Famous Dance Movies

After the last post about the movies coming up in 2009, I thought I'd post a list of dance movies. This list is by no means the definitive list. Feel free to suggest any films that I left out. These are mainly films where dancing is a large part of the film:

• A Chorus Line (1985): A Chorus Line is a musical about seventeen Broadway dancers auditioning for spots on a chorus line. With nineteen main characters, it is set on the bare stage of a Broadway theatre during an audition for a musical. The show provides a glimpse into the personalities of the performers and the choreographer as they describe the events that have shaped their lives and their decisions to become dancers. Rated PG-13
• All That Jazz (1979): All That Jazz is a 1979 American musical film directed by Bob Fosse. The screenplay by Robert Alan Aurthur and Fosse is a semi-autobiographical fantasy based on aspects of the dancer, choreographer, and director's life and career. The film was inspired by Fosse's manic effort to edit his film Lenny while simultaneously staging his 1975 Broadway musical Chicago. Rated R
• Billy Elliot (2000): Set in the fictional town of 'Everington' in the real County Durham, UK, it stars Jamie Bell as 11-year-old Billy, an aspiring dancer, Gary Lewis as his coal miner father, Jamie Draven as Billy's older brother, and Julie Walters as his ballet teacher. Rated PG-13
• Body Rock (1984): Chilly (Lorenzo Lamas), a guy from the streets, has a talent for break-dancing. When his moves catch the attention of an industry professional, he finds his dreams of fame and riches coming true. Rated PG-13
• Breakin’ (1984): A retelling of the 1957 musical West Side Story, which is based in turn on Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. Breakin' reverses the genders of the white/Puerto Rican couple. Rated PG
• Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogoloo (1984): The sequel sees the return of the stars from the original as they try to stop a developer from tearing down a neighborhood recreation center to build on. Rated PG
• Bring it On (2000): A champion high school cheerleading/dance squad discovers its prior captain stole all their top routines from an inner-city school and must scramble to battle at this year's championships. Rated PG-13
• Burn the Floor (1999): An explosive voyage through dance featuring several of the world's champion ballroom and Latin dancers. Rated PG-13
• Cabaret (1972): An American cabaret dancer, working at the downtown "Kit-Kat club" where anything goes on the stage, comes into contact with several characters that take her on a journey. Rated PG
• Center Stage (2000): A group of 12 teenagers from various backgrounds enroll at the American Ballet Academy in New York to make it as ballet dancers and each one deals with the problems and stress of training and getting ahead in the world of dance. Rated PG-13
• Center Stage: Turn It Up (2008): Dance romance sequel to the original. Rated PG-13
  
