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Step into the graceful and fierce world of ballet as we showcase some of the most stunning, emotional, and artistic ballet moments ever captured on screen. From classical masterpieces to contemporary dance dramas, these scenes highlight passion, rivalry, and breathtaking talent. Whether it’s a defiant performance or a delicate pas de deux, prepare to be mesmerized by ballet in film and TV like never before!
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00:00Hi everybody! I'm starting over.
00:02He's what? Did he say he's starting?
00:04No steps, only steps. Just sit there and let me fix it. This won't take long.
00:07I don't think. You know what? It'll take as long as it takes. Deal with it.
00:10Welcome to Ms. Mojo.
00:12And today, we're counting down our picks for some of the most beautiful,
00:16emotional, and artistic ballet scenes to ever grace our screens.
00:20So tomorrow is one more day I get to dance.
00:23For this list, we won't be including performances on competition shows,
00:27but they've had their share of impressive showings.
00:30Because ballet has been a creative engine since the Renaissance,
00:33and it's not going anywhere anytime soon.
00:37Number 20. Senior Showcase, Step Up.
00:40Channing Tatum stars in this romance dance drama film as Tyler Gage,
00:45a youth sentenced to community service for vandalizing an art school.
00:49When an ambitious young dancer finds herself without a partner for the Senior Showcase,
00:53Tyler eventually steps up to help.
00:562.30 tomorrow. Bring your tights.
01:01The culmination is this iconic blend of hip-hop and ballet styles.
01:05As the fate of Jenna Dewan's Nora hangs in the balance,
01:09the pair puts on an acclaimed performance featuring a mashup of elegant jumps,
01:13breakdancing, and some seriously impressive lifts.
01:24This show-stopping finale marks the troubled pair's reconciliation
01:27and reveals Tyler's untapped potential as a professional dancer.
01:32Although the film wasn't popular with critics,
01:34its classic premise and modern choreography have made it an enduring hit.
01:39So you know what that means, right?
01:41No, what's that mean?
01:42You're gonna have to get some tights.
01:45Done.
01:46Number 19. Pas de deux times three. Find Me in Paris.
01:51Set in an elite Parisian ballet school,
01:54this time-traveling adventure features plenty of dance scenes across its three-season run.
01:58But the moment when a class assignment switches up pas de deux pairings really stands out.
02:03Now we're all gonna learn the same piece of choreography from the show,
02:05but each pair will be free to perform their own interpretation of it.
02:09Without any rules. We'll call it a truce.
02:12With three duos performing the same steps,
02:14we get to appreciate how the personal dynamics at play change the performance.
02:18The tender affection between Inez and Dash is sweet and hopeful,
02:22while the antagonism between Lena and Thea turns their attempt into more of a battle of wills.
02:28But most interesting is Max and Jeff's pas de deux.
02:30Mmm, let's dance, let's just fade away, fade away.
02:37All I need is you, there's no getaway, getaway.
02:43Their complicated relationship plays out as a bittersweet what-if,
02:47loaded with emotional resonance and genuine chemistry.
02:50They might not be destined to partner up offstage, but here they steal the show.
02:55You're the fire and I need the man.
03:01Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
03:09Wow, they really bullets the table.
03:11Number 18, Ripper, Tiny Pretty Things.
03:14We survived Ramon Costa and all that he threw at us because we stuck together,
03:20fighting for what we believed in.
03:22And tonight, we turn it into something that changes the world.
03:26So no matter what we hear out there or what we see, we dance.
03:31Using an original ballet about a famously unsolved series of crimes to turn the spotlight on the see-me underbelly
03:37of your school?
03:38Pretty bold, we gotta say.
03:40The senior dancers of the Archer School of Ballet pull the rug out from everyone
03:44when they replace the music in the last scene of Ripper with an incriminating recording.
04:01The image of these students continuing to dance as audio exposes the ugly secrets underneath the Archer's prestige is an
04:09evocative one.
04:09It's a reminder of the price paid for their pedigree and a rebuke of the audience's complicity.
