- 6/15/2025
From spontaneous moves to unplanned routines, some of cinema's most memorable dance moments weren't created by professionals! Join us as we celebrate the times actors took creative control of their characters' biggest dance scenes, proving that sometimes the best choreography comes from pure instinct.
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00:00You hypnotized me through, and I ran
00:06Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're counting down the times actors took the lead, literally, by adding their own choreography.
00:2010. Total Eclipse of the Heart – The Last Showgirl
00:24This movie follows Shelley Gardner, a middle-aged showgirl who finds out she's about to take her final bow after more than 30 years on stage.
00:33Jamie Lee Curtis plays her friend and fellow showgirl Annette.
00:36Turn around, every now and then I get a little bit nervous that the best of all the years have gone by.
00:44In one of the film's most heart-wrenching scenes, Annette dances to Total Eclipse of the Heart with no audience.
00:51Curtis said this moment wasn't in the script, but a spur-of-the-moment choice inspired by a chance encounter in Vegas.
00:57She added that it was filmed in a single take.
01:00Gia walked up to me and said, you're dancing in three minutes.
01:03And I said, what are you talking about? No, I'm not. She said, yes, you are.
01:07And we just did one take of it, she played the song.
01:10And you improvised? Oh, yeah.
01:12She brings so much to that moment, you feel everything her character might be feeling.
01:17Just one woman dancing for everything she's about to lose.
01:20Now I'm only falling apart
01:23There's nothing I can do
01:28Total Eclipse of the Heart
01:30Number 9. The music dance experience, Severance
01:34This scene may be the moment of season one.
01:38It's where the employees sort of bond, but also sort of unravel through this bizarre group dance.
01:43By reaching 75% refinement on Siena, you have earned for you and your fellow refiners a five-minute music dance experience.
01:53What makes it even better is that it wasn't in the original script.
01:57When it was added, the instructions were vague at best.
02:00Choreographer Tara Rodriguez told them to flow how you want to flow, and that's exactly what they did.
02:06Each innie moves in a way that's completely true to their character.
02:21It's weird, it's unsettling, and it's kind of perfect.
02:24And while most of the show keeps things painfully restrained, this is one scene where everyone just lets go.
02:31Well, almost everyone.
02:32And somehow, we never wanted it to end.
02:35There were elements of art imitating life in this film when Patrick Swayze, already a trained dancer, and Jennifer Grey basically learning on the job.
02:55I told you I never did any of these dances before.
02:58Now it's one, two, three, four. One, two, three, four.
03:00Now the music starts, you don't dance till the two. Got it?
03:03The moment Baby giggles every time Johnny brushes her arm is totally real, from her laughter to his frustration.
03:10Also, one of the film's most memorable scenes, no, not that one, wasn't even in the script.
03:16The lip-syncing, floor-crawling, love is strange bit was apparently just Swayze and Grey warming up before a shoot.
03:22And if he doesn't answer?
03:24Oh, lover boy.
03:26And if he still doesn't answer?
03:28I'd simply say, play, play.
03:31Their director saw it and decided it had to stay.
03:38Johnny and Baby's chemistry was undeniable, but clearly, much of that spark came straight from the actors themselves.
03:45Baby, oh, baby.
03:49Johnny.
03:50Number 7. Bathroom Dance.
03:52Joker.
03:53Some say this is the exact moment Arthur Fleck becomes the Joker.
03:57After shooting three guys who mocked him on the subway, Arthur escapes to a public bathroom and starts to dance.
04:03This wasn't in the script.
04:05It was Joaquin Phoenix freestyling.
04:07Originally, Arthur was supposed to stash his weapon, wipe off the clown makeup, and freak out.
04:24However, something about that just didn't click for the character.
04:28While searching for what was missing, director Todd Phillips played some music from the film's composer, and Phoenix just started moving.
04:35At that moment, it became clear that this was just the kind of unhingedness that would carry Arthur from being an entertainer to, well, the Joker.
