>> Speaker 1: Since the very first appearance of sound,
there has been music in movies.
And where there's music, there's dancing.
And while not every film has a dance number, here are some of the best yet.
These are the top ten dance scenes of all time.
>> [MUSIC]
>> Speaker 1: From the cafeteria dance of Grease,
to the sharks and the jets of West Side Story, to the title number of 42nd Street.
Broadway's given us some of the most exciting and
extravagant dance numbers ever.
So for our number ten,
it's no surprise we're going with the cell block tango from Chicago.
>> Speaker 2: Six.
>> Speaker 3: Squish.
>> Speaker 2: Cicero.
Lipschitz.
>> Speaker 1: Choreographer and
director Rob Marshall pays homage to the original Bob Fosse jazz style from
the 1975 Broadway production with this violent tango.
Finding a perfect mixture between sexuality and
aggression in the choreography with a bit of humor mixed in for good measure.
And there's a reason Chicago was the first musical to win Best Picture since 1969.
The story telling through dance is impeccable.
Pay attention to the symbolic use of red handkerchiefs,
the razor sharp position of the tango moves and the mounting climax of the song.
Put it all together, and you have the makings of a seriously incredible dance.
Of course if we are talking ballroom dancing,
there's an entire catalog to pick from.
There's strictly Ballroom, Take The Lead, Madonna's crazy swing dance from A League
of Their Own, and even the number from Adam's Family Values.
But for number nine, we're going with another tango.
This time, from Shall We Dance.
Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez's steamy night time twirl was choreographed by
Joann Jansen and Liz Curtis to the tune of the sleek accordion sounds of Santa Maria.
And while the shadowy intimacy in yellow sodium vapor lights
add to the mysterious flare of the routine.
There's nothing mysterious about why this dance.
And has nothing to do with the double.
No, Gere and Lopez did all their own steps here.
It just comes down to hard work.
Three hours a day for four months in preparation for the movie.
If you don't watch this dance number and walk away wanting to tango,
you might just not be human.
>> Speaker 2: Peter is alive.
Be this alive tomorrow.
>> Speaker 1: Now sometimes a dance scene is top ten material not for
its groundbreaking choreography or pinpoint precision, but for
how memorable the dance became.
And while dance breaks like the ones from Risky Business, Saturday Night Fever,
Pulp Fiction, The Bawling Dynamite, and Little Miss Sunshine stick in her memory.
There's nothing quite so memorable as our number eight.
The final dance
from Dirty Dancing.
>> [MUSIC]
>> Speaker 1: The film's choreographer, Kenny Ortega,
was trained by Gene Kelly himself.
So the pedigree is all there.
And he didn't have much trouble with Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze either.
Both of whom had lots of dance experience and did all of their own moves.
But it all came down to that grand final lift, a moment so
important to cinema dance history, that is ingrained in Hollywood culture forever.
Eclipsing almost everything else from the routine.
Interestingly enough, Jennifer Grey was so scared to rehearse the move,
that the shot seen on screen is their very first try.
Which means that in this case,
cinema history was made by basically just going for it.
>> [MUSIC]
>> Speaker 1: There's hardly a name that's defined Hollywood dancing more than
Busby Berkeley.
Even if you don't know him, you probably know him.
He's the creator of elaborate geometric dance formations the world over.
Those sequences in the Producer's, the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and
the Big Lebowski, yeah.
They're paying homage to Berkeley.
After working as a field artillery lieutenant during World War I.
Berkeley brought his formation experience to the choreography world as he directed
a massive group of dancers with military precision.
And while his numbers with Dames, Million Dollar Mermaid,
and The Gang's All Here are worth a watch.
For our number seven we're going with his career masterpiece,
Gold Diggers of In 1935.
The film's lullaby on BroadWay was an instant classic, but
the words [INAUDIBLE] apart might be just a little bit better.
What starts out as a simple lullaby turns out into an astoundingly complex
number complete with 56 synchronized grand pianos.
But before you write them up for cheating, you should know that the pianos weren't
driven on a track by gears or pulled along by wires but
piloted by dancers hidden underneath dressed in an all-black disguise.
Truly incredible.
>> [MUSIC] >> Speaker 1: Now if you hadn't picked
up on how sexy dancing can be, you haven't been paying attention.
But for our number six,
we want to single out one of the most titillating dances of all.
And while this could easily go to Flashdance's mania, Frida's Tango or
especially From Dusk till Dawn striptease.
Our number six goes to a different kind of stripping.
>> Speaker 6: This next performer who's coming out is one of a kind.
>> [APPLAUSE] >> Speaker 6: Our feature presentation,
the one and only- >> [APPLAUSE]
>> Speaker 6: The star of the show, Mr.
Magic Mike.
>> [APPLAUSE] >> Speaker 1: That's right,
one of the hottest film dances out there goes to Channing Tatum
grinding it out to some Ginuwine.
There's no denying that Tatum's got some serious moves,
courtesy of his dance experience and eight months stripping for cash.
And you can bet we'll be circling back to one of his other franchises.
But right now, we have to give it up for the acrobatics and the charisma
of the routine, courtesy of choreographers Alison Faulk and Teresa Espinosa.
