Can I Have This Dance?
Close your eyes and pretend you are in a movie theatre. You are sipping a soda and eating popcorn and your foot is tapping away. You are smiling, enjoying the music and watching people dance. If you are like me, you are wishing you could dance like them. Here is a list of 10 dancing movies:
A Chorus Line (1985)
Dirty Dancing (1987)
Fame (1980)
Fast Forward (1985)
Footloose (1984)
Flashdance (1983)
Saturday Night Fever (1978)
Shall We Dance (1937)
Singing in the Rain (1952)
The Jazz Singer (1980)
Which dancing movie do you like the best?
For me I will admit I love Travolta and Saturday Night Fever–great music, fantastic dancing and I can actually relate to my days in college when I actually went to Studio 54 (remember Kenny?)
I also love the Jazz Singer. I really enjoy Neil Diamond music and liked the story. And of course I enjoyed the cinematography in the water scene in Flashdance. But I think my favorite is……. Footloose. I love the story, the characters and I absolutely love the music. (Yes I have the CD and DVD and have a number of Kenny Loggins discs as well.)
What about you?
- Do you have a favorite scene?
- What dancing movies did I leave out?
- What CD do you play over and over?
I look forward to your comments.
June 8th, 2007 at 9:24 am
Not really from a “dance” movie, but he dance scene with John T. and Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction is great. I watch it every time I stumble across it on my dish.
June 8th, 2007 at 9:31 am
I love dance - I can’t think of a dance movie I disliked, but one comes to mind that I thoroughly enjoy. White Nights (1985) with Mikhail Baryshnikov & Gregory Hines has amazing dance scenes - their techniques and styles are so different yet blend beautifully.
June 8th, 2007 at 6:57 pm
Hands down Bob Fosse’s “All That Jazz”. Anne Reinking’s legs were worth the price of admission alone. Close number 2 is “Singing In The Rain”.
June 11th, 2007 at 8:27 am
Again not from a dance movie but Riverdance was mesmerizing. Although I think perhaps some of the dance moves should be classified as athletics. Also how much does the appreciation of movement rely on the music?
June 11th, 2007 at 8:33 am
Merrill, you will get us all started on this one. I love some of the ones you listed but want to include Chicago - have seen it so many times I can dream it! Also, an older show, but that I remember as a kid in school - West Side Story - the dance between the Jets & the Sharks! I will watch anything with Travolta - love his style! Thanks. Naomi
June 11th, 2007 at 8:43 am
I was 13 when ‘Saturday Night Fever’ came out. That movie was memorable. I remember hearing all the stories of debauchery with Steve Rubel at Studio 54 also.
I also enjoyed ‘Dirty Dancing’…The list you have is very good. I will add an old school movie from 1939-1940 that featured Bob Hope and Bing Crosby. ‘The Road To Morocco’…
Speaking of 1939, wasn’t that also the year of ‘The Wizard of Oz’? How many kids over time followed that yellow brick road with the inverted leg movements?
My favorite scene would probably be from a Frank Capra movie,’It’s a Wonderful Life’. George had just met Mary (Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed). They’re at a high school function and they start to dance Charleston style. George’s cronies have a plan to open the floor and expose the pool. When that happens you see Stewart and Reed come close to falling in…Of course that’s when the fun begins and the cronies all look at one another, shrug and also jump in.
July 11th 1978 I was at the Uris Theatre in New York city and saw Yul Brynner and Constance Towers perform in ‘The King and I’. Great dance scenes in that play. Was this ever made into a movie?
Favorite CD? A tie between ‘Footloose’ and ‘Fever’. Notice how good music got for movies after 1982? That may be a good topic. Movie soundtracks that rock! I nominate ‘Top Gun’, ‘Batman Forever’, and ‘Godzilla’.
Have a great week Merrill!
Will
June 11th, 2007 at 10:18 am
Naomi,
You are right! How can I leave out West Side Story - my mistake for sure. I have only watched that movie 20+ times!
Thanks for reminding me.
Merrill
June 11th, 2007 at 10:24 am
SNF was not a dance movie. Yes, there was great dancing, right in step with the times. But the movie was about moving up, getting ahead, achieving something. The big scene was when the hardware store owner tries to convince JT to stay–he points to a 50ish man stocking the shelves and says, “See, you can have a great career here.”
And finally, a plea to his dance partner for help in “moving” from Brooklyn to New York as she did–although she had to give her body to get there.
June 11th, 2007 at 11:04 am
A top dancing scene from a total non-dancing flick - Pee Wee Herman tripping the light fantastic to Tequila in the biker bar.
June 11th, 2007 at 12:28 pm
10 dancing flicks listed but none with Fred Astaire? I would certainly add “Top Hat” to the list.
I like “Singing in the Rain”, not just for Gene Kelly dancing, but also for Donald O’Connor’s “Make ‘Em Laugh” number where he dances up a wall. There are some other great dance sequences in MGM musicals of the period; especially the barn-raising dance in “7 Brides for 7 Brothers” (be sure to watch it in wide-screen to catch everything).
My favorite movie dancer of all time is Virginia Mayo–tall with great legs and red hair, her movies seemed to hit TV just when I was entering puberty.
My favorite dance scene would be Jimmy Cagney in “Yankee Doodle Dandy”. It’s novel, unique and I never get tired of seeing it (I watch it every 4th of July). I really like to watch dancing scenes by people you don’t expect to see dancing. “Pennies from Heaven”, isn’t very entertaining, but there is some incredible dancing by Steve Martin and Christopher Walken. Who knew they could dance?
Of the titles mentioned in Merrill’s original e-mail, I would have to go with “Singing in the Rain” as the classic and “Dirty Dancing” as the sentimental favorite (yeah, I don’t wanna see Baby put in the corner either).
June 11th, 2007 at 1:24 pm
While I love some of the classics listed, my favorites are a little of the road less traveled variety, although my # 1 is the already mentioned Pulp Fiction dance with John Travolta and Uma Thurman. (Exotic, strange and mesmerizing.) However, for pure classic comic, I’d go with Napoleon Dynamite (gets me every time), and for nostalgia, the final dance scene with John Travolta (again) and Olivia Newton John in Grease!
June 12th, 2007 at 6:45 am
Glad that someone mentioned Fred Astaire. He was a classic in dance movies. When you mention dancers in movies you have to be sure to include Ann Miller and Cyd Charise.
I know this dates me but Singing in the Rain is my all time favorite. Dancing purists will tell you that there were better dancers than Gene Kelly but in that movie he put it all together.
Joe
June 25th, 2007 at 3:43 pm
I know I’m late on this one, but I was traveling last week.
By far, the greatest dance movie of all time is “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.” If you don’t believe me or never heard of it — rent it. Be on the alert for a scene in which they are building a house!!