Favorite Dance Films!

Howdy!

I’m back with another list of films. This time, we are going to be discussing my favorite dance movies. I will say this, I have a lot. I actually wrote out a few movies one night on my To Do List pad, and I only had like four movies and then before I went to work on this post, I went on Google and realized “wow, I missed quite a few!” so it grew to like eight movies total!

I was going to open it up a little bit and add the singing aspect of it, but I figured we’d be here forever, so if you’d like to see that list, just let me know!

Dirty Dancing (1987) – Jennifer Grey, Patrick Swayze, Jerry Orbach, Cynthia Rhodes

Okay, first off if you are going to have a “favorite dance movie” list, Dirty Dancing has to be somewhere on that list, whether it’s at the top or somewhere in the middle is up to you, but it has got to be on this list in general!

I actually wasn’t introduced to this movie until later on in my preteen years! I think I saw it the same time frame I watched Grease for the first time. I love both of them just as much, but Dirty Dancing is probably my favorite though. This is such a sexy, but fun movie! I think I had more of a crush on Jennifer than I ever did for Patrick! As you’ll find out in this post, I like both ballet and ballroom dancing and I’m happy to say I enjoyed both before watching the dancing competitions on TV! And yes, I watched and absolutely loved that Jennifer went on Dancing With The Stars a few years ago!

Center Stage (2000) – Amanda Schull, Zoe Saldana, Peter Gallagher, Ethan Stiefel

I want to say that Center Stage was probably second dancing movie I ever was introduced to, but I cannot figure out who showed it to me, because I think I was still in middle school when I watched it the first time, but I think I might’ve watched it on Oxygen one afternoon and ended up liking it a lot. This has happened once before with Where The Heart Is. 

This one introduced me to the dark sides of ballet, between the concerns of the dancers weight and limited space in different companies, after finishing it I remember thinking to myself “maybe it is a good thing I’m disabled!” I’ve always loved all kinds of dance, but ballet is at the top, even though I’ve never seen a real show or know any of the meanings or stories of the ballets besides The Nutcracker.

Save The Last Dance (2001) – Julia Stiles, Sean Patrick Thomas, Kerry Washington, Fredro Starr

I remember my mom told me about this movie when I was little, her words were “it has a big car explosion in it” and when I did eventually watch it with her, butt explosion wasn’t as big as she had explained. However, I ended up loving the story so much that I didn’t really care! Everything about it was brilliant for somebody at my age, because I learned about loyalty, standing up for myself, and seeing passed somebody else’s differences. I don’t understand racism and I still hate that I see specks of it everyday and I feel very ashamed of my ancestors who ever owned slaves centuries ago.

You Got Served (2004) – Omarion, Marques Houston, Steve Harvey, Jennifer Freeman, Meagan Good

You know you’ve seen a movie too many times in your life, when you don’t need to look up anything about that certain film because you know everything about it! I was addicted to this movie when I was like 13 or 15 years old. I watched that DVD so many times that I think by the time I started my sophomore year, it stopped working for me, and the same goes for the soundtrack too!

After getting into STLD, I figured this one would grab me and never let me go too! I loved the atmosphere of it, the dances were so crazy and yes, the last battle is probably the best of the movie. I usually always cry while watching it but it is so sweet!

Take The Lead (2006) – Antonio Banderas, Alfre Woodard, Rob Brown, Yaya DeCosta, Laura Bernati

This is the second movie that I got into that involved ballroom dancing, but I think it showed you more of the styles than Dirty Dancing. I thought it was an interesting film the first time I watched it, as high schoolers are fairly difficult to “break” as they don’t like to listen and generally hate dancing with a partner. It takes a very patient and clever person to make this happen!

Fun fact: Yaya DeCosta was a contestant on America’s Next Top Model a couple of years before this came out. I really loved her in this movie and she looked beautiful in that purple dress! And yes, Jenna Dewan is in this film too! She plays the character “Sasha” and has that big dance with the boys at the end. It’s probably one of my favorite scenes.

Step Up (2006) – Channing Tatum, Jenna Dewan, Mario, Drew Sidora,

Oh yes! We have to talk about Step Up! I feel like Dirty Dancing was probably the ultimate dance movie in the late 80’s whereas Step Up became the best of the best of dance movies for the younger generations! Since I’ve seen both probably in the four years between each one, don’t ask me which movie I love the most, because I cannot answer it honestly!

