movies with good dance scenes..
Submitted by kbuxton on Tue, 02/20/2001 - 09:14
Tags:
- Shall We Dance?
- Tango Bar
- Tango
- the Tango Lesson
- Swing Kids
- Strictly Ballroom
- A Day at the Races
- Dirty Dancing
Author Comments:
Some of these have good plots as well (Shall We Dance?), other could be considered dance porn (the plot is just there to kill time between dance scenes)
Not to mention the Astaire/Rogers movies.
BLAST FROM THE PAST has an amusing dance scene.
Or Travolta movies. Heck, even Michael has a decent dance scene (not that it redeems the movie or anything - let's not lose our heads).
the Astaire/Rogers movies aren't on the list because I haven't seen any. I keep meaning to. Honest.
Gape...Gasp!...I'm not questioning your veracity, but it's really hard to believe there's a movie watcher (let alone a movie watcher dance enthusiast) who's never seen an Astaire/Rogers movie. I recommend TOP HAT to start with.
Okay, k, brownie points to you - you tripped me up, didn't you. SHALL WE DANCE? is an Astaire/Rogers movie. No excuses, I should have recognised the title first up - but I did eventually. How long were you planning to let me stumble about?
Actually no. The Shall We Dance I was referring to is a Japanese movie about ballroom dancing that came out a couple years ago and is WONDERFUL.
OIC. Interesting. Japanese ballroom dancing - I'll bet they bow wonderfully. But, Hell! I'm still embarrassed. Never mind, I'll get over it.
Getting back to the Astaire/Rogers Era [see, told you I'd get over it], two other great movie 'hoofers' were Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor. At his best, O'Connor was awesome.
And here's another title to conjure with: SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS - see it if you haven't.
Right! Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor! Singing in the Rain definitely belongs on this list.
Yet another movie I haven't seen...
By all means, check it out! I irrationally avoided it for the longest time. From the clips, it just didn't look like my type of movie. But it really is a ton of fun.
And I would second kbuxton's recommendation of Shall We Dance? (Japanese ballroom dancing version).
Everyone that I know that's seen it has liked it. It's one of the things that got me started dancing.
Although these may not be the type of dance scenes everyone else has mentioned, there are several outstanding "tap" scenes in "THE COTTON CLUB". The movie itself might qualify as a guilty pleasure, but the Gregory Hines dance scenes are first rate.
I'll put it on my list of movies to check out. (well, mental list at least). Tap's fun to watch.
How about "Dirty Dancing"? I know it's cheesy and all, but I like the dancing.
The dance scene in "She's All That" is also good and kind of redeems the whole movie.
Haven't seen Dirty Dancing since junior high, so figured I should probably rewatch it before adding it. I haven't seen She's all that.
I finally re-watched Dirty Dancing and enjoyed it a lot :) kinda cheesy plot-wise but fun.
Whoah... I just realized that "Saturday Night Fever" isn't on the list. Do you not like it? I not only LOVE the dance scenes but I also think the movie is about way more than disco. Did you know it was Gene Siskel's personal favorite and he bought Travolta's white suit at auction? No lie. Anyway, I think the sequences in Fever are easily among the best. The shit Travolta can do is amazing.
I don't think I've ever actually seen it. I'm not entirely sure I'd be able to handle the music anyhow. I should watch it at some point though.
Although the film is not very good, and I hesitate to recommend it, Muriel's Wedding's best scenes were lip-synched dances to Abba tunes. Great energy in those scenes, even if the film has little else to cherish.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Have you seen the Red Shoes?
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
nope. What sort of movie is it?
The 1948 film is about ballet and contains many wonderful sequences of ballet dance. I highly recommend it if you like ballet!
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Last weekend, I watched the documentary Let's Dance, which is full of wonderful scenes that surely merit consideration for this list. It is basically a compilation of dance scenes extracted from famous films, and any lover of dance would probably adore it.
Highlights included some B. Burkley numbers, a young Fred Astaire performing a wonderful number, a breath-taking duet between two brothers whose names I can't remember right now for the life in me, and so very nice ballet from Barishnakov [sic] . Oh, and a brief clip for the aforementioned Red Shoes.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Whoops! The documentary is named, That's Dancing, and the fantastic brothers I mentioned are the Nicholas Brothers.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
I've seen a bunch of Nicholas Brothers footage at a small theater here. The guy who owns it has a bunch of old movies that he'll bring out and play from time to time. Actually last fall I had the privilege of seeing one of the Nicholas Brothers perform at a dance camp I was at! Definitely not quite the dancer he once was, but still impressive that he can dance at all at his age. (80s I think)
K, have you ever watched West Side Story?
Actually no. I generally dispise musicals.