Moving along at number five,
where would a list of dance routines be without turning to Bollywood?
And while it would be all too easy to honor Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire and
call it a day, we'd rather look at some of the actual Bollywood classics.
And while numbers like Dhoom Machale and Dola Re Dola really shine,
there's nothing like the train top Chaiyya Chaiyya from Dil Se.
>> [MUSIC]
>> Speaker 1: First of all, the song is crazy catchy.
Just try listening to it and not singing along to the chorus halfway through.
It's actually the ninth most popular song in the world of all time,
according to a BBC survey.
And while Farah Khan's choreography might not
be as flashy as some of the other entries on this list.
They did on top of a moving train.
That's right no trick photography, no green screens,
just a bunch of dancers are top on the train.
>> [MUSIC]
>> Speaker 1: Professional dance companies have often been the central interest of
films from Black Swan to Center Stage, ballet has often been the focus.
But for our number four we're taking a totally different approach with Pina.
Pina is actually a documentary about one of modern dance theaters most
comic choreography.
Pina Bausch.
Directed by her close friend Wim Wenders, Pina was reaching the end of preproduction
when Bausch died suddenly days before shooting.
Wenders immediately shut down the production,
but eventually finished the film at the request of some of her students.
This time as a memoir to the great choreographer.
Now, if you're not familiar with modern dance, it can be a little jarring.
But there's a certain beauty to the madness.
And nowhere more so than in Pina's Vollmond.
The individual vignettes like trust, love and obstacle are beautiful.
But the work of Bausch herself is the standout choreography of the film.
Immersing us into the wild mind of a modern dance [INAUDIBLE].
>> [MUSIC]
>> Speaker 1: There's no denying tha hip hop dance movies have reached saturation.
But it's hard to complain because the level of choreography that has
been reached it's just so damn good.
>From Stomp the Yard,
to You Got Served to How She Move and of course the mega series that is Step Up.
The car dancing revolution, the red hook battle in 3D and
of course the finale from the one that's started everything.
But our number three goes to the final rain dance from Step Up 2: The Streets
[NOISE]
>> [MUSIC]
[APPLAUSE].
>> Speaker 1: Choreographed by Dave Scott high hat [INAUDIBLE] scenes.
This pitch perfect finale was actually filmed in the winter time with most of
the dances done in space blankets between takes to stay warm from the water.
But it's got every food group of a great dance scene.
Crazy acrobatic moves, flawless group routines,
a little dose of sex appeal, and a healthy serving of to top it all off.
Put it all together, and
you get a superlative dance number in a series of incredible choreography.
When we think of the golden age of movie dances,
our minds first go to Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire.
Two legend of their time, it's next to impossible to pick a favorite, but
since we're in the business of picking top ten's and not ties, we have to.
But where to begin
>> [MUSIC] >> Speaker 1: Astaire's Top Hat,
Kelly's An American in Paris,
Royal Wedding, Swingtime, of course there was never any real choice.
Our number two has to go to the title number Singin' in the Rain.
>> [MUSIC] >> Speaker 7: I'm singing in the rain,
just singing in the rain, what a glorious feeling I'm happy again.
>> [MUSIC]
>> Speaker 1: Choreographed by Kelly himself, Singin' in the Rain is a mere
perfect mix of everything that made golden age musicals great.
>From the joyful choreography to the incredible music water.
And it certainly doesn't hurt that it is possibly one of Hollywood's most
iconic dance moves of all time.
But to take it just a little further over the top.
Kelly spent the entire rain soaked week shooting the sequence with a fever over
101.
Which just makes this already spectacular number that much more impressive
>> [MUSIC]
[APPLAUSE].
>> Speaker 1: Coming in at our number one with a classic
dance to one that is much less well-known.
With the Nicholas brothers and virtuoso flashdance band and
jumping jive in Stormy Weather.
>> [MUSIC]
>> Speaker 1: The Nicholas brothers, Harold and Fayard,
are two of the greatest dancers that most people have never heard of.
Growing up with no formal training whatsoever,
Fayer taught himself to dance by emulating entertainers of that day.
And his younger brother Harold learned by emulating him in turn.
Fred Astaire called their drunken jive performance the greatest movie
musical number he had ever seen.
Mikhail Baryshnikov,
the ballet legend, called them the most amazing dancers he'd ever encountered.
And the brothers' students included a veritable who's who in
tap dance history and Michael Jackson.
Choreographed by the brothers and
Nick Castle, the dance number pretty much speaks for itself.
Flying across the stage, onto the bandstand and atop the grand piano.
The brothers' acrobatics are as astounding as Cab Calloway's
live rendering of Jumpin' Jive is catchy.
And their final leap frogging splits down the stairs, completely unrehearsed and
filmed on the first take.
It's not hard to see why the brothers
are legends which is why jump and
jive Is our number one dance scene of all time.
>> [MUSIC]
[APPLAUSE] >> Speaker 1: So what do you think?
Do you disagree with one of our choices?
Did we leave out one of your favorite movie dances?
Let us know in the comments below and
be sure to subscribe for
more Cinefix movie lists.
>> [MUSIC]