by Victoria Tiegert

Created on: September 18, 2008   Last Updated: May 26, 2009

There have been so many incredible musicals over the years that it is difficult to narrow down what I consider to be the very best ones. There are even many films that are outside of the musical genre yet incorporate great dance scenes into the storyline. But, in an attempt, I have gotten it down to the ten that I most enjoyed...all of the dozens of times that I have watched them.

1) The Little Colonel-Made in 1935, this movie featured Shirley Temple and Bill "Bojangles" Robinson. The dance that brought the movie fame was known as the "stair dance", an incredible tap routine performed by the little Miss Temple and "Bojangles".

2) Singin' In The Rain-Gene Kelly and Jean Hagen performed together in this upbeat, fun movie. They were explosively passionate together, which proves that they were an incredible pair of actors since they despised one another in reality. This movie also features the title song soft show dance.

3) Grease-Who could forget when John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John led the rest of the cast in a leather-clad, frisky dance to the song "You're The One That I Want"? This dance reflected the era of the movie and the spirit of youth amazingly. The costumes were perfect and the moves were borderline risque'. I loved it!

4) An Officer and a Gentleman-There is just something about a man in uniform. When that man is Richard Gere and he is swaying along with Debra Winger, well, it makes it to the best list.

5) Annie-This movie about the little red-headed orphan has quite a few great dance scenes in it, but the one I enjoy the most is when all of the orphans are dancing to "It's A Hard Knock Life" while they are cleaning for the wicked Miss Hannigan, played by Carol Burnett. This is a fun routine and the children perform it expertly.

6) Footloose-Kevin Bacon starred in this 80s hit movie about a town that had illegalized dancing. My favorite scene is the one where he goes to the warehouse and dances alone to the song, "I Need A Hero". There are acrobatics and high flying moves that are extremely wonderful to watch...and come on, it's Kevin Bacon.

7) Dirty Dancing-Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze star as Baby and Johnny. Baby's father is a well-to-do doctor and Johnny works at their family's vacation destination. It is a story of forbidden fruit, so to speak. Baby must perform with the Johnny and the dance team at the film's finale and it is the seductive rumba.

8) 8 Seconds-This is not a musical at all, but I loved the dance that was performed at the wedding by the groom and groomsmen. A display of fancy footwork with one of the men falling at the end in a moment of good-hearted frivolity.

9) Coyote Ugly-Okay, so this one is not up there with what some might consider expert dance, but I loved it. The beautiful young women dancing, all smiles, across the bar (which eventually was on fire) was nothing less than incredible. The dance to Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar On Me" brought delight to the crowd and the viewers.

10) Save The Last Dance-A hip-hop type of dance movie set in an inner-city environment, this movie places a Caucasian ballerina in with an African-American freestyle crowd. She learns to dance in their preferred genre throughout the film. At the end of the movie, the young woman goes to her audition for Julliard Dance School and combines the two dance styles to end up with an original and beautiful number.

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