It's not often that Beyoncé Knowles misses a step—but when she does, the results are dramatic.
The singer fell headlong down a flight of stairs during her concert in Orlando Tuesday, drawing gasps of dismay from the audience.
Dressed in a trench coat and heels and energetically shaking her hair around, Knowles was descending a staircase in midsong, when she tripped and slid down about a dozen steps face first.
Apparently a subscriber to the notion that the show must go on, she picked herself immediately and continued performing "Ring the Alarm," barely missing a note.
After the song was over, Knowles briefly rushed offstage, then returned and performed her next number seated on a stool, after admitting the fall "hurt so bad!"
"Don't put it on YouTube," she jokingly asked her audience (who evidently didn't listen, as the footage was widely available on the video-sharing site as of Wednesday, despite Sony BMG's best efforts to yank the clips).
The singer's rep said she was not injured in the fall, which she described as a "mere spot" in an otherwise hitch-free performance.
"Beyoncé's fall on stage last night in Orlando, Florida during her performance of 'Ring the Alarm' was a mere spot on an otherwise sensational, flawless show," the rep told People. "It was a case of her coat's hem getting caught in her shoes, but Miss Knowles picked herself right up, without missing a beat, showing to all that she is the best."
The tumble comes just two weeks after two fans suffered burns at Knowles' concert in St. Louis after pyrotechnics meant for the stage tumbled into the audience. Much to the victims' delight, the singer graciously visited them in the hospital after the show to make sure they were doing okay.
Knowles was due to continue her Beyoncé Experience tour Friday at the Hampton Coliseum in Hampton, Virginia.