04:15Using their art to strike a blow against the system that both made and victimized them,
04:20these dancers send a profound message about the power even a largely wordless medium can wield.
04:25You'll regret this.
04:27Turns out I had the better news.
04:30Number 17, Pirouette Practice, Billy Elliot.
04:33This British dance drama combines the best aspects of a classic coming-of-age tale
04:38with the social and political context of the coal miner's strike of the mid-1980s.
04:43We can't do this! Not now! Not after all this time! Not after everything we've been through!
04:47It's my wee bullet!
04:48Billy Elliot is a young boy from a working-class English family who discovers a passion for ballet,
04:54despite his father's objections.
04:56Lads do football or boxing or wrestling, not friggin' ballet.
05:07Although it doesn't feature any amazing dancing, this scene wins points for its emotional poignancy,
05:13as Billy struggles to nail a spin while holed up in his family bathroom.
05:17When he follows the advice of his teacher Sandra Wilkinson and manages to execute a pirouette without falling over,
05:24it marks one of the film's emotional highs.
05:27What have I told you about that arm?
05:31Right, back to the bar.
05:33This montage captures all the frustration of working towards your dreams,
05:37and all the joy of achieving them bit by bit.
05:41Number 16, Don Quixote, Mal's Last Dancer.
05:45What do you call man?
05:46Dancer noble.
05:49Dancer... not nice. Not like a ballerina.
05:51Okay, well, how about a big ballerina?
05:56Ballerina?
05:58I like...
05:59All set, big ballerina?
06:00Based on the autobiography of Lee Swoon Sing,
06:03this film chronicles the career of the former ballet principal
06:06as he navigates the tensions between China and the U.S. in pursuit of his dance dreams.
06:11While the climactic The Rite of Spring is as beautifully danced as it is emotionally loaded,
06:15there's a catharsis in Lee's earlier American debut performance that makes it pop.
06:27With the sacrifices of his past fresh in mind,
06:30Lee gives the grande pas from Don Quixote a defiant tone that leaps off the screen
06:35just as fiercely as he leaps across the stage.
06:38Birmingham Royal Ballet star Chi Cao portrays Lee here,
06:41and the moments of slo-mo also allow us to really appreciate the considerable technical ability on display.
06:55Number 15.
06:56Istanbul, not Constantinople.
06:59Bunheads.
06:59As the effortlessly gifted bad girl ballerina Sasha,
07:03Giulia Goldani-Teyes cut a sometimes infuriating path through the short-lived series Bunheads.
07:08No piece she danced on the show better encapsulates the character than this one.
07:24Istanbul, not Constantinople blends classical ballet with a jazz sensibility,
07:29reflecting Sasha's rebellious nature and disregard for rules or boundaries.
07:33As the trio moves smoothly through space and between levels,
07:37we get punctuating moments of sharpness that keep the edge on an otherwise polished presentation.
07:42Why they changed it, I can't say.
07:44People just liked it better that way.
07:46So take me back to Constantinople.
07:48No, you can't go back to Constantinople.
07:50Been a long time gone.
07:52Constantinople.
07:52Why did Constantinople get the works?
07:54That's nobody's business but the church.
07:57The whole dance feels like something of a challenge,
07:59especially since Goldani-Teyes rarely breaks eye contact with the camera.
08:03It's like she's daring us to argue with her.
08:06But how could we?
08:07There's nothing to say to this except well done.
08:10Been a long time gone.
08:11Constantinople.
08:12Why did Constantinople get the works?
08:14That's nobody's business but the Turks.
08:19Istanbul.
08:25Number 14, Tara's Red Shoes, Dance Academy.
08:29What made you pick Red Shoes?
08:32Victoria's Payne, performing while she's grieving.
08:35You could never do it properly.
08:37Tara's road to the Prix de Fontaine is littered with obstacles.
08:41Be it jealous rivals, unhinged teachers, or devastating injuries.
08:45But the biggest blow comes from the unexpected death of her friend Sammy.
08:49In spite of, or even because of it all,
08:52she's determined to present her rendition of the Red Shoes at the competition.
