From tap dancing to aerial acrobatics, these performers pushed their bodies to the limit to master challenging choreography. Watch as we explore how these dedicated actors transformed into skilled dancers through intense training, countless rehearsals, and sheer determination to bring unforgettable performances to the screen.
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00:00Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today, we're counting down our picks for the times actors learned such challenging choreography for a role, they could practically add professional dancer to their resumes.
00:19Number 10. Jennifer Grey, Dirty Dancing. Despite Grey's impressive skills, this is one of those times when art totally imitates life. Patrick Swayze had been dancing practically since birth, while Grey was still pretty green when it came to picking up the steps.
00:38Her anxiety was real.
00:40I was terrified of doing a lift. He can't wrap his head around that kind of fear because he was completely fearless.
00:47And if you've ever worked with someone way less experienced, you know patience doesn't always win.
00:53Luckily, Swayze channeled that frustration into Johnny. According to Grey, that lift wasn't rehearsed either.
00:59You keep that position, and it's all up to me.
01:04She'd been too scared to try it. So what we see is pretty much her first real attempt.
01:09She joked to The Guardian, quote,
01:11I don't know how all these people who reenact it have the guts to throw themselves into the arms of anyone other than Patrick Swayze.
01:17Number 9. Zendaya and Zac Efron, The Greatest Showman.
01:31We can't talk about The Greatest Showman without mentioning the slick coordination between Zac Efron, Hugh Jackman, and Daniel Cloud Campos in The Other Side.
01:39Don't you want to get away to a whole new pot she gonna play?
01:45Cause I doubt that she needs to come with me and take the ride.
01:50But for this one, we're taking things airborne.
01:53We already knew Zendaya could dance, but now she was flying.
01:56She did all her own aerial choreography, which meant building core strength, learning to move gracefully through the air,
02:02and trusting her partner wouldn't let her face plant.
02:05Zac and I have really become a team.
02:07We're literally tied together up in the air, so we have to have a trust and a connection.
02:12On top of that, they had to move as one, sinking every spin and catch.
02:16What they pull off together is both breathtaking and emotional.
02:20A love story told through weightless motion and stunts that still make us gasp, no matter how many times we watch it.
02:26Why don't we rewrite the start?
02:30It's taking the world to be hard.
02:35Number 8. Channing Tatum, Hail Caesar.
02:38Anyone who's seen this actor move knows he's got rhythm.
02:41But for Hail Caesar, he had to learn a whole new language, tap.
02:45As Burt Gurney, a Gene Kelly type, he performs a fast, full-length tap number, despite never having tapped before.
03:03Would take some dancers a decade to master, Tatum had to cram into just three months.
03:08His choreographer and teacher, Christopher Gattelli, didn't go easy on him either.
03:12I in no way, shape, or form knew how hard it was going to be.
03:15I just figured that I could learn the tap movement, and it would make the sound.
03:20But what I found is that you really need to be musical.
03:23Still, Tatum credits Gattelli for helping him push through what often felt like Mission Impossible.
03:29With tap, musicality's everything.
03:31Those shoes don't lie.
03:33He said the hardest part was dancing on a table.
03:35He didn't want to fall off, but with that tempo, he couldn't afford to miss a beat either.
03:42The golden age of entertainment gave us some of the most iconic dance routines in movie history,
03:54so trying to channel that style isn't for the faint-hearted.
03:57And as we've said before, tap is notoriously tough.
04:10The sound of the shoes means there's no hiding mistakes.
04:13For a while, Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling were rehearsing separately,
04:16possibly because of their different levels of dance experience.
04:19Stone admitted it felt like, quote,
04:21a mind game, hearing how well her co-star was doing while she struggled just to get the basics down.
04:26And I would say every day,
04:28how's Ryan doing?
04:29And I'd be like, oh, he's amazing.
04:32To me, really well.
04:35He's exceeding our expectations.
04:37They were doing the same thing to me.
04:39We'll be talking about that later.
04:41So for about two months, I just thought he was the most, you know,
04:43incredible dancer of all time,
04:45and I was failing miserably.
04:47But as she half-joked, once they were finally in the room together,
04:51she suddenly felt a lot better about her own skills.
05:01Number 6.
05:02Renee Zellweger, Chicago
05:04Of the three actors on the Chicago poster,
05:07only one had formal dance training.
05:09For the others, it was a whole new challenge.
05:12Richard Gere had to learn tap from scratch,
05:14and his loud frustration during rehearsals even became a running joke on set.
05:18Come clean, Mr. Harrison, come clean.
05:21Even in Chicago, this kind of corruption cannot stand.
05:24Will I stand?
05:25That's enough, Mr. Flynn.
05:27I agree, your honor.
05:29It is enough.
05:31Director Rob Marshall had hoped to tap into Renee Zellweger's cheerleading background,
05:35but as it turned out, she had virtually no dance experience.
05:39In just six weeks, she had to learn to sing and dance,
05:42and she treated the art as an extension of her acting skills.
05:52The fact that she keeps up effortlessly with Catherine Zeta-Jones speaks volumes.
05:56Fortunately, Marshall felt that her inexperience actually worked in her character's favor.
06:01Number five, Michelle Williams, Fosse-Verdon.
06:13Anyone who knows Fosse knows how intricate his choreography is.
06:16Add Gwen Verdon to the mix, and you've got something in a league of its own.
06:20Who's got the pain when they do the mumbo?
06:22Who's got the pain when they go air?
06:24Who's got the pain when they do the mumbo?
06:26I don't know who.
06:27Do you?
06:28So when Michelle Williams stepped into Verdon's dance shoes, her work was cut out for her.