04:52As he chips away at the mask throughout the movie, revealing his true identity, his sort of shadow persona, which is Joker, the person he was meant to be.
05:01So the bathroom dance is one of the first sort of chipping away at the mask where we feel Joker emerging.
05:06Number 6. The Dance Contest. Pulp Fiction.
05:10The dance competition is arguably one of the most iconic scenes in Pulp Fiction, and for a good reason.
05:16It was a teenage wedding and the old folks wished him well.
05:22It's the moment we see Vincent and Mia connect outside all the crime stuff.
05:30And what better way than through a dance contest?
05:33But when Pierre found work, the little money coming worked out well.
05:39C'est la vie, c'est la vie, c'est la vie, c'est la vie, c'est la vie, c'est la vie, c'est la vie, c'est la vie, c'est la vie.
05:43It's widely believed the scene was a nod to John Travolta's Saturday Night Fever days.
05:48However, he's since shared, I'd actually told Quentin about the dances I grew up with.
05:53Dances like the swim and the Batman and the hitchhiker and the tighten up.
06:00I said, maybe we should widen the spectrum on this.
06:03And he said, well, show them to me.
06:05And I did.
06:06And he said, okay, let's do more than the twist.
06:09And that's how it all came to be.
06:10While Tarantino had his heart set on the twist, Travolta added some of his own favorites from the era.
06:16The spin, the Batman, and the hitchhiker.
06:19Well, whatever he did worked and it was definitely worthy of a trophy.
06:23Napoleon Dynamite might not have been what it became had it not been for that dance sequence.
06:41By the time filming it rolled around, they were running low on funds, film, and hadn't even settled on a song.
06:54So John Heater danced to three tracks with similar rhythms.
06:58They didn't have a choreographer either, but Heater knew he wanted to break away from everything he'd established about his character so far
07:05and move in a way that felt completely different.
07:07We did, like, a little rehearsal of the first, like, two eight games.
07:11Ryan, you remember the dance.
07:12I mean, how do you not remember the dance?
07:14Yeah, it was, uh, it was just, um, yeah, it was just, I just winged it.
07:18It was just all freestyle.
07:19His only direction?
07:20Dude, you just do your thing.
07:23His goal was to make it, quote, as funky as he can.
07:26And then they Frankenstein together his three takes in post.
07:29Freestyle at its finest.
07:31But I'm gonna make it anyways.
07:35Dance, yeah.
07:36Got you.
07:38Number 4.
07:39Dance Party.
07:40La La Land.
07:41Did you know the actors totally improvised this scene?
07:44Okay, we're obviously joking.
07:47But Emma Stone did manage to sneak some of her own moves in there.
07:50Meet a girl like you.
07:55With all the hairy, tawny eyes.
07:59The kind of eyes that hypnotize me.
08:02The actress entirely improvised the scene where Mia dances in front of Sebastian's band.
08:06Stone shared in an interview that even the director didn't know she was going to do it.
08:11It was more of an in-the-moment thing.
08:13It really speaks to her talent, especially since Mia and Sebastian are in a more contentious place at this point.
08:28The way she moves totally reflects that.
08:30It also explains Sebastian's confused look because, much like his character, Ryan Gosling clearly had no idea what was coming.
08:38And I ran, I ran so far away.
08:44I totally can't win.
08:46Number 3.
08:47Wednesday's Dance.
08:48Wednesday.
08:49After this episode aired, Wednesday's dance to Goo Goo Muck by The Cramps was everywhere.
08:54Apparently, director Tim Burton settled on the song Super Late and left Jenna Ortega to choreograph it herself.
09:13With the shoot fast approaching, she still had nothing.
09:16So, she studied Susie Sue, old goth clubs' archive footage, and even paid tribute to the original Wednesday Addams' Lisa Loring.
09:24I watched videos of Susie and the Banshees.
09:26Really?
09:26Uh, Denny Levant in Beau Travail.
09:29Uh, I found archival footage of goth kids dancing in clubs in the 80s.
