I’ve seen it all: Dance Moms, endless streams of YouTube choreographies, sophisticated documentaries, and of course, Dance Flicks. I come for the dance, but I'd enjoy the stay so much more if movies that cater to dance lovers held themselves to a higher standard. I’ve been sorely disappointed to find many dance movies missing some combination of cohesive plot, character development, and good acting. I’ve also felt it necessary to add commentary on appropriation for this genre, which features prominently in all movies about dance I’ve seen in recent memory.
(Beware of flagrant spoilers.)
Dirty Dancing
The Plot: Irritating girl with fluffy hair and creepy nickname has her first introduction to sensuality and becomes hot mama over the course of a summer vacation. Executes the dance move tipsy women have been re-enacting since 1987.
Memorable scenes: It’s hard to beat Suyaze’s dance solo in the final scene, but always find myself partial to the the watermelon scene.
Dancing: The “dirty dancing,” a free-from style of dance that borrows from a number of dance styles, including swing dance, blues dance, tango, and samba, is fun to watch, and even if you don't believe Baby could develop rhythm and coordination in such short amount of time, she really kills it in the end.
Appropriation: This movie actually has a lot of potential for talking about important subjects, like abortion and class, and slum tourism, but instead of that we get the dance montage to the song “Hungry Eyes”. Slum tourism is kind of Baby’s “thing”, and the “dirty dancing” is glamorized but still whitewashed.
Final Verdict: 2 stars.
Like many classics, we watch it because it’s iconic, not because they're particularly great cinematography.
High Strung
Doe-eyed white girl hops out of a cab and convinces local artists that her chosen artistic path is ~the way~. “Moody” brit with troubled past provides little push back. Weak plot devices move the story to its predictable ending.
Memorable scenes: The scene is undoubtedly the violin duel, but the movie gets high creativity points for the dance off at the Irish Bar and its complete lack of irony at every turn.
Dancing: 2 minutes into the movie, Ian Eastwood, incredibly talented youtube star makes an appearance, so I knew the dancing was going to be really incredible. I wasn’t disappointed.
Appropriation: All characters of color could be taken out of this movie, instead they keep them around as a backdrop for a white kid love story.
Final Verdict: 0.5 stars.
If you’re in if for the D-A-N-C-E, you’re good, but don’t watch it expecting a good movie.
Another Cinderella Story
Selena Gomez’s stunt double works overtime to make Cinderella something akin to edgy. There is a dance competition*, and she gets the guy**.
Memorable scenes: I do enjoy the final dance scene, but most memorable is the “Tell Me Something I Don’t Know”, a music video for a song featured in the movie, but not actually a part of the film at all.
Dancing: Fun and exciting in a Disney Channel way - think of this as Selena's Camp Rock.
Appropriation: The storyline certainly isn’t original, but the dancing itself seems fresh.
Final Verdict: 2 stars.
If you want a Cinderella remake with dancing, watch the Brandi version. Duh.
Save the Last Dance
Girl from 10 Things I Hate About You moves to Chicago and proves she’s down enough to chill with Kerry Washington at the club. She then proceeds to stomp all over the hearts of her classmates by capturing the heart of her inner city school’s most eligible bachelor.
Memorable scenes: Kerry Washington goes full Olivia Pope on Sara when she complains about people hating on her interracial relationship. It’s a scene that’s incredibly relevant contemporary conversation on allyship.
Dancing: Ehh. Early 2000s club moves don’t do much for me, but it’s always fun to let the waves of nostalgia wash over you.
Appropriation: Girl not only dates “the only decent black man” in Chicago, she takes his dance moves to Juilliard. Of course.
Final Verdict: 3.5 stars.
This film goes beyond throwing in black people to add some street cred - it engages with the complications that race creates. Months after watching this film, I still haven’t come to terms with the ending of this film.
Step Up 2: The Streets
Andie learns how to dance in the streets that raised her, and almost abandons her crew for that institutionalized dance lyfe and hottie with a body love interest, Robert Hoffman.
Memorable scenes: I watch this film for 2 chunks: The first is all scenes connected to Missy's party. The second chunk is Andie's pump up speech near the end of the film, where she delivers words to live by: “It’s not what you got, it’s what you make with what you got.”
Dancing: They can all move, Andie sort of twerks too often, and the production value is sky high.
Appropriation: Appropriation and origin lie at the heart of this story, so at the very least, they've found a way to make an unpleasant staple of the genre more palatable.
Final verdict: 4 stars.
It’s not perfect, but it has a plot, and one that makes sense. If you already like dance movies, it’s definitely worth a shot.
**I could have easily written “there is a competition and they win” in every synopsis. **And they always get together in the end, it’s a given.
