Dance in the Movies
07/06/2013
Hollywood and dance have long been perfect partners and we look at our top ten dance-themed movies (in no particular order).....
1. Strictly Ballroom (1992)
An offbeat satire in which a young ballroom dancing sensation causes uproar among the traditionalist Australian Dance Federation when he tries out some radical new steps. His new routine horrifies all but the ugly duckling of his dance class who's just waiting to blossom. When she persuades him to partner her, he discovers a true soulmate who dares to be daring on the dance floor.
2. All That Jazz (1979)
Director/choreographer Bob Fosse tells his own life story as he details the sordid life of Joe Gideon (Roy Scheider), a womanizing, drug-using dancer.
3. Singin' in the Rain (1952)
Hollywood, 1927: the silent-film romantic team of Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly) and Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) is the toast of Tinseltown. While Lockwood and Lamont personify smoldering passions onscreen, in real life the down-to-earth Lockwood can't stand the egotistical, brainless Lina. He prefers the company of aspiring actress Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds), whom he met while escaping his screaming fans.
4. Saturday Night Fever (1977)
John Travolta plays Tony Manero, a Brooklyn paint-store clerk who'd give anything to break out of his dead-end existence. In life, Tony is a peasant; on the disco dance floor, he's a king. As the soundtrack plays one Bee Gees hit after another (including "Stayin' Alive"), we watch white-suited Tony strut his stuff amidst flashing lights and sweaty, undulating bodies.
5. Flashdance (1983)
Jennifer Beals stars as Alex Owens, a Pittsburgh steel-mill welder by day, and bar dancer by night, harbouring dreams of a career in ballet. Essentially an old-fashioned backstage yarn, Flashdance was given a contemporary spin by its pulsating, musical score featuring the Oscar-winning Best Song, Flashdance...What a Feeling.
6. West Side Story (1961)
Romeo and Juliet is updated to the tenements of New York City in this Oscar-winning musical landmark. Focussing on the war between two rival street gangs, the Jets and the Sharks, West Side Story is an epic and tragic love story with some of the most startling and balletic dance sequences ever recorded on film.
7. Footloose (1984)
In this lively adolescent-oriented musical, a city kid attempts to adapt to life in an ultra-conservative backwater Midwestern town. Once there, he ends up leading the repressed teenagers into a rebellion against the town fathers, who have outlawed rock & roll and dancing.
8. Dirty Dancing (1987)
A teenage girl learns about love, adult responsibility, and how to do The Dirty Boogie in this romantic drama. "Baby" spends the summer at a resort in the Catskills with her family and falls in love with one of the dancers, Johnny Castle. Dirty Dancing was a surprise box-office hit, and the soundtrack album was an even bigger success, spawning several hit singles.
9. Top Hat (1935)
One of the best of the Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers musicals, Top Hat centers on a typical mistaken-identity plot, with wealthy Dale Tremont (Rogers), on holiday in London and Venice, assuming that American entertainer Jerry Travers (Astaire) is the husband of her friend Madge (Helen Broderick) -- who's actually the wife of Jerry's business manager Horace Hardwick (Edward Everett Horton).
10. Step Up (2006)
Street dance teen movie in which Tyler Gage receives the opportunity of a lifetime after vandalizing a performing arts school, gaining him the chance to earn a scholarship and dance with an up and coming dancer, Nora.