It still shocks me that Channing and Jenna got married and had a kid after meeting on this movie, like holy crap! You got to see the love blossom in this movie and it actually makes me want to believe in love, but then after I finish it, my black heart comes back around and reminds me why I don’t believe in it.

Update: Four days after I officially finished on this post, it was announced that they were separating and I’ve been very sad about ever since.

Burlesque (2010) – Christina Aguilera, Cher, Stanley Tucci, Kristen Bell, Eric Dane

I love Burlesque! In 2015, my mom, Aunt Laurie, nana, and I went out to do some Christmas shopping at Dollar Store and my mom found the DVD, she pointed it out and asked if I wanted to get it, but somehow we never got it. I’m still stumped about it honestly, because she knows how much I loved it that why didn’t she just get for me anyways? It also wasn’t even that expensive either!

I know there are some scenes that were very corny, and seemed like they were taken from Coyote Ugly, but I really enjoyed it. I never knew about burlesque before watching the film and afterwards all I wanted to do was learn all about it, so that’s why I have a whole board on Pinterest dedicated to the form of performing! I really loved Cher and Christina Aguilera’s characters, but I really loved Kristen Bell as the bad girl “Nikki” she made me laugh and feel sorry for her. Oh and Stanley Tucci plays a good gay guy too!

Footloose (2011) – Julianne Hough, Kenny Wormald, Miles Teller, Dennis Quaid, Andie MacDowell

Last one, is Footloose and I must apologize for anyone who thought I would be discussing the original version, but I have never seen it! In 2011, my mom, sister and I went to see it in theaters and we really enjoyed it a lot. I was so glad to see Julianne Hough as the title lead, and I remember Kenny from the second installment of Center Stage that came out in 2005 I think. Oh, and we LOVED Miles as “Willard” he was such a fun character! Even my dad liked him after we rented the movie for a weekend.

If you haven’t seen any of these movies, you definitely look into them, because they’re all very good in their way! And every single film has a great soundtrack too. There are a few movies that I may not watch as much anymore but I still listen to the soundtrack almost every other day.

Are you a fan of dance films too? Did I put any of them on this list? Let me know below!

REVIEW | Flesh and Bone

The day finally came. Starz new series Flesh And Bone officially started this past Sunday night. I have been looking forward to this show since I first saw the trailer of it over the summer – summer people! This show has been on my radar for that long, are you freaking kidding me right now?!

The show is about a young woman named Claire who wants to escape her life and she gets an audition at American City Ballet. She gets in on her first try and moves into a small apartment with a fellow ballerina named Mia. The first day being in the room with the other dancers and instructors. It doesn’t go very well but then things kind of change in an interesting way. The artistic director Paul sees something Claire and basically wants to use her to not only make her a star but also help their company. Claire’s very quiet and almost jumpy, You kind of don’t know what her deal is until the very end of the first episode and then her introvert way of life makes total sense. This show already has that raw and twisty sense of the story line for these characters. I seriously can’t wait to see what happens in the season.

I love dance! I have a strong weakness for ballet, I’ll never have the body for it. My feet are already deformed enough. I’ve always admired a person who dances ballet professionally because it all seems like a lot of pressure to take on all at once. From achieving the perfect weight, feet, and nailing each move every single time it’s performed, I wouldn’t be able to handle it. So kudos to you if you are or have danced professionally! This show is on Starz, so it’s a little sexualized but it’s not entirely that bad. The sex scenes would literally come out of nowhere. I watched the first episode in my room, my eyes never taking off the screen. So imagine for a minute, I was totally into the soft, graceful dances and BAM! Sex scene. Apparently they didn’t bother me that much!

When it was Claire’s first day with her fellow dancers, you might see a familiar face. If you watched the movie Center Stage anytime in your life, the guy that plays “Charlie” is on this show! AHHH! I almost flipped out! Sascha Radetsky is actually an actor and a dancer. I wonder how his character will play out in the show. I’m really envious of the people who can watch the whole season On Demand, because I really hate waiting to see what’ll happen in the next episode. I’m really curious! I’ve got my DVR set up to record the whole season so that’s good enough for now! Only three days left!

Did you watch “Flesh and Bone” and if you did, what did you think of the first episode “Bulling Through”?