• Damn Yankees! (1958): Broadway musical about a Washington Senators fan who makes a pact with the Devil to help his baseball team win the league pennant. Rated PG
• Dance Academy (1988): Vince stumbles into a dance school, when he becomes entranced and joins. The school's manager, is about to throw him out for shenanigans when Moon, the school's unruly new jazz instructor, vouches for him. Rated PG
• Dance With Me (1998): Young Cuban Rafael just buried his mother, and comes to Houston to meet his father John for the first time. The difficult part is that John doesn't know he is Rafael's father. John runs a dance studio, and everyone prepares for the World Open Dance championship in Las Vegas. It soon becomes clear Rafael is a very good dancer, and Ruby (Vanessa Williams) is the biggest hope for the studio at the championship. Rated PG
• Dancemaker (1999): An Oscar-nominated documentary about dancing students that unravel the hardships of dance as a profession. Rated PG
• Dancers (1987): Mikhail Baryshnikov and Allesandra Ferri star in this drama about the life of dancers as they embark on a romance. Rated PG
• Danzòn (1991): Julia is a telephone operator who divides her time between her career, her daughter and the Danzòn: a Cuban dance that is very popular in Mexico and Central America. Rated PG-13
• Dirty Dancing (1987): Spending the summer in camp with her family, Frances falls head over heels for the dancing instructor. A must see for all dance lovers. Rated PG-13
• Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights (2004): An American girl and her parents arrive in Cuba right before the Revolution breaks out. She meets a local boy who instantly notices her dancing abilities and romances her. But as Castro's forces are forcing Americans to leave the country, will she stay or will she go? Rated PG-13
• Do You Wanna Dance? (1999): A comedy about a poor boy who aims to win over a well-to-do girl despite her parents' opposition (in the background of modern and traditional Greek dancing). Rated PG-13
• Fame (1980): At the New York City High School for the Performing Arts, students get expert training that often leads to success as dancers, singers, etc. This movie follows four students from the moment they audition to get into the school, through the time they graduate. Rated R
• Fast Forward (1985): A musical about eight dancers from Ohio, who come to New York, to compete in a major talent competition. Rated PG
• Flamenco (1975): A close-up look at the passionate and hard working life of Flamenco Dancers. Rated PG-13
• Flashdance (1983): A struggling Pittsburgh woman with two occupations as a welder and an exotic dancer wants to get into ballet school. Rated R
• Footloose (1984): A city boy comes to a small religious town where rock music and dancing have been forbidden and banned. Rated R
• Hairspray (2007): Pleasantly plump teenager Tracy Turnblad teaches 1962 Baltimore a thing or two about integration after landing a spot on a local TV dance show. Rated PG
• Honey (2003): Honey is a sexy, tough music video choreographer who’s life is shaken up after her mentor gives her an ultimatum: sleep with him or be blacklisted in the dance industry. Rated PG-13
• How She Move (2007): Following her sister's passing away from drugs, a high school student is forced to depart her private school to go back to her old, crime-filled neighborhood where she reawakens an dubious passion for step dancing. Rated PG-13
• Lambada (1990): A Beverly Hills teacher by day and a mystery man by night uses Lambada dance moves to first earn the school kid's respect, in order to teach them academics. But when a jealous student exposes his dual life, his two worlds crash, threatening his employment and reputation. Rated PG-13
• Mad Hot Ballroom (2005): A documentary about the students of several New York City elementary schools learn ballroom dancing and compete in a city wide dance competition. Rated PG
• Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing & Charm School (2005): A widowed man's life turns upside down when he embarks on a journey to find a dying man's long lost love. Rated PG-13.
• Planet B-Boy (2008): A documentary looks at the history of break-dancing’s influencing urban cultures around the world. Unrated
• Rize (2005): A documentary chronicling one of the newest forms of original dance that arises out of South Central Los Angeles with roots in clowning and street moves. Rated PG-13
• Roll Bounce (2005): A film with the backdrop of the 1970s roller-skating rival kids at the local rink. Rated PG-13
• Roseland (1977): Three intertwining stories, all set in the renowned New York dance palace with one thing in common: finding the right dance partner.
• Salsa (1988): A movie about Salsa, passion and performing. Rated PG
• Saturday Night Fever (1977): A young Brooklyn man feels his only opportunity to get somewhere is as king of the disco dance floor. Rated R
• Save the Last Dance (2001): A white Mid-western girl moves to Chicago, where her new boyfriend is a black teen from the South Side with a rough, semi-criminal past. She comes from a ballet background and dreams of getting into Julliard and he comes from a hip hop street style background, when their world’s collide so does their dancing. Rated PG-13
• Shall We Dance? (2004 and 1997): A workaholic takes an unexpected turn when he follows a beautiful woman to a dance studio and becomes a ballroom dancer. The earlier one is the original Japanese film with English sub-titles. Rated PG-13
• Showgirls (1995): A young girl pushes her way to the top of Vegas as a Vegas Showgirl despite the hardships thrown in her path. Rated R
• Singin’ in the Rain (1952): The classical musical. Rated G
• Stayin’ Alive (1983): A documentary: "Stayin' Alive" launched disco fever which endured through the last quarter of the 20th century and into the new millennium.
• Step Up (2006): A troubled teen commits a crime and is sentenced to community service in a dance school where he falls in love with dance and a girl. Rated PG-13
• Step Up 2: The Streets (2008): Romantic sparks occur between two dance students from different backgrounds at the Maryland School of the Arts. Rated PG-13
• Stepping Out (1991): An incredibly entertaining “feel-good” dance film for the whole family to enjoy. Rated PG
• Stomp the Yard (2007): A troubled street dancer from Los Angeles is able to avoid juvenile hall by enrolling in college. But his efforts are sidelined when he is courted by the top two fraternities, both of which want and need his street-style dance moves to win the national step show competition. Rated PG-13
• Strictly Ballroom (1992): A comedy about competitive Ballroom Dancing in Australia between an unorthodox male ballroom dancer and a mousy girl that musters up enough courage to join him in his quest to blaze a trail into ballroom dancing despite the cynicism surrounding them.
• Swing (2003): The story of a generational clash between a father and son about the conventional work life and following a dream. The music is hot, the dancing exciting, and the story lovely. Rated PG-13
• Swing Kids (1993): The story of a group of youth in Nazi Germany who listen and dance to forbidden swing regardless of the consequences. Rated PG-13
• Take the Lead (2006): The story of a dance teacher who believes in the talent of a group of problem kids he is required to teach. Rated PG-13
• Tango (1998): Mario is a tango dancer in his forties, whose wife has left him. He becomes inspired to make a film about tango. Rated PG-13
• Tap (1989): Just released from prison, Max Washington must decide which of his earlier professions to return to: burglary or tap dancing. Rated PG-13
• That’s Dancing! (1985): The history of dance documented on film. Rated G
• The Company (2003): A drama centered around ballet dancers, with a focus on one dancer who's poised to become a principal dancer. Rated PG-13
• The Forbidden Dance (1990): LAMBADA...If it got any hotter, it wouldn't be dancing! PG-13
• The In Crowd (1988): A young man of the rock and roll generation in his senior year of high school successfully gets on a popular teen dance television show and becomes a star. As he lives his new life, he finds adoring fans, jealous rivals, bitter friends left behind, and the girl of his dreams...his dance partner. Rated PG
• The Red Shoes (1948): A musical ballet of a girl who can’t stop dancing and dances until she goes mad and drops! Rated G
• The Tango Lesson (1997): A young girl meets a tango dancer on a trip to Paris, she meets him again in Buenos Aires some years later as they develop in love and in dance. Rated PG
• The Turning Point (1977): When her daughter joins a ballet company, a former dancer is forced to confront her long-ago decision to give up the stage to have a family. Rated PG
• White Nights (1985): An expatriate Russian dancer is on a plane forced to land on Soviet territory. He is faced with an opportunity to defect from Russia to the USA with the help of a US citizen he comes in contact with. He can become a dancer for the Bolshoi again back in Russia, but he chooses to escape to dance in America. Rated PG-13
• You Got Served (2004): In order to achieve their dream of opening a recording studio, two friends must first win their city's dance contest: a street style competition that pits them against a group of tough street dancers. Rated PG-13