20 of the Most Memorable Dance Scenes in Movies

Song: Fats Domino - "I'm Ready"

Gizmo is by some way the cutest thing to have ever appeared in front of a camera. Only a heartless, blind idiot would debate that fact, and it’s in this dancing scene where he’s at his most adorable. Due to his build and arm length his repertoire of moves is somewhat limited, but he still manages to execute some good ones. Plus, Fats Domino’s "I’m Ready" is his “favorite song,” which makes him a surprisingly tasteful, discerning listener.

Song: Warrant - "Cherry Pie"

The only real-life dance scene on the list features youngster Billy entering an all-girl child beauty pageant disguised as Lindsey, under the sage tutelage of the titular bad grandpa, Johnny Knoxville. Whilst clearly borrowing from Little Miss Sunshine, Knoxville still adds some typically hysterical, trashy flourishes of his own, like when he makes it rain on Billy and when he chucks a bucket of water over him.

Song: Amy Holland - "She's On Fire"

Thank God Tony Montana had money, power and piles of drugs because there wasn’t a chance in Hell he was going to pick up any women with these dance moves, which recall a sober Chandler Bing more than anything else. It’s a delight to watch a scene that so expertly humanizes an immensely successful, powerful man by having him strike out so unsuccessfully with the opposite sex on the dancefloor—something that every mortal can relate to.

Song: Marco Antonio Solis - "Si No Te Hubieras Ido"

Has a moment of cinematic dancing ever been so consequential? This scene, which leads to a regrettable, drunken threesome that marks the depressing culmination and end of a close friendship, feels like a somehow natural progression of the sexual jealously that runs throughout Alfonso Cuaron’s modern classic.

Song: The Commodores - "Machine Gun"

If there’s one thing lacking in the modern club scene, it’s painstakingly synchronised dancing, and if there’s one thing lacking in modern cinema, it’s Mark Wahlberg getting down to funk music. So, if you ever find yourself missing those things, there’s always this ecstatic dance scene from Paul Thomas Anderson’s infinitely watchable Boogie Nights to make you feel OK, if just for a short while.

Song: Donna Summer - "Hot Stuff"

The Full Monty is full of great dance sequences but this short one earned a place on the list for its depiction of the steely British spirit. A bunch of unemployed men in the dole queue would, you’d think, be a little depressed, but rather than stare at the ground and mope, they’re overcome with the desire to dance to Donna Summer’s "Hot Stuff." It’s a paean to both the stiff upper lip and the transcendent power of disco.

Song: Thomas Newman - "Root Beer"

American Beauty has had to face a little criticism for its fetishization of teenage sexuality, but ignoring that, this scene, which triggers Lester Burnham’s mid-life crisis, is a thing of dream-laden beauty. Thomas Newman’s "Root Beer" is the perfect accompaniment to this heady and hazy trip through Lester’s subconscious. Despite the sinister music and darkness that surrounds Angela during her sensual dance, the naivety of Lester’s borderline sex-dream paints him somewhat innocently, like a teenager, instead of the predatory, sleazy adult he is, and that makes it one of the most unsettling dance sequences ever.

Song: Public Enemy - "Fight The Power"

Before he was a grumpy old man making awful English-language remakes of great Japanese films, Spike Lee was a vitally important filmmaker and Do The Right Thing is arguably his greatest work. Right from its opening credits the film bristles with youthful energy and burning socio-political thought, and in no scene do those two things collide more subtly than in this one, where Rosie Perez dances to Public Enemy’s politically-charged classic "Fight The Power." It’s possibly the most meaningful dance scene in film history, especially considering how the rest of the sweltering day in Brooklyn unfolds.

Song: Marc Shaiman - "Mamushka"

This is the only dance on the list that incorporates the hurling of deadly knives, so it’s automatically the most badass, most skillful and most impressive. Lord knows what the word "mamushka" means*, but it sounds really cool when sung against a Russian-tinged classical piece that features Angelica Huston playing a violin. Anyone with a brother, who no doubt bonds with them solely over video games, will likely come away from this scene feeling pretty shit about the fact that they don’t have a “dance of brotherly love” to share with their sibling, but any bitterness will surely subside after watching this classic 1991 tribute to weird families.

* "mother," apparently

Song: Q Lazzarus - "Goodbye Horses"

In tribute to the infamous Buffalo Bill scene in Silence of the Lambs, Kevin Smith gave his buddy Jay a chance to demonstrate his moves in front of the camera for Clerks 2, and the result was a lesson in seduction that we can all learn from. Strippers especially should take note of Jay’s sexy nipple pinching and coat-drop, but the artistry of his naked posing is utterly beautiful and should, by now, be a staple Tinder pic.

