Jazz dances don't get cooler than this. Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re looking at film history’s most memorable and technically impressive jazz-style dances.
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00:00 "Five, six, seven, eight!"
00:01 Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're looking at film history's most memorable and technically
00:09 impressive jazz-style dances. Since we've previously done lists on tap dance, that sub-genre
00:14 is excluded. We hate to part with "Pick Yourself Up" in Swingtime and "Jump In,
00:20 Jive" in Stormy Weather, but there are many other jazz dance masterpieces.
00:25 "Jump In, Jive" by Swingtime plays
00:31 Number 10. Another Day of Sun. La La Land. Choreographer Mandy Moore mostly lets
00:37 vocals lead Damien Chazelle's masterful revival of the Hollywood jazz musical.
00:41 "Another day of sun" by Damien Chazelle plays
00:52 The opening number, however, is a glowing tribute to its dance tradition.
00:56 Another Day of Sun tells the stories of everyday Angelinos stuck in one of their infamous highway
01:02 traffic jams. They may as well step out of their cars and break into mostly separate dances
01:07 that run the gambit of jazz styles. "For behind these hills I'm reaching for the heights
01:13 and chasing all the lights that shine." There are even a number of other genres thrown in.
01:19 The sequence edited to look like a single track shot is a whimsical celebration of Los Angeles'
01:25 cultural diversity, with all of it pivoting on old-school jazz romance.
01:30 It's also the perfect leap into La La Land.
01:43 Number 9. Duet - My Sister Eileen. Bob Fosse first brought his inventive sense
01:49 as a choreographer to the screen with My Sister Eileen.
01:52 He also stars as Tommy Rawls' mild-mannered rival for the title character's hand. It's a mostly
02:04 civil feud until the tension is creatively displayed on a rooftop for the movie's standout
02:09 dance number. Fosse somewhat ironically imitates Rawls' increasingly flashy feats of style and
02:15 physicality. Both virtuosos eventually mirror each other's slick or acrobatic moves with explosive
02:21 solos. On top of this spectacle, there seems to be an ingenious satire to expressing masculine
02:36 competition through flamboyant grace. This revelation of the future filmmaker's imagination
02:41 and performance was just the beginning of him transforming the movie musical.
03:00 Number 8. All That Jazz - Chicago. Bob Fosse sadly didn't get to see his Broadway
03:06 masterpiece on film. Rob Marshall's Oscar-sweeping Chicago thankfully does his groove justice from
03:12 the beginning. Velma Kelly is introduced performing All That Jazz on a nightclub stage,
03:27 literally carried by mostly male backup dancers. She leads the ensemble into a steamy,
03:32 worshipful routine that intensifies with the song. Catherine Zeta-Jones' flow is so mesmerizing that
03:49 you can understand Roxy Hart briefly imagining herself as Velma. Marshall pulls you into the
03:55 action with intimate cinematography and intercuts of Hart getting intimate.
03:59 It may make the scene more uniquely cinematic than the equally popular cellblock tango.
04:11 All the same, All That Jazz is an unshakably alluring hook.
04:16 Number 7. Shine - Cabin in the Sky. John W. Bubbles' versatility beyond tap dance could
04:36 not be underestimated. You certainly couldn't underestimate his Domino Johnson in Cabin in the
04:41 Sky as both a ruthless gambler and a dazzling showman. Vincent Minelli let choreographer Busby
04:57 Berkley direct a performance of the jazz standard Shine, the only word to describe what Bubbles does.
05:03 Johnson works an entire club in a cool promenade with a hat and cane.
05:08 The smooth motion suddenly breaks into a flurry of poses and footwork that almost defy physics.
05:24 [Music]
05:34 This popping and gliding would be popularized by Michael Jackson as the Moonwalk four decades later.
05:40 While Bubbles is remembered for his virtuosity in tap,
05:43 Cabin in the Sky recorded his greater inventiveness in jazz dance.
05:48 [Music]
06:00 Number 6. Take Off With Us - All That Jazz.
06:03 Bob Fosse is in top form throughout his meta masterpiece All That Jazz.
06:08 [Music]
06:18 Take Off With Us is perhaps the film's finest display of raw jazz,
06:22 plus the choreographer's raw sensuality. Sandal Bergman leads rehearsals of the
06:26 ensemble's centerpiece for a musical about air travel.
06:30 [Music]
06:39 The once wholesome number has been reframed as a burlesque seduction
06:43 that runs jazz ballet through Fosse's not just literally snappy signatures.
06:48 [Music]
06:59 After the song, the dancers pile into an almost poetic rut.
07:03 No wonder the number is subtitled "Erotica."
07:06 Of course, the elaborate coordination and editing are no joke.
07:10 As frantic as each dancer's unique moves are, they make a consistently smooth landing.
07:15 Tongue in cheek as it is, Fosse's spectacle still rarely flew higher than Take Off With Us.