06:32After all, she was recreating some of the most iconic numbers in history.
06:37Choreographer and Fosse expert Dana Moore said they worked tirelessly to nail every nuance,
06:43just as Moore had once done with Fosse himself.
06:45Williams also took on a grueling schedule and admitted she often arrived on set full of doubt,
06:51but also with the belief that somehow it would come together.
06:54A lot of it is just repetition.
06:56It's allowing yourself to walk into something as a beginner and have faith in yourself and
07:02the people that you're working with, that you will perform it with fluidity and effortlessness.
07:08And if you've seen the series, you know it absolutely did.
07:12And that's good, isn't it grand, isn't it great, isn't it swell?
07:22Number 4. Frank Sinatra, Anchors Away.
07:26While few could rival Old Blue Eyes when it came to singing, dancing didn't come quite
07:30as naturally.
07:34What a time we had tonight.
07:36Thankfully, he had one of Hollywood's best by his side, Gene Kelly.
07:45Kelly was known to be a tough teacher, but he admired Sinatra's dedication,
07:49once saying he trained, quote, like a prize fighter.
07:51It probably helped that Kelly also choreographed the movies and could tailor steps to suit Sinatra's
07:56strengths.
07:57Even so, it reportedly took eight weeks of practice and 72 takes to land the version we
08:13know and love.
08:14But watching him move so seamlessly next to a dance legend proves all that hard work, and
08:19their undeniable chemistry, absolutely paid off.
08:22You'd never guess it didn't come easily.
08:27Number 3. Dick Van Dyke, Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
08:39No matter how many times we watch Mary Poppins, it still blows our minds that Dick Van Dyke
08:44danced like that with zero formal training.
08:47He grew up miming.
08:49Without dance training, he has great movement training.
08:52And when he moves into the choreography, he's able to get those steps.
08:57That was something that was a part of his movement quality.
09:01That number is nearly 10 minutes long, seriously athletic.
09:05And yet he keeps up like he came out of the womb kicking his knees up.
09:08Apparently, as a young man, he based his workouts on Broadway dancers, which might explain his
09:22stamina, but not his skillful rhythm and coordination.
09:25Still, if you asked him what the hardest routine of his career was, he'd point you elsewhere.
09:29And at the end of it, we all had to jump over our sticks at the same time.
09:34Every time, one guy would miss.
09:3623 takes we did at that point.
09:39And if you look, if you ever see the movie, I go, I catch it on my heel.
09:43I go, hoo-hoo-hoo.
09:44Me old bamboo needed props, stamina, and serious teamwork.
09:49Apparently, it took 23 takes to nail.
09:51And by the last one, he said he practically made it through by the skin of his teeth.
09:55You never want to go, man, go!
10:00You never want to go, man, go!
10:03Number 2.
10:04Natalie Portman, Black Swan.
10:06Ballet blends athleticism, artistry, and endurance like almost nothing else.
10:21So when Natalie Portman and Jennifer Lawrence took on ballet roles,
10:25they were not messing around.
10:27For Black Swan, Portman began training while still filming Your Highness.
10:31She'd spend two hours a day for six months on core strength,
10:35then add three-hour ballet classes for another six,
10:37followed by daily eight-hour choreography sessions.
10:40We're meeting at 5, 5.30 in the morning, doing ballet for two or three hours.
10:45She goes and works a 12-hour day and meets me at the gym at night,
10:49and we're doing our toning exercises and, you know, swimming a mile.
10:53And then she goes home and goes to sleep, and we get up the next day and do it again.
10:56Portman had to channel the emotional weight Nina carries
10:59while still moving with the grace of a true dancer.
11:02By the time filming began,
11:03she must have fully understood the pressure her character was under.
11:06Portman later described the process as, quote,
11:08intense, but really fun, too.
11:11And it shows in every frame.
11:21Before we unveil our top pick,
11:23here are a few honorable mentions.
11:25Jennifer Aniston, along came Polly.
11:27The actress likened her feet to raw meat
11:29by the end of this tiring five-day shoot.
11:31Shirley Temple, the little colonel.
11:41Temple only had a few days to learn her co-star's signature dance,
11:44so he taught her the stripped-down version instead.
11:56John Travolta, Saturday Night Fever.
11:58Even the great Tony Manero needed a few pointers getting the choreo spot on.
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12:29Number one, Donald O'Connor, Singing in the Rain.
12:33This film is a full-blown downpour of tough choreography.
12:37We've all heard about Debbie Reynolds' grueling training under Gene Kelly,
12:40but at least her story didn't end with a hospital stay.
12:43It was, I had blood in my shoes and it was very difficult to do those numbers
12:50as fast as they wanted them and as long as they want them,
12:53over and over and over and over.
12:55The Make Em Laugh number is brilliant but brutal.
12:58And then you get a great because you're crying the face.
13:01Make em laugh, make em laugh, make em laugh.
13:05Donald O'Connor hurls himself around the set like a human cartoon.
13:08Pulling off stunts, most of us wouldn't dare unless we fancied a trip to the ER.
13:12As the only performer in the scene, there's nowhere to hide.
13:24Then, thanks to a camera glitch, he had to do the entire thing again.
13:29And O'Connor, who smoked like a chimney, powered through, barely.
13:32He ended up in the hospital for a few days.
13:35The routine's a masterpiece, but boy did it cost him.
13:38Have you seen a film or TV dance that looked impressively hard?
13:48Let us know in the comments.
13:50And so we started that number, good morning, good morning.
13:53And it was night time when we finished.
13:55And we were really finished.
13:57Good night.