normani, 23, was a dancer and a gymnast first. Growing up in New Orleans, she began taking ballet, jazz and tap classes at age 3. After moving to Houston in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, she joined a competitive dance team at the studio Dancezone, eventually putting aside gymnastics to focus on dance. (In 2017 she was a contestant on “Dancing With the Stars,” placing third.)

“Dance was my first passion, before I started singing or doing anything else,” she said in a joint phone interview with Sean Bankhead, the choreographer for the “Motivation” video. “I gravitated to dancing because I’m a more reserved, shy person, so I felt like that was kind of my way of being able to fully express myself.”

Normani first worked with Mr. Bankhead about five years ago, when he began choreographing for the girl group Fifth Harmony, of which she was a member. The two also collaborated on dance videos with Normani at the center.