08:55And when the weight of her loss threatens to knock her off her game,
08:59Sammy himself appears one last time.
09:01You're meant to be dancing.
09:09Everything's wrong without you.
09:11We're all gonna fall apart.
09:13No you won't.
09:15Because you're going to be the glue.
09:20You'll miss me because I'm awesome, but
09:23you'll be okay.
09:24Not only does this allow Tara to say her goodbyes,
09:28but his memory gives her the lift she needs to continue.
09:31With emotion pouring out of her,
09:33Tara finishes the variation,
09:35dancing out her heartbreak and grief
09:36in a scene that makes even the casual viewer
09:38feel the tragedy of the moment.
09:53Number 13
09:55The Duet
09:56White Nights
09:56Mikhail Baryshnikov stars in this Cold War drama
10:00as a Soviet defector and ballet professional
10:02who was stranded in his birth country after a plane crash.
10:06I've seen you dance,
10:08Ratchenko.
10:13Welcome home, Nikolai.
10:16When the KGB assigns an American expat and tap dancer,
10:19played by Gregory Hines,
10:21to watch him,
10:22the two begin to use dance as a means
10:24to vent their anxieties
10:25and subvert Soviet surveillance.
10:28I could fall down
10:30when you need flight
10:32and still land on my feet
10:37Despite a tense beginning,
10:39the men gradually come to trust each other
10:42over the course of the film
10:43and this routine captures both their rivalry
10:46and the fruitfulness of their collaboration.
10:48With distinct artistic styles coming together
10:51and a soundtrack that's as 80s as can be,
10:54this scene showcases two real-life dance legends
10:57and movie stars in their prime.
11:13Number 12, Dakini, Flesh and Bone
11:16In some ways, it felt like this miniseries
11:18was trying to be a grittier take on center stage.
11:21Among a few similarities,
11:23it starred Sasha Radetzky
11:24in its cast of legitimate ballet dancers.
11:27And behind the scenes,
11:28Ethan Stiefel served as the production choreographer.
11:31His work culminates in the climactic on-screen ballet Dakini.
11:52Intimate and expressive,
11:54Dakini features some truly stunning partnered sequences.
11:57However, it is also noteworthy for giving its male ensemble,
12:00particularly Radetzky,
12:02moments to shine independently,
12:04which is not always a given in ballet.
12:16Every detail is considered here.
12:18The choreography works with the music and lighting
12:21to give us a message parallel to the show's narrative,
12:24one of finding joy and liberation in dance,
12:26even amidst shadows.
12:28It all comes together into a beautiful piece of art.
12:43Number 11, The Full Transformation, Black Swan
12:47Life gruesomely imitates art
12:50in this dance-heavy psychological horror film
12:52from Darren Aronofsky.
12:54Natalie Portman stars as Nina Sayers,
12:56a ballerina who begins losing her grip on reality
12:59as she struggles to capture the dual nature
13:02of the lead in Swan Lake.
13:03The only person standing in your way is you.
13:07It's time to let her go.
13:10Lose yourself.
13:11After a violent confrontation with her doppelganger,
13:14or was it her rival Lily,
13:16in her dressing room,
13:17Nina finally embodies the Black Swan.
13:28With glowing red eyes and her skin bursting with feathers,
13:32she takes to the stage and sprouts huge wings
13:35as she completes her final foot date.
13:37Natalie Portman spent six months preparing for the role,
13:40and if this frightening yet majestic scene is any indication,
13:44it was worth it.
13:49This drama with romantic elements from Robert Altman
13:53loosely follows a group of performers at the Joffrey Ballet,
13:56a top dance company based in Chicago.
13:59It's so great.
14:00We're finally starting Blue Snake rehearsals.
14:03I love it.
14:04Although co-producer Nev Campbell stars alongside James Franco,
14:08the true scene-stealer is the real member of the Joffrey Ballet
14:11who performs this gorgeous aerial routine.