09:34Yeah?
09:35Um, Lean Lovitch, Nina Hagen, just anything that I could get my hands on.
09:39And then on the day, I thought, alright, well, let's just see, yeah, let's just see what happens.
09:44She came up with this jerky, zombie-like routine that's weird, eerie, and completely Wednesday.
09:50It's not polished or pretty, and that's exactly the point.
09:53Ortega might not call herself a dancer, but when your choreography goes viral, yeah, we're calling that a core skill.
10:00Put it on the resume, girl.
10:02He needs tighter than ever, you can burn.
10:07You better die when I show up.
10:12Number two, Bet On It, High School Musical 2.
10:16Another dance that went viral is the seriously angsty Bet On It.
10:20Normally, Kenny Ortega handles the choreography in this franchise, but this time, Zac Efron took charge.
10:26I'm not gonna stop, that's who I am, I'll give it all I got, that is my plan.
10:33When I find what I lost, you know you can't.
10:37Bet on it, bet on it, bet on it, bet on it.
10:40While promoting a family affair, Efron shared that the director showed up to the shoot with no plan,
10:46so he was encouraged to just wing it.
10:48He also said that they filmed the whole thing in about three hours.
10:52Yeah, he just was like, dude, we have no concept for this song.
10:55I was like, I don't know, we're on a golf course.
10:57You, in that video, I got it.
10:59That was all improv, and we shot it, I think, the whole song in like three hours.
11:02We knew Zac had the talent, but seeing him fully embody a teenage meltdown takes it to another level.
11:08No direction, just pure instinct.
11:11If High School Musical ever got awards attention, you can bet on it,
11:14this dance and Zac's performance would be a top contender.
11:18Turn my life around, today is the day.
11:22Am I the type of guy who means what I say?
11:25Bet on it, bet on it, bet on it, bet on it, bet on it, bet on it, bet on me.
11:29Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.
11:34Jump on it, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
11:36Rumor has it, this dance originated behind the scenes as a way to loosen everyone up before filming.
11:41Jump on it, jump on it, jump on it, jump on it, jump on it, jump on it.
11:58Zemo's Dance, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
12:01Apparently, Daniel Brühl thought Zemo just needs to let off some steam.
12:05Old Time Rock and Roll, Risky Business.
12:14Tom Cruise just doing what any teen left at home might do.
12:16That kind of music just soothes my soul.
12:21I really miss them after days of old.
12:25With that old time rock and roll.
12:28Armand Direct, The Birdcage.
12:30Of course Robin Williams was behind this classic moment.
12:34Fussy, fussy, fussy, you do.
12:36Marcia Graham, Marcia Graham, Marcia Graham.
12:38Or Twyla, Twyla, Twyla.
12:40Or Michael Kidd, Michael Kidd, Michael Kidd, Michael Kidd.
12:43Or Madonna, Madonna, Madonna.
12:45But you keep it all inside.
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13:01Gene Kelly left his choreographic mark all over this movie.
13:10But when it came to make him laugh, he let Donald O'Connor take the reins.
13:15Or you could study Shakespeare and be quite elite.
13:18And you could charm the critics and have nothing to eat.
13:21Just slip on a banana peel, the world's at your feet.
13:24Make them laugh, make them laugh, make them laugh.
13:27And O'Connor went full animation, throwing himself around like gravity's optional and barely pausing for air until the end.
13:35Which landed him in the hospital.
13:37But that's a story for another day.
13:39To build the routine, he reportedly tested out a bunch of moves on the crew and kept whatever got the biggest laugh.
13:46The result, of course, was one of the most unhinged, brilliant, laugh-till-it-hurts numbers ever filmed.
14:00Make them laugh wasn't just the name of the song.
14:03It was O'Connor's entire game plan.
14:05Mission very much accomplished.
14:07Which dance are you most surprised wasn't professionally choreographed?
14:24Let us know in the comments.
14:25The music dance experience is officially cancelled.
14:37Welcome to the music dance.
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