According to the internets, today is International Dance Day. Who has decided this, I’m not really sure, but I’m choosing to take the dance part at face value and use it to inspire this list of my favorite moments of dance on film. Now, this was incredibly hard to choose, and I had to work hard to trim it down to only twenty… so I probably left out something incredible, and for that I’m sorry.

“You do an eclectic celebration of the dance! You do Fosse, Fosse, Fosse! You do Martha Graham, Martha Graham, Martha Graham! Or Twyla, Twyla, Twyla! Or Michael Kidd, Michael Kidd, Michael Kidd, Michael Kidd! Or Madonna, Madonna, Madonna!… but you keep it all inside.” -Armand, ‘Birdcage’

Moira Shearer in The Red Shoes Ballet

‘The Red Shoes’ - Red Shoes Ballet So this film is just luscious with beautiful dancing. Moira Shearer is such a natural grace that even scenes of her walking up steps, trailing a fantastically gorgeous gown, look like a dance. Of course, the stunner is the Red Shoes ballet, a 15-minute long centerpiece of dance performance and fantasy intertwined.

‘Center Stage’ Well, it’s a film about ballet, so of course there’s going to be dancing in it. It also explores aspects of ballet culture (both good and bad), albeit a bit exaggerated. Besides the pretty fantastic final number (which helpfully, most of the stars of this film are actual ballet dancers, so the dancing does go over well), I’m a fan of the dance class number set to ‘Higher Ground’ by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

‘An American in Paris’ - Final Ballet Gene Kelly is just amazing. His dancing is athletic, engaging, and expressive, plus enhanced by the knowledge that he often choreographs for himself and the ensemble, his body of work is always impressive. The star number of this film is the end ballet that takes you through Paris (and through a gorgeous selection of backdrops inspired by different famous painters), lasting almost 17 minutes while showing off Gene Kelly’s versatility as a dancer.

The Jets show off Jerome Robbins’ choreography in West Side Story

‘West Side Story’ The thing about West Side Story is, Jerome Robbins is brilliant. His choreography is some of the most gorgeous dancing on film. It’s fluid and responsive, and takes all the emotions of the scene and turns them into beautifully expressive balletic dance numbers. If pressed, I’d say my favorite dance number is to the song ‘Cool’, but really, all the dancing is just superb.

‘Dirty Dancing’ You know you want to practice lifts in a lake. Don’t lie. Besides that, the dancing is a ton of fun in this film, whether it’s the glorious ballroom dance number with Johnny and Penny or the “dirty dancing” of the staff later on. Plus, let’s not forget finally seeing Baby show off her dancing chops at the end of the movie with Johnny by her side.

‘Chicago’ - Cell Block Tango This number is just gorgeous. The choreography punctuates the song so well, and I love the use of the red scarves in the pairs to symbolize the murders (and the deliberate use of a white scarf for the Hungarian).

‘Wizard of Oz’ - If I Only Had a Brain If you can find the full length video of Ray Bolger’s dance that accompanies ‘If I Only Had a Brain’ (a chunk of the extended dance was left on the cutting room floor for the original release), maybe you’ll understand why this dancer is so brilliant. His athletic ability combined with comic timing really allows him to explore the Scarecrow character through the dance and embrace a genuinely lovable personality. Plus, his sense of balance is really amazing.

It’s probably not Kevin Bacon dancing in Footloose. But who cares.

‘Footloose’ - Warehouse Dance It’s a movie about dancing set in a town where dancing is outlawed. So of course there has to be a dance number in some empty warehouse somewhere. The fact that it’s a solo number for Ren (and no, not Kevin Bacon, it’s largely his dance double in this scene), who dances frantically and swings around on giant chains throughout this massive place in a not-so-subtle allusion to his rage against this ‘hick’ town, to the song ’Never’ by Moving Pictures… it’s kind of fantastic.

‘White Christmas’ - Vera Ellen in Choreography Okay, so just watch this. Right around 1:40. Her freaking TOE. That’s… superhuman. Vera Ellen is amazing throughout this film, and her tap skills are incredible, but that moment in ‘Choreography’… it’s just stunning.

‘Newsies’ - Seize the Day There’s a fabulous joy within most of the dance numbers in this film. My favorite is ‘Seize the Day’, that largely features a rotation of small groups dancing together within a larger crowd, doing very precisely coordinated and athletic choreography. Though watching all those younger guys sing and dance still feels unfair - I was in musical theater in high school, and we never had enough guys audition, so where were they all hiding?

The Bottle Dance from Fiddler on the Roof. Your wedding wasn’t this cool.

