Everyone loves dancing. Even the people who claim to hate dancing. The evidence lies in those private moments of bliss when your limbs are swinging, your hips are shaking, and you can feel your favorite song in your bones. It’s okay, you can admit it, this is a safe space.
It’s also a known fact that dance movies are the best, most feel-good kind of movies, because secretly we all know that real life would be so much better if we could all break out into spontaneous but expertly choreographed dance routines whenever we please.
Dance movies are also the most re-watchable, partly because they’re anchored in a certain time and style that feels both farther and more interesting as time progresses, and partly because you can always pick up on new moves that you didn’t catch the last time.
There’s also a whole world of drama and physical tension in the world of dance that makes it endlessly entertaining to watch. Besides competition for coveted spots, “showmances” among performers, and feuds between different parties, there’s also the sheer amount of emotion that can be expressed through the body—be it joy, anger, grief, or arousal.
Whether you can dance or not, it’s always entrancing to see what the human body is capable of. Watching stars cut a rug, shake a leg, and get jiggy with it can also inspire you to get moving, because we can’t let living room dance routines become a thing of the past!
Check out this gallery to take a tour of some of the best dance movies out there, with some stars whom you probably forgot could even dance, and... five, six, seven, eight!