by Ashley Smith

Created on: May 26, 2009   Last Updated: May 27, 2009

There are a number of classic dance scenes in numerous films, as I am not a big fan of traditional musicals, so the ones I would recommend are the less traditional ones, some are musicals but not in the normal sense. These are listed here along with the dance but these won't be the only dances in the film.

1/ROCKY HORRER PICTURE SHOW

There is the traditional time warp scene that is the most famous part of the great film but I have a scene I prefer involving a cameo from rock star Meatloaf. He plays rocker Eddie who spends his time riding round the lab in the mansion "whatever happened to Saturday night". As the scene is so chaotic I am not sure about how choreographed this scene is but it is a group dance that was either planned or well improvised. Like the rest of the film is good fun and is full of life. It is a brief appearance in the film and one that ends with the character dying.

2/MOULIN ROUGE

This appears from the outside to be a traditional musical but is in fact far from it. For a start Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman are the stars but are not musical actors, a shame as their voices are incredible. The dance scenes are very traditional and often very complicated but look great any way. The main dance that features a group of songs is the best and almost the most tragic as it happens after Kidman's character becomes sick. After the frenetic dance scene which involves her on a high trapeze among other things she finishes the routine collapsing on the floor ill.

3/OLIVER

This is a traditional musical and about the only one I admit to liking. There have been many versions of the story but I prefer the original musical film version. The best of many dance scenes is when Oliver is introduced to Fagin by the Artful Dodger. The dance is to the song "you gotta pick a pocket or two" . It is based around teaching Oliver the skills of pick pocketing and about the life he is about to live. The song and dance shows how to pinch a handkerchief and how to distract the victim while one of the children takes the goods.

4/THE PRODUCERS

This is a musical within a film in fantastic bad taste. The basic idea is that a producer and writer have to write a musical so bad that it will fail and they can keep the money invested in it. They accidentally write a classic called "Spring Time for Hitler", the main part shown is the song and dance routine to the shows title song featuring goose stepping Gestapo officers and women in uniforms as well. Very bad taste but hilarious.

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