Ten Great Non-Dance Movie Dances

The STEP UP movies have provided enjoyment and short lived inspiration to take dancing classes since 2006. The first STEP UP movie was the first big part for Channing Tatum (ignoring SHE’S THE MAN, of course), putting him on the map. Every STEP UP movie since, has been the same: two people from clashing worlds with rock-hard abs meet, first they fight, and then they dance it out, and finally get their mac on. It’s never been about the story though – the story can be repeated and dragged out – what people really want to see is if the choreography can get any better. This week STEP UP 4 premiered in the UK and to celebrate The Hollywood News brings you the 10 best non-dance movie dance sequences. Enjoy!

EVERYONE SAYS I LOVE YOU (1996)

Before Edward Norton played pretend games with Tyler Durden in FIGHT CLUB, he sang and danced under the instructions of Woody Allen. With an attention-grabbing voice – on the verge of being of the annoying kind – he sweetly sings ‘My Baby Loves Me For me’, and we love Eddy for the two step and jazz hands.

TROPIC THUNDER (2008)

Very few actors and characters can steal Robert Downey Jr’s thunder, particularly when he’s playing an Australian actor playing a black soldier. However, heartthrob and Hollywood legend Tom Cruise stole more than just the thunder, he stole he whole movie. With his douche dance moves and backfired sexy shakes to Ludacris’ ‘Get Back’ he proves that the credits are always worth waiting for. As if the toupee,the gut and the glasses weren’t enough to surprise us all, he adds just the sufficient self-ass-slapping to make one of the most memorable dance scenes.

ROMY AND MICHELLE’S HIGH SCHOOL REUNION (1997)

This is not a dream, nor is it anyone’s fantasy. A three-way dance between Lisa Kudrow, Alan Cumming and Mira Sorvino was the big finale and happy ending to the story of two blonde friends wanting to impress their former high school peers. We want to believe the spontaneity of the dance, so we’ll pretend it’s not choreographed and justify it by saying Romy and Michelle share the same brain. This might be one of the oddest happy endings known to man, but the beautiful dance interpretation of ‘Time after Time’ shows a combination of ballet and modern dance and earns the girls a spot on our list.

500 DAYS OF SUMMER (2009)

What do you do when you’ve just shagged your dream girl who looks just like Zooey Deschanel? Some might break out in song, others update their Facebook statuses accordingly, but the lovely protagonist Tom played by Joseph Gordon Levitt busts a move in the middle of the street and gets a large group of people to follow his steps. This great pick me-up scene is just bursting with happiness and notice the essential blue bird, taking this dance scene to even higher and happier clouds.

LOVE ACTUALLY (2003)

We knew it! This is what all prime ministers do; they take a dance tour in 10 Downing Street to a Pointer Sisters song. Critisize Hugh Grant for his repetitive acting as much as you like (I do it) but don’t underestimate the laughs his sliding-legs-dance brings to all romantic Christmas movie-lovers out there.

PULP FICTION (1994)

Iconic, classic, cool and completely weird. John Travolta and Uma Thurman have such a chemistry, that it didn’t matter if shoes were on or off, nobody cared what he was doing with that peace sign, or why it initially looked like they were going to battle. Quentin Tarantino creates a powerful scene, with five simple moves but performed in such intensity it couldn’t do anything but move the audience.

NEWSIES (1982)

Before Christian Bale was Batman he was a newsie. Little did we know that it required poor singing, thrusting dance moves and background newsies messing up their steps. NEWSIES is a musical based on the New York City newsboy strike of 1899. When young newspaper sellers are exploited by their bosses they set out to enact change and are meet by the ruthlessness of big business. Check out Gotham’s finest!

NAPOLEON DYNAMITE (2004)

It’s unbelievable to think a movie intentionally creating awkward situations with stiff characters could bring out a soulful performance by none other than Jon Heder. This one man show brings the best from the boogie years, and if I were in the audience I’d find it difficult to not at least give him a small snap of the fingers. Check out how Napoleon Dynamite moves his High School auditorium with his interpretive dance.

ROMEO + JULIET (1996)

They’re two star crossed lovers in Baz Luhrmann’s version of the greatest love story of all times, but neither Romeo nor Juliet has dance moves quite like Mercutio does. At the grand Capulet party, Harold Perrineau, who plays Mercutio shows us his best dance moves to ‘Young Hearts’ dressed as a woman. The white outfit, the wings, the wig and, of course, the moves all go together perfectly, so perfect it almost distracts from his not-so-feminine goatee.

THE BREAKFAST CLUB (1985)

Getting high, kissing, dancing and making friends doesn’t sound much like detention to me, but this is exactly how the five misfits spend their day of detention in THE BREAKFAST CLUB. After getting high we catch a glimpse of their baked dance-off and Molly Wingwald showcases her best 1980s freak out dance moves. It’s sad to see the dancing shoes come off, as the drugs wear off.

Do you have a favourite dance scene that we’ve missed? Make sure to comment and let us know what you think.