Thursday Thirteen: 13 Great Dance Scenes in Movies

I haven't done a TT in a few weeks partly because I couldn't think of any good lists to write about and also because I just haven't been in the mood to write as much lately, but I'm trying to get out of my funk, and being that I went to the ballet last Friday and they showcased 14 different ballets, I came up with this weeks TT

Here are 13 great dance scenes from a variety of movies, these are just some of the ones that stick out in my mind, also these are from movies that I have seen, if I haven't seen the movie then I didn't list them. I'm sure I'll forget some and you might have a few that stick out in your mind so please do tell me your favorite ones in the comments below. I'll try to link a few more scenes from each movie just for fun. (I'm in a linking sort of mood).

1) Step Up - Final Dance Showcase
Channing Tatum (Tyler Gage) & Jenna Dewan (Nora)

Let's start out with a new movie, which most people probably haven't seen, partly because it is in the "teen movie" genre. But let me tell you the dance that Channing and Jenna do at the end of the movie is just awesome. These are two great young actors and dancers, that I hope to see in future movies (I know Channing is starting to make a name for himself YEAH!) I have a confession even though I'm in my well 30s I kind of love this movie and have a crush on Channing.


Here is another dance scene if you'd like.

2) Pulp Ficition
Uma Thurman (Mia Wallace) & John Travolta (Vincent Vega)

Ah yes the movie that brought back John Travolta's career, how could he not have at least one dance scene in this movie, that is what John is known for, of course you can't beat that he's dancing with the lovely Uma Thurman, but if we were to talk about my favorite part in this whole movie it would be when when Uma's character starts to OD on heroin and they have to give her an adrenaline shot, that scene just cracks me up, and as a bonus here's the link to that scene as well.



3) Singing in the Rain - Make Em Laugh
Donald O'Connor (Cosmo Brown)

Now this is one of my favorite classic movie, I love the music, the story, the dancing, I actually really enjoy the old classic musicals, they were made with such style and grace. There are so many dance scenes in this to choose from, but I think the one of Donald O'Connor dancing by himself trying to cheer up Gene Kelly (Don Lockwood) is the funniest, Donald O'Connor has such a talent with his dance moods they have called him the man whose "legs wouldn't quit". I'd like to see Britney try these moves ha-ha.



Here are a few other dance scenes from this movie as well.

4) The Full Monty - Final Strip Dance
Robert Carlyle (Gaz), Mark Addy (Dave), Steve Huison (Lomper), Tom Wilkinson (Gerald), Paul Barber (Horse), Hugo Speer (Guy).

I love this movie, about 6 guys from Sheffield, England who are out of work and trying to find a way to make some money, two friends stumble upon a Chippendales-like show and come up with the idea that they can do that too, but instead of just going down to go to the full monty (completely nude). It is a great movie about 6 regular men trying to figure out a way to help themselves and their families.

I love the final strip dance, from what I heard "the six leads did in fact perform a full-frontal strip-tease in front of 400 extras. Director Peter Cattaneo described it as "a one-take deal." Here is that final strip dance, (I've linked it as well because I was having problems with getting the video to play below).

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5) Fame - Lunch Scene
Irene Cara (Coco), Lee Curreri (Bruno), Gene Anthony Ray (Leroy)

When I was a kid I watched this movie and was convinced this was what high school was all about, I didn't realize that it was a "performance school" I really thought that was how high school was like, Here is one of my favorite scenes in the movie, lunch time dancing and singing.



Here is another dance scene from Fame.

6) Grease - Born to Hand Jive
The full cast of Grease

I can honestly say that most of us women have seen this movie many times and each time we watch it we fall in love with Danny all over again. We want to be Sandy (of course I always liked Rizzo the bad girl), and have our Danny. There are so many great songs and dance scenes in this movie it is hard to pick just one, but the Hand Jive dance competition has to be the most fun. (Plus I got to see Sha-na-na in concert when I was 5-6 years old).



Here are few more scenes from this great movie.

7) 13 Going on 30 - ThrillerJennifer Garner (Jenna Rink), Mark Ruffalo (Matt Flamhaff)

This movie is really cute, and we can all remember dancing to Michael Jackson's Thriller, how many times did you practice those moves, and how many of us wish that we could go to a party and just start dancing the Thriller, ha-ha, oh you know you want to.


8) Footloose - Prom Dance Scene
Kevin Bacon (Ren), Lori Singer (Ariel), Chris Penn (Willard), Sarah Jessica Parker (Rusty)

I remember watching this movie and loving the music, and the dance scenes, but what made me laugh years later is that the ridiculousness of the final scene, these are kids that can dance all the latest dance moves including break dancing yet they grew up in a town where dance and music were forbidden, how did they know? Still fun to watch though.



And you can't forget Kevin Bacon's solo dance

9) Flashdance - Final Dance Scene The Audition
Jennifer Beals (Alex), Marine Jahan (Dance Double)

This movie was I think one of the first R rated movies I ever saw and I think I snuck watching it because I knew that I wasn't supposed to see it. There are some great dance scenes in this movie. It is unfortunate that the women who actually danced these was not recognized until years later.



Here are a couple more dance scenes.

10) Swing Kids
Robert Sean Leonard (Peter Muller), Christian Bale (Thomas Berger),

Talk about great music and great dance, I wish they still danced like this now, I know in the mid 90s swing dance came back for a while, wish I had tried it more then I did, I should have taken a few lessons. This movie is about a "close-knit group of young kids in Nazi Germany who listen to banned swing music from the US. Soon dancing and fun leads to more difficult choices as the Nazi's begin tightening the grip on Germany. Each member of the group is forced to face some tough choices about right, wrong, and survival."



11) Rocky Horror Picture Show - Time WarpRichard O'Brien (Riff Raff), Patricia Quinn (Magenta), Nell Campbell (Columbia)

The first time I ever heard about the Rocky Horror Picture Show was from the movie Fame, and then when I got a bit older a friend of mine told me that they still play it at certain movie theaters (midnight showings) and that it is a huge affair, with actual actors playing out the parts that are on the movie screen. This was one of my favorite things to do when I was a teenager, we'd go down to Mill Avenue in Arizona and have a great time at the RHPS.



Here is Tim Curry singing I'm Just a Sweet Transvestite.

12) Scent of a Woman - Tango
Al Pacino, (Lt. Col Frank Slade), Gabrielle Anwar (Donna)

This scene I chose for my mother, who absolutely loves the Tango (she wants to go to Argentina for her 60th birthday to the town where the Tango was born). So here's to you mom, enjoy it is a great scene.



13) Dirty Dancing - Final Dance
Patrick Swayze (Johnny), Jennifer Grey (Baby)

How could you think I'd forget Dirty Dancing, this whole movie has great dance scenes. The music, the dance, the story gosh when I was younger I watched this movie over and over again, now I just fast forward to the great dance scenes.


Dirty Dancing - The best video clips are here

Here are some other great dance scenes from this movie.

So there is my list, I chose a variety of different kinds of dancing in movies, sometimes a movie has many different songs and dances in it, and other times it is just there for fun. I know I skipped a few of the major ones like Saturday Night Fever (John Travolta was already on the list twice), or Shall We Dance, Save the Last Dance and many others, maybe I'll do a TT with 13 great musicals or dance movies to showcase those.