Favorite Dance Movies

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meltzerboy

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“Swing Time” was on TCM last night, with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. So I got to thinking about movies in which dancing is the main attraction. Do you have any particular favorites? “Swing Time” and “Top Hat” are two of mine.
 
Singing in the Rain, The Bandwagon, Brigadoon, Seven Brides for Severn Brothers, West Side Story, and the list goes on. 🙂
 
Have to go with “West Side Story”. Best choreography in any movie.
 
Also White Christmas and Holiday Inn. 🙂 Of the movies listed (I’ve not seen all of them), I have favorite dance sequences that epitomize the times and the movie’s theme that make them classics, which is what I love about them and why I watch them again and again.
 
For Shall We Dance, I meant the one with Richard Gere and the Japanese original too.
Not the film with Fred Astaire.
 
Turning Point
Dirty Dancing
Footloose

West Side Story is my absolute favorite and I could watch that movie over and over again.

Center Stage is a guilty pleasure for me.

It’s tough to actually appreciate it as a “good” dance movie. I used to dance ballet on a professional level and I taught ballet too.

I didn’t like it because it was totally unrealistic. The choreographed pieces at the end were a bit much.
 
The dance number in White Christmas .
The Best Things Happen When You’re Dancing.

Best ever.
 
Singin’ In the Rain
Shall We Dance (Fred & Ginger)
Swing Time (Fred & Ginger)
West Side Story

Rita Hayworth was a pretty good dancer and I enjoy these two films…

Cover Girl (with Gene Kelly)
You Were Never Lovelier (with Fred Astaire)
 
The dance, “We are maidens typical of France” in the opening scenes of Can-Can. Juliette Prowse led the chorus line. They were so good that their steps all came down at the same instant. It doesn’t show in this video clip, but it looks like she’s in her stocking feet, probably because she was so tall.

Also, a bit dated, the sensual Carol Lombard and George Raft dancing to the Bolero in the movie of the same name. Toward the end, he looks like he’s in pain. That’s because his character was ill and dies just before the end. Look carefully for Fred Mertz.
 
In no particular order:
  • Flashdance
  • Holiday Inn
  • West Side Story
  • Bye-bye Birdie
  • Finian’s Rainbow
  • All That Jazz
  • Dirty Dancing
Undoubtedly others.

:dancing:
tee
 
Some of my favorites have been mentioned already. I would add:

An American in Paris starring Gene Kelly (especially the extended dance sequence at the end)

My Fair Lady starring Audrey Hepburn - the “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly” sequence is a favorite. Also, back at the end of January after I attended a swing dance in Pittsburgh, I had Audrey’s performance of “I Could Have Danced All Night” going through my head. Because, I really could have. 🙂

I used to like Dirty Dancing, but reflection on its abortion subplot has soured me on it.
 
Silk Stockings with Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse. It was a musical version of the 1939 film Ninotchka with Greta Garbo and Melvyn Douglas.
 
Oh yeah!
That rooftop dance by Dick Van **** in Mary Poppins.
Amazing.
 
pianistclare said:
Oh yeah!
That rooftop dance by Dick Van **** in Mary Poppins.
Amazing.
Click to expand...
Yes, I remember the first time I saw it how inventive it was for the times. 👍

I always thought that “Feed the Birds” ought to have won the Oscar for best song not “Chim-chim-cheree,” but I digress.
 
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