07:21 [Music]
07:33 Number 5. What a Feeling - Flashdance.
07:37 The 1980s was a new golden age for pop dance films.
07:40 [Music]
07:48 What set Flashdance apart was how choreographer Jeffrey Hornaday incorporated more classical
07:53 forms of movement to capture the intensity in Alex Owen's underdog story.
07:58 Those fundamentally jazzy instincts culminated with the titular number,
08:02 named for a style of jazz dance, for the hero's big ballet audition.
08:06 [Music]
08:17 Jennifer Beals and three body doubles seamlessly combine the various styles
08:21 that Alex observed throughout the story. Between the ballet foundation and the
08:25 disco soundtrack, it all flows through breakdance, gymnastics, and jazz.
08:30 [Music]
08:38 This goes to show Hornaday's genius with improvisation in the purest jazz tradition.
08:43 It also produces one of the most exhaustingly triumphant and iconic dance scenes of the decade.
08:49 [Music]
08:56 Number 4. Group Audition - A Chorus Line.
08:59 The Tony Award-winning A Chorus Line is a classic look at the intensity of the Broadway auditioning process.
09:05 [Music]
09:14 The film adaptation makes audiences feel that from the opening scene.
09:18 After a series of fast-paced solo and group performances, over two dozen dancers are
09:23 gathered for an audition observed by a major Broadway director.
09:26 [Music]
09:38 It's hard to pick a standout in this painstakingly synchronized symphony of jazz ballet.
09:43 The dynamic camera work and John Bloom's Oscar-nominated editing
09:47 make the visuals all the more visceral.
09:49 [Music]
09:59 Few dance films have staged a jazz set piece this elaborate, let alone pulled it off with an army of virtuoso performers.
10:06 The overall sequence also effectively sets the stakes for the characters we follow throughout the movie.
10:12 [Music]
10:22 Number 3. The Lindy Hop - Hell's a Poppin'.
10:26 The dance troupe, Whitey's Lindy Hoppers, gradually popularized their namesake routine
10:30 after its origin in the 1920s.
10:32 After they appeared in the film adaptation of the Broadway hit Hell's a Poppin', everyone wanted to join in.
10:38 [Music]
10:44 The troupe portray musically gifted laborers who hop onto a stage for an impromptu swing concert.
10:50 As the band blasts out, the dancers toss each other around the stage in a fast-paced ballroom boogie.
10:55 [Music]
11:03 Some acrobatic fusion of breakaway, the Charleston, and other jazz styles
11:08 deliver the musical's most physically extravagant number.
11:11 [Music]
11:19 While Herbert White's troupe appeared in movies before,
11:22 Hell's a Poppin' arguably made the Lindy Hop a permanent pop culture phenomenon.
11:27 Just don't count on perfectly replicating the movie at your next soiree.
11:31 [Music]
11:42 Number 2 - Mine Hair - Cabaret
11:45 Bob Fosse's incredible cabaret is a mostly somber affair between Sally Bowles' nightclub numbers.
11:50 [Music]
12:02 The brilliance of Mine Hair alone is more than enough to get hung up on.
12:06 Sally leads an ensemble in a seductive sequence of precisely coordinate poses around chairs.
12:12 Slowly but surely, the number escalates in tempo and percussive backup dance to a fiery finale.
12:18 [Music]
12:26 Fosse's choreography is a masterclass in intensifying minimalist staging through detailed movement.
12:32 His direction and David Bretherton's groundbreaking editing enhance this sensation.
12:38 [Music]
12:49 Never mind Liza Minnelli's astonishing vocals and physicality,
12:53 Cabaret is full of scenes that earned each of these visionaries an Oscar.
12:57 But few dance scenes can match Mine Hair as a visceral experience.
13:02 [Music]
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13:27 Number 1 - Cool - West Side Story
13:31 For the first adaptation of West Side Story, choreographer and co-director Jerome Robbins
13:36 moved the cool number from before the bloody rumble to after.
13:39 [Music]
13:53 With the story's tension at its highest,
13:55 Ice leads the Jets to expel their rage with enchantingly slick jazz ballet.
14:01 [Music]
14:13 Their poetic movements hit even harder for dramatic,
14:16 often violent gesturing to convey both trauma and savagery.
14:20 The film set's boiling heat surely served this drama better than the sweaty actors.
14:26 [Music]
14:36 Yes, the 2021 film's more faithful rendition of Cool
14:40 is full of drama for Justin Peck's gunplay motif.
14:43 But Robinson's revision encompasses the tension and tragedy of the whole story.
14:48 It's also one of the defining displays of jazz dance as cinematic spectacle
14:52 and storytelling combined.
14:54 [Music]
15:04 What are your favorite jazz dance scenes?
15:07 Bounce into the comments.
15:08 [Music]
15:12 Do you agree with our picks?
15:14 Check out this other recent clip from Ms Mojo.
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15:22 [Music]