It is, frankly, a crime that it isn’t.

Song: Karla Devito - "We Are Not Alone"

The Breakfast Club is a portrait of the differences that bind us. Over the course of the film vastly different characters bond over a mutual hatred of detention and, as a result, all come to respect one another. Touching stuff for sure, but the dance scene is easily the best bit of it. By itself, Emilio Estevez’s air guitar is enough to warrant a place on this list, but beyond that, the group tabletop dancing is another hilarious highlight that every child of the '80s will remember forever.

Song: Michel Legrand - "The Madison Dance"

Jean Luc Goddard’s influence on film, particularly indie cinema, is almost unparalleled, and this legendary dance scene was what made Tarantino write the dance contest into Pulp Fiction. Try not to think about the synchronized clapping, classy outfits and pure smoothness on show here next time you go out clubbing, as you’ll just end up grimacing at all the drunken twerking and dudes getting topless.

Song: The Beatles - "Twist & Shout"

Anyone who’s not a loser will have pretended to be sick at least a couple of times to get out of going to school. The difference between everyone who does that and Ferris Bueller, though, is that whilst most of us used those days to suck down a few beers and watch nine hours of sitcoms, Ferris crashed the annual Von Steuben Day parade, commanded a large float and sung "Twist And Shout" to a dancing Chicago in one of the happiest films scenes ever.

Song: Geto Boys - "Still"

At a tragically short length of ten seconds, it might come as a surprise that this scene made the top five, but neither you nor us would want to live in a world where Samir’s drunken dancing to Geto Boys’ "Still" doesn’t place as highly as it has. With his weightless, flailing arms and virtuoso breakdancing, Samir could’ve seamlessly blended into the background of one of those woeful dance movies like Stomp The Yard. This scene, having just occurred after the iconic smashing of the printer, is a salute to office workers everywhere who hate their jobs and find justifiable solace in drink and dancing.

Song: Chuck Berry - "You Never Can Tell"

It’s a testament to Tarantino’s infinite coolness that he turned a somewhat lame, wedding dancefloor staple into an ice-cold, edgy dance move, if only for the duration of this scene. The jarring image of a sinister gangster and a junkie-wife of a gangster twisting in a restaurant for squares offers perhaps the funniest, most charming moment of a film which is perpetually funny and charming, even at it’s most violent. Beyond the allusion to Bande A Part is a much less obvious allusion to The Aristocats of all things, something which Tarantino explains in this Graham Norton video.

Song: Powermad - "Slaughterhouse"

In 2014 everyone with an Internet connection has had the joy of seeing Nicolas Cage totally losing his shit, but when David Lynch’s seminal Wild At Heart was released in 1990, Cage’s joyously manic behavior was a relatively new phenomenon. After Juliette Lewis has a semi-breakdown in response to the depressing radio news, she pulls over and demands that some music be played, and the scene that follows is a glorious tribute to the cathartic effects of music, even if that music is borderline-unlistenable. Really though, this scene is so amazing because Nicolas Cage performs a dazzling backflip out of a convertible before booting and karate chopping the air.

No other actor could dream of pulling off those moves like Nick does.

CLASSIC ALBUM COVERS REIMAGINED IWITH NICOLAS CAGE

Song: King Crimson - "Moonchild"

There’s little in this world that’s less sexy than prog music, and yet somehow Christina Ricci tap dancing alone in a bowling alley to King Crimson’s "Moonchild" is possibly the most casually sexy dance scene in film history. Totally departing from the film’s narrative for a minute of tap dancing is adventurous filmmaking, and totally worth the risk when the resulting scene is as artful and delicately beautiful as this one. Apparently, Christina Ricci, just like half of everyone else he’s worked with, hated the director, Vincent Gallo, but who cares about his personality when he produces dreamy stuff like this.

Song: Rick James - "Superfreak"

Never before has dirty dancing to Rick James’ paean to kinky, promiscuous girls looked so adorably naïve. After a tough few days filled with the sort of family drama that most of us are at least a little familiar with, the Hoovers bond in a heartwarming group dance-defence of their youngest member, Olive, that sees her banned from ever entering a pageant in the state of California again. Even after the twentieth watch of this film, when you know what’s coming, it still makes you cry with laughter at the thought that this is what sex-obsessed Grandpa has been teaching Olive for months.