DANCING

Every society has dancing. OK, maybe not Afghanistan. Many people love to dance and even more love to watch dancing. Hollywood is right there with the wonderful Astaire-Rogers movies, the MGM musicals, and there’s even a whole film about it aptly named That’s Dancing (1985). In these films, the dancers are professionals in the story as well as personally.

What about just your ordinary Joe and Jane who just like to dance? I thought you’d never ask. There are some wonderful movies on just that subject.

Queen of the Stardust Ballroom (1975) stars Maureen Stapleton and Charles Durning as an older couple who discover each other at the Stardust Ballroom. This is a made-for-TV movie, but it is excellent. The actors are good, the dancing is fun, and the story is a good and unusual one demonstrating that even people over 50 can fall in love and be romantic.

They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1969) is about the little-known Depression era phenomenon of marathon dancing. Jane Fonda is impossibly young and fresh and Michael Sarazin plays her partner. Gig Young (Oscar, Best Supporting Actor) is wonderfully sinister and seedy as the master of ceremonies. The whole thing works on several levels, as a fascinating look at a long-ago fad and as a metaphor for lives.

Strictly Ballroom (1992, Australia) is about ballroom dancing contests down under, and it provides a peek at a world most of us didn’t even know existed; it’s almost a parallel universe. Paul Mercurio is the hot-blooded individualist who takes on ugly duckling Tara Morice as a new partner. She blossoms, and they enter the big contest. Loads of fun.

Shall We Dance? (1996, Japan) is an absolutely superb movie about a Japanese businessman who secretly takes ballroom dancing lessons to brighten up his very dull life. He meets lots of interesting characters, becomes a proficient dancer and also rather poignantly meets himself. This is one of the best films you probably never heard of. 

And by the way, remember all those movies where the kids in town want to (fill in the blank): twist, lambada, Charleston, rock and roll, tango, breakdance, etc, etc, and the blue-nosed grownups want to stop them? Are any of those any good? No.

All of the movies in this column are fine for children 10 and up.