Top 10 - DANCE MOVIES

Top 10 - Dance Movies

Over many years, the Dance Movie has been a staple diet of movie goers - from Astaire and Rogers through to Travolta and now the current Step Up series drawing their influence from the street. This Top 10 looks at some of the best particularly those of the latter 1900’s. Are there some movies that should be here? Let me know and I will post your Top 10 Dance Movies!

10 - The Full Monty 1997

While this may not be a dance movie per se, there is plenty of dancing in it. The fact that the dancing is done by ordinary blokes in some very desperate circumstances is what makes it special. Their clandestine practice sessions are often hilarious, even very touching. But anyone who can keep a straight face as the boys finally get down to "the full monty" is made of stone.

9 - Swing Time 1936

Fred and Ginger! You have to pay respect to the originals, and these guys were the best. Considered the best Astaire/Rogers collaboration, Swing Time did mark the beginning of the end for the duo’s popularity. But what an end. With several dance sequences oft described as classics, Fred and Ginger showed why they owned the 1930s ‘dance-musical’ genre.

8 - White Nights 1985

One lead actor was a highly accomplished tap dancer, the other considered one of the greatest ballet dancers of the 20th century. Gregory Hines and Mikhail Baryshnikov play Cold War east-west defectors, but in opposite directions. Stuck in Soviet-era Leningrad, they teach each other more than a few dance moves. You don’t have to be a fan of tap or ballet to appreciate what these two masters can do.

7 – Showgirls 1995

Any dance list has to have an "exotic" representative, and this is it. The all-time classic it’s-so-good-its-bad movie, Showgirls’ dance sequences are entertaining not because the dancers are naked most of the time, but because the routines themselves are totally devoid of any sexiness even more of the time.

6 - Strictly Ballroom 1992

An Australian dance movie is an absolute cracker. Not as stylised as Baz Luhrmann’s follow-up films, Ballroom tells the very Aussie tale of a dancer railing against authority and ‘dancing own steps.’ As the rebellious dancer in question, Paul Mercurio managed to make ballroom dancing, and Chesty Bonds singlets, remarkably sexy.

5 - Breakin’ 1984

A precursor to today’s dance films, Breakin’ grabbed a hold of the urban phenomenon of boom boxes and dancing on pieces of cardboard, and wrapped it around a re-telling of West Side Story. Makes great use of the ever-reliable montage for many of its robot and caterpillar sequences, but it’s the two dance offs between our heroes, Ozone and Turbo, and their breakin’ enemies, Electro Rock, that really steal the show. Also look for the screen debut of Jean-Claude Van Damme in the crowd of an early dance scene

4 - Dirty Dancing 1987

“Nobody puts Baby in a corner”. This is so romantic as in 1987, when Patrick Swayze’s hunky and rebellious dance teacher, Johnny, shared some moves, and a few life lessons, with Jennifer Grey’s aptly named Baby. Swayze’s years of dance training are on full display, ranging from fun and sweaty with his fellow hotel employees, to the more classic and very sexy, slow moves with his lady. Small wonder he was the choice for sensitive sex symbol of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s.

3 – Flashdance 1983

The unlikely first collaboration between ‘80s popcorn blockbuster kings Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer sees Jennifer Beals with dreams of breaking away from her blue-collar life and into Pittsburgh’s professional dance academy. Often homaged, or just plain ripped off, Flashdance may well be the quintessential 1980s dance movie experience. Legwarmers never looked so good

2 – Footloose 1984

A small town where dancing is illegal? What’s a hip big city teen to do? Dance! A movie happily filed in the "so ridiculous its fun" basket, Footloose sees Kevin Bacon helping a religious Mid-West town, along with its preacher’s daughter, to regain its soul and love of life through the thrill of dancing. Unashamedly of its time, it has some great dance montages set to fantastic ‘80s music. The highlight has to be a fed-up Bacon letting off steam by performing an impromptu dance and gymnastics routine in an abandoned factory.

1 - Saturday Night Fever 1977

That suit. That hair. Those Bee Gees. Could it possibly have been any better? The film that launched John Travolta to superstardom was the seminal movie of the disco era. A look inside the clubs of the 1970s, Fever successfully mixes a solid story, powered by Travolta’s commanding performance, with some truly knockout dance sequences. Travolta’s Tony Manero taking over the dance floor to the tune of You Should Be Dancin’ is worth the price of admission alone. Saturday Night Fever is the one that all other dance movies look up to. Not a bad soundtrack either.