14:25Set to a plaintive and sparse dream pop tune by Julie Cruz,
14:29the piece is a showcase of pure technique,
14:31with the ballerina executing dizzying spins
14:34and light-as-a-feather cartwheels.
14:36Some criticize this film for its lack of narrative focus,
14:39but performances like this one make it a must-see for dance lovers.
14:54Number 9.
14:56I Married Myself, Etoile
14:58Spanning two continents and two major ballet companies,
15:01the finale of this prematurely axed series
15:04naturally served up two fantastic ballets.
15:06While we love the creative use of basics in Whatever This Is,
15:10it was Christopher Wealdon's piece
15:12I Married Myself that really got in our heads.
15:14I married myself
15:17I'm very happy together
15:20Long, long walks on the beach
15:23Lovely times
15:24In the choreography, we can see star ballerina Cheyenne's soul
15:28laid out for the audience
15:29as someone who struggles to live in the world
15:32and only finds her peace and purpose in dancing.
15:34But momentary flashes of conflicting feelings throughout
15:37hint at deep-seated melancholy and frustration,
15:40maybe towards herself,
15:42maybe at being perpetually misunderstood.
15:44This time it's gonna last forever, forever, forever
15:51This is a moving setup for a continuing character journey
15:55that Amazon cut short.
15:56One day we might get over it, but not today.
15:59Genevieve is done with me, Gael is done with me,
16:01and you are done with me, so I win the done with me game.
16:03Number 8, the balcony scene in the studio, The Turning Point.
16:07I have a little secret for you.
16:09You know, I think it's perfectly alright to be in Aros.
16:12Really?
16:13Really, I know.
16:15Dance well.
16:16Mikhail Baryshnikov knows how to enter with a bang.
16:19His Oscar-nominated 1977 feature film debut in The Turning Point
16:24has no shortage of incredible performance moments,
16:26yet our favorite is one snatched out of rehearsal
16:29when the budding attraction between Baryshnikov's Yuri
16:32and Leslie Brown's Emilia takes flight.
16:53Dancing the balcony pas de deux from Kenneth McMillan's Romeo and Juliet,
16:57the pair flawlessly captures the breathless abandon of new love.
17:00There are layers to these characters dancing the roles of the Western canon's
17:04most famous lovers, only adding to the performance quality.
17:08Delicate yet giddy, tender yet passionate, effervescent yet vulnerable,
17:12and all underpinned with building sexual tension,
17:15it's a masterclass in what Butterflies in the Stomach looks like as a dance.
17:36Number 7. Prologue, West Side Story
17:39Like its source material, the Broadway show of the same name,
17:43this musical romantic drama transplants Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
17:47into 1950's New York City.
18:04Its opening number introduces us to the tensions
18:07between rival gangs, the Jets, and the Sharks
18:09on the streets of the Upper West Side.
18:24Before long, an oddly beautiful brawl has erupted over the entire neighborhood,
18:29with impressive jumps, kicks, and pirouettes galore.
18:33With barely any dialogue, this sequence quickly introduces the film's central conceit.
18:38But storyline aside, the sheer athleticism of the many male dancers
18:42and the tight yet rough-and-tumble choreography
18:45make this number nothing short of epic.
18:48You saw how they dance, like they gotta get rid of something quick.
18:52That's how they fight.
18:54Number 6. Girl Hunt Ballet, The Bandwagon
18:57Fred Astaire is Tony Hunter, a middle-aged theater and film star
19:01trying to recover from a career slump in this MGM musical comedy.
19:05But a comeback proves easier said than done
19:08as he's roped into a song and dance production he doesn't feel sure about
19:12and his insecurities quickly come to the fore.
19:15Fellas, bless you. Good luck.
19:16But this just ain't for me.
19:17I know what I can do and I'm gonna stick to it.
19:19Thankfully, the show turns out as grand as it is kooky.
19:23With the musical within a musical riffing on pulpy crime novels
19:26and Tony's co-star Gabrielle pulling double duty as a damsel in distress
19:31and femme fatale.
19:33More curves than a scenic railway.
19:37She was bad.
19:38She was dangerous.
19:40