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Categories: buzz, Dance/Opera
Tags: Footloose, Grease, Pulp Fiction, Roundup, Slumdog Millionaire, West Side Story
Forget the so-so acting and formulaic plots — there is a long and illustrious history of great dance moments captured on film. Be it Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire tap dancing, John Travolta doing the disco, Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Gray practicing lifts in the water, or Julia Stiles fusing ballet and hip hop, everyone has a favorite dance scene that they have tried to memorize and perform. After the jump, we have compiled our favorite dance scenes from film in chronological order. We’re willing to bet you won’t stay in your chair for long.
1. 42nd Street (1933)
2. Top Hat (1935)
Jump to 3:24 to see the breathtaking ballroom scene between Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers.
3. The Little Colonel (1935)
4. Swing Time (1936)
5. The Red Shoes (1948)
6. Singing in the Rain (1952)
7. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)
8. It’s Always Fair Weather (1955)
9., 10., & 11. West Side Story (1961)
12. Mary Poppins (1964)
13. The Sound of Music (1965)
14. The Turning Point (1977)
15. Saturday Night Fever (1977)
16. Grease (1978)
17. Fame (1980)
18. Annie (1982)
19. Flashdance (1983)
20. Footloose (1984)
21. White Nights (1985)
22. A Chorus Line (1985)
23. Girls Just Want To Have Fun (1985)
24. Dirty Dancing (1987)
25. Strictly Ballroom (1992)
26. Pulp Fiction (1994)
27. Showgirls (1995)
28. Center Stage (2000)
29. Moulin Rouge (2001)
30. Chicago (2002)
31. Billy Elliot (2000)
32. Save the Last Dance (2001)
33. You Got Served (2004)
34. Stomp the Yard (2007)
35. Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
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51 Responses
no Ann Miller? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_1WivRH_Ik
or Judy Garland?
It’s Too Darn Hot from “Kiss Me Kate” is a glaring omission.
What about Audrey Hepburn in “Funny Face”?
i love this so much.
seriously? boogie nights?
Jumpin Jive from Stormy Weather. The Nicholas Brothers!!!!
I agree with Ginger; I immediately thought of the Nicholas Brothers AND several sequences in the film version of Sweet Charity (where Shirley McLaine and Chita Rivera are at their best).
Too conventional. Almost every dance scene in Singin’ in the Rain could easily be included, especially the “Moses Supposes,” “Fit as a Fiddle,” and “Broadway Melody” numbers. This list desperately needs some Cyd Charisse.
Practically flawless….but, come on, where’s Jessica Alba-vehicle “Honey”? That’s a claaaaaassic.
too many great dance sequences to mention on one page, but the comments have reminded me of some great old films that I need to check out again! Thanks everyone! How much fun is Step in Time???
Being an American, I love the list; hard to argue with any of the choices, though I’d have included James Cagney in “Yankee Doodle Dandy” there somewhere. Also, wasn’t the video for Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” considered a short film. I know there’s some King of Pop fatigue that’s set in, but come on…
On the other hand, “The 35 Best Dance Sequences in Film”?! Are films not made outside the United States? A run-of-the-mill Bollywood dance number outshines at least half the choices on this list — and sorry, Jai Ho from “Slumdog Millionaire” doesn’t count as Bollywood — directed by a Brit.
You lost me at #27. Nothing about ‘Showgirls’ deserves to end up on a “best of” list.
I really enjoyed all of these. Wonderful! I know you can’t list all of them but these were certainly great choices.
How about foreign films? It would be hard to choose a clip from Carlos Saura’s dance films:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llCYZ2-OAj8&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hb0-SZWZ-ok
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmTEhNTT8Ac&feature=related
What?
No “Bande à part”? Come on!
Wait how did Bob Fosse’s Cabaret not make it on to this list?!?!?
@reel aesthete – Exactly what I was thinking! Mein Heir is a classic!
He missed the top 2, the Nicholas brothers in “Stormy Weather”, mentioned above and the kitchen dance in “The Tango Lesson”.
Um, no Napoleon Dynamite? What a travesty.
Hellzapoppin!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTg5V2oA_hY
how could you miss it?
Can’t help it; I just love Kim Basinger’s striptease in 9 1/2 weeks( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJ5aNftth5I ).Not “dancy” enough? I don’t care.
And then there’s the whole world of Bollywood.
Hey – you need something (any one of several dance sequences) from Tap with Gregory Hines, Sandman Sims, Savion Glover and Sammy Davis!! And what about All That Jazz – the airline commercial, or the dream sequence?
Ta- Challenge!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCdxF1nht5w
42nd street was a hoot. Loved all of these!
Great List and awesome idea for whoever thought about doing this!! Although, like everyone else, there were many of my favorites that didn’t make the list, especially from Astaire, Kelly, Fosse, etc…
Don’t agree with Showgirls (a movie notorious for horrible dancing), Save the Last Dance, Sound of Music (???)…
Where’s “Consider Yourself at Home” from Oliver!?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LzmdovYoAI
Also, the Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse sequence from Singin’ in the Rain.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YWBOfsXsDA
Or the iconic Donald O’Connor one from the same movie?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FW02c5UNGl0
My favorite recent dance sequence — the final winning dance from Step Up 2: The Streets (much better than the first Step Up).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fa1B5_w0xoM
Better vid for Step Up 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fv-cQrD4MS0
Astaire and Charisse in Bandwagone… one of the loveliest, subtlest sequences ever filmed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDHwJrbrp0Y
The lindy hop scene from Spike Lee’s Malcolm X deserves mention too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNv7ivtkxW8
And while I’m at it, the dance scene from House Party, featuring Kid N Play, with Martin Lawrence as the dj:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JC_4l7bFKJk
great list, by the way! thanks.
Why stop at a mere 35? Don’t leave out Charlie Chaplin’s elegant and comic roller skating in Modern Times.
They left out An American in Paris! One of the best musical dance movies ever!
yeah, no mein herr?! any dance number from cabaret is better than chicago. And Stormy Weather? That’s possibly the best filmed dance number ever.
I miss the tango in the Adam´s family 2
Breakfast Club missing and Turbo dancing with the broom in Breakin’. And yes, Napoleon Dynamites deserves a nod.
Buffalo 66 – Christina Ricci is in a bowling alley and she wants to dance to King Crimson in shiny shoes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACXcrTZ8gqY
I would replace some of your selections (“Girls Just Want to Have Fun” is so commonplace) with the “Put On Your Sunday Clothes” sequence from “Hello, Dolly!” and the Al Pacino-Gabrielle Anwar tango on “Scent of a Woman”.
And where is Van Damme dance scene?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CE8XKeN0zk4
This list is invalid, simply for the lack of Bollywood.
To not have even one Bollywood scene shows that this list is compiled from ignorance.
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And then there’s the whole world of Bollywood.
What about the final dance in Step Up 2: The Streets??
Thats the best dance sequence ive ever seen.
ASTAIRE AND POWELL DANCING TO BEGIN THE BEGUINE
Your list lacks credibility. How could you omit the Nicholas Brothers dance scene in the movie Stormy Weather. The great dancer Fred Astaire once called this “the greatest dance number ever filmed”.
I realize that to make a list of just 35 best Hollywood dance movies
would leave out many great dance scenes. The dance sequence in “Begin
the Beguine” being one of them. Another was from “Oliver”. The elaborate
choreography of “Who Will Buy” takes the viewer from early morning to
evening in an area of London. And finally, the Tango number in Scent of
a Woman”. Pacino is a great actor, but to see him dance the tango while
playing a blind man was unexpected and a delight.
Even if the list was doubled I would still consider it to be too short.
So I will settle for this list, but it could have covered more movies.
Great Listings, but with one glaring omission. That is the dance sequence by Eleanor Powell and Fred Astaire to Cole Porter`s “Begin the Begeine” (sic) in “Broadway Melody of 1940.”
Enjoyed the oldies of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rodgers (the real ones!) but missed the beautiful waltz from “Shall We Dance”. Also, “White Knights” didn’t do that sequence to that song…what happened???
you got to be kidding!!! It may be old but it is still very touching and moving… Kim Novak and William Holden’s slow dance in Picnic… Now that was romance!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How about some comic choices, like the globe scene from “The Great Dictator,” “Think” from “Blues Brothers”, or “Putting on the Ritz” in “Young Frankenstein”?
All That Jazz – “Jagger & Gideon!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVasewV7OpA