Miley Cyrus hopes to start a dance craze

By Ann Donahue

LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - Miley Cyrus is attempting to teach an adult the Hoedown Throwdown, the big dance number from "Hannah Montana: The Movie," and it's not going well.

"We did it in one day!" she gasps. "We just all kind of made it up as we went along." It doesn't help that Cyrus offers this consolation and advice over the phone to a journalist who's trying to follow along on YouTube -- and untangle herself from the phone cord.

"Well," Cyrus patiently explains, "you have to be semi-coordinated to do it."

This is exactly how Cyrus' legion of preteen female fans must be learning the dance: YouTube onscreen, phone to ear, someone on the phone offering encouragement amid occasional peals of laughter.

Such is Cyrus' Everygirl power. For the better part of five years, the 16-year-old has had a direct dial into the cerebral fun cortex of the brains of millions of 10-year-old girls.

Under the stewardship of the Walt Disney Co., Cyrus has starred in "Hannah Montana," which remains one of the top-rated kids' TV shows on cable; sold more than 7 million albums; starred in "Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour 3-D," which opened at No. 1 and earned more than $65 million at the box office, making it the top-grossing concert film; and helped sell a clothing factory's worth of merchandise at Wal-Mart. That all adds up. According to Billboard's Money Makers chart, Cyrus was the 15th-biggest earner of 2008, taking in $48.9 million from sales of music, ringtones and concert tickets.

COUNTRY GIRL

On April 10, the franchise about the schoolgirl by day, pop star at night will get a narrative take on the big screen.

In "Hannah Montana: The Movie," Cyrus' character from the show, Miley Stewart, gets a little too embroiled in some divalicious antics while in her Montana guise and winds up brawling with Tyra Banks in a posh boutique. Stewart's father -- played by the actress's real-life dad, Billy Ray Cyrus -- sends her back home to Tennessee to bring her down to earth. After getting in a little Henry David Thoreau time communing with nature (and, in an age-appropriate fashion, with a cute local farm fellow played by Lucas Till), Stewart weighs the benefits of a life less glam.

The soundtrack will be released March 24 and features 18 tracks: seven are performed by Cyrus in her Montana persona, four by Cyrus herself, one by Billy Ray Cyrus and one by father and daughter together. Newcomer Steve Rushton contributes two tracks; Taylor Swift adds a new song, "Crazier"; and Rascal Flatts supplies an acoustic version of "Bless the Broken Road."

While "Hannah Montana" the TV show certainly features its fair share of music, the movie takes it one step further. In the film, the music is presented as an indelible part of the characters' lives -- Rascal Flatts performs at a neighborhood party like it's an everyday occurrence. It's a narrative strategy that has reaped soundtrack sales for other recent movies, in particular 2007's "Juno" and last year's "Twilight."

The movie also offers good old-fashioned drama to get fans into the theater. The trailer for "Hannah Montana: The Movie" flashes in giant protagonist-facing-a-turning-point capital letters that Stewart has had "the best of both worlds ... now, she has to choose just one." In the real world, once Cyrus sold 1.4 million copies of 2008's "Breakout," her first album without a "Hannah" connection, it seemed inevitable that she'd shed her blond bewigged alter ego for a career under her own name.

Not so fast, Cyrus says. This is Disney, after all, and -- Bambi's mom notwithstanding -- they're not in the habit of killing off major (and profitable) characters. Cyrus has eight more episodes of the third season of "Hannah Montana" yet to film.

'NOT UP TO ME'

"This movie was never meant to be the end of Hannah Montana," she says. "The thing is, a lot of people put where the show's future lays in my hands -- and it's not up to me. It's up to Disney and whether they want more episodes, and we hope that they do." (A Disney Channel representative says it's retaining the option to renew the show for a fourth season.)