The 10 Most Unexpected Dance Scenes In Movies

It’s been nearly 40 years since John Travolta donned a white suit and struck a pose on the dance floor in “Saturday Night Fever”.

Released in theatres on Dec. 16, 1977, the drama about a Brooklyn teenager who believes becoming king of the disco dance floor is the only way to escape his bleak life earned the 23-year-old Travolta his first Oscar nomination.

But why should musicals have all the fun? Since Travolta hit the dance floor in “Saturday Night Fever”, we’ve seen Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze perfect the lift in “Dirty Dancing”, Matthew Broderick twist and shout his way through downtown Chicago in “Ferris Bueller” and Tom Cruise strip down to his undies for some old time rock n’ roll in “Risky Business”.

Since then, there’s been plenty of unexpected musical delights on film.

To celebrate the iconic pop culture milestone, we’re looking back at the 10 most iconic dance scenes in non-musicals in the 40 years since John Travolta first got his disco groove on.

Jennifer Garner and Mark Ruffalo in “13 Going On 30”

Let’s face it. If you’re of a certain age, there’s a chance you spent more than a few hours practising Michael Jackson’s zombie dance from “Thriller”. Practice pays off for Jennifer Garner and a reluctant Mark Ruffalo in 2004’s“13 Going On 30”, who hit the dance floor to liven up a stuffy party. The scene is an unexpected delight in the charming comedy.

Jon Heder in “Napoleon Dynamite”

Napoleon Dynamite is a weird guy. Clad in his puffy Moonboots, Jon Heder puts his awkward character on centre stage to drum up some “Vote for Pedro” support from his classmates. Performing to Jamiroquai, the high school audience’s stunned silence shifts into rapturous applause at the end of his interpretive dance.

Joe Manganiello in “Magic Mike”

(Caution: Clip features NSFW language)

There’s a lot of – ahem – memorable dance scenes in “Magic Mike”, but Joe Manganiello’s convenience store dance break to The Backstreet Boys proves that even the most un-erotic location can be made sexy with the right ingredients. When Channing Tatum’s Mike dares Manganiello’s fireman stripper Big Dick Richie to make the store’s oblivious clerk smile, it’s at once hilarious and sultry and will ensure you never look at a 7-Eleven the same way.

John Travolta and Uma Thurman in “Pulp Fiction”

“Saturday Night Fever” and its 1983 sequel “Staying Alive” showed us that John Travolta can dance. But it was his unexpected return to the dance floor with Uma Thurman in 1994’s “Pulp Fiction” that wowed. As the pair dine at a retro 1950s-style diner, Thurman’s Mia spontaneously enters the couple into a dance contest as a reluctant Travolta agrees to take the stage. What’s next is one of the movie’s most iconic moments as Travolta twists his way into a career comeback.

Director Quentin Tarantino broke down the scene for “The Graham Norton Show”.

Dev Patel and Freida Pinto in “Slumdog Millionaire”

Dev Patel and Freida Pinto bring Bollywood to Hollywood in the 2008 Oscar-winning movie “Slumdog Millionaire”. The dance sequence caps off the India-set drama on a fun note as the stars and a huge cast of extras dance their way through a train station. It’s a fun and totally unexpected way to end the sleeper hit.

Rosie Perez in “Do The Right Thing”

Spike Lee’s “Do The Right Thing” kicks off with Rosie Perez dancing her way through the opening credits, throwing punches and gyrating on the gritty New York City street set. In her debut role, Perez’s non-stop dance moves to “Fight The Power” set the tone for the movie. Filmed over eight hours, her high-energy dance scene was inspired by the opening number of Ann-Margret’s “Bye Bye Birdie”.

Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel and Craig Robinson in “This Is The End”

(Caution: Clip features NSFW language)

We know they can bring the laughs, but “This Is The End” proved these funny guys can also bust a move. At the end of the uproarious comedy, Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel and Craig Robinson join The Backstreet Boys in Heaven for their 1997 “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)”, pulling off the iconic dance moves from the band’s music video. It’s an unexpected and hilarious end to the comedy. If The Backstreet Boys ever need a new member, they need to look no further than Rogen, Baruchel and Robinson.

Abigail Breslin in “Little Miss Sunshine”

A 10-year-old Abigail Breslin stuns a beauty pageant crowd when she busts out her “Superfreak” moves. Clad in a top hat and vest, young Olive is more erotic dancer than beauty queen in the talent portion of the competition as she strips her way down to a sparkly bodysuit. The dance gets even more surreal and hilarious when Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, Paul Dano and Steve Carell join in for a feel-good family dance-off.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt in “500 Days of Summer”

Leave it to “500 days Of Summer” to bring back big musical numbers. The romantic comedy takes a musical turn when Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s character breaks into a full musical number spurred on by his first romantic encounter with dream girl, Summer. Set to Hall & Oates’ “You Make My Dreams”, Gordon Levitt’s character Tom finds himself in a full-on musical number complete with dancing extras, a marching band and an animated blue bird. No one saw that dance number coming.

Jeff Bridges in “The Big Lebowski”

The Dude’s psychedelic dance moves are an ode to the Busby Berkley musicals of the 1930s with their cheoreographed moves and bevy of dancers. Here, a stoned Jeff Bridges shuffles his way through a wholly unexpected and colourful bowling-themed dance number with Julianne Moore as a Gutterball Viking.