‘Fiddler on the Roof’ - The Bottle Dance The wedding scene is just fun in general, but the Bottle Dance is the highlight. Full video here. Because come on, you and I can’t dance around with a bottle on our hat. Plus the fantastic moment when the music builds at the end and they go down to the ground - STILL BALANCING - and slide themselves across the floor. Damn.

‘Guys and Dolls’ - Crap Game When your male leads are Frank Sinatra and Marlon Brando, you don’t actually end up with any mind-blowing dance numbers. (Though honestly, Guys & Dolls wasn’t really written with incredibly complex dance numbers to begin with.) But the crap game number is well choreographed and stages in a way that allows for an exciting representation of, let’s face it, a game that you basically play by just rolling some dice. Even more impressive: The dancers never roll actual dice, it’s all miming, and it’s still an exciting scene.

‘A Chorus Line’ - One Talk about regimented choreography - this number features an almost ghoulish section of stiff, precise movements all synchronized under very creepy lighting to illustrate the lack of personality or attention given to chorus dancers. Which, while it fails to convince Cassie that she’s too good for the chorus corps, it does make a striking dance number.

La La Land offers a different way of dealing with traffic jams…

‘La La Land’ - Opening Sequence (Another Day of Sun) What’s really brilliant about this is that it was done all in one shot. Now, that doesn’t sound like a huge achievement for a ‘traditional’ dance number, one where the camera is basically static and the dancers perform within the frame. But this opening sequence… is totally not that. Done on a sweeping L.A. overpass, with rows of cars, skateboarders, hula hoops, people in and out of the cars, between them, on top of them… it’s large in scale, busy and joyful, and brilliantly lyrical in the final filmic effect.

‘Save the Last Dance’ I LOVED this film when I was younger. Whenever I watched it I would always want to get up and dance around the house for hours, or just get back into dance lessons. While the dance club numbers are all plenty of fun, the piste de resistance for me is her audition number at the end, since it’s a combination of great dancing and her character arc coming full circle.

‘Pretty in Pink’ - Duckie’s Record Shop Dance Ah, Duckie. Such a lovable quirky best friend. And he’s at his most quirky and lovable when he busts into the record shop and dances around for Andie to Otis Redding’s ‘Try A Little Tenderness.’ It’s not the most technically outstanding dance on this list, but it’s definitely one of the most memorable. It’s so great, let’s just watch it now, shall we?

The tap number from Hail, Caesar! is just ridiculously fun.

‘Hail, Caesar!’ - Sailor Tap Number Set in the glory (or not so glorious? You decide what the film may have meant) days of Hollywood, this Coen brothers film holds one spectacular tap number, headlined by Channing Tatum. Even though the film itself was a bit uneven for me, I’m such a fan of sharp tapping that it was worth the price of admission alone (with a generous helping of humor throughout the dance as well).

‘Holiday Inn’ - Firecracker Tap Dance Fred Astaire is unarguably one of the best dancers to appear on the silver screen. And while his partnership with Ginger Rogers always results in beautiful dancing, one of my all-time favorite dances of his is the firecracker dance in Holiday Inn. It takes tap dancing to another level, not only timing the rhythm of the steps to the music, but also timing them in conjunction with the pops and snaps of the firecrackers. Plus his facial expressions are gold - Astaire always brings some amazing comedic expressions to his dancing.

‘Shall We Dance’ and ‘Top Hat’ Speaking of Fred and Ginger: It’s incredibly hard to choose a “best” number to highlight this couple, as they were paired together so many times. But I have two that stand out in my mind - one, on a technical aspect, is the ‘Cheek to Cheek’ number from Top Hat. They flow so beautifully together, combining graceful ballroom techniques with a few more modern, tap-esque steps. The second number comes from Shall We Dance, and is the dance-on-roller-skates that follows ‘Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off.’ Because, well, they’re dancing on roller skates. That’s damn difficult.

Cyd Charisse and Gene Kelly team up in Singin’ in the Rain

Singin’ in the Rain I can’t choose my favorite dance number from this film - I think it changes every time I see it. That’s partially because choosing between Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor, and Debbie Reynolds in pretty much impossible. You have the comedic athleticism of O’Connor in ‘Make ‘Em Laugh’, the charm, talent, and likability of Reynolds in both ‘All I Do I Dream of You’ and as part of the ensemble in ‘Good Morning’ (by far my favorite all-around number), and then of course the pure joy of Gene Kelly in ‘Singin’ in the Rain’. But for a piece that never stops being stunning, I always have to highlight ‘Broadway Melody’ - the addition of Cyd Charisse in this number really knocks it up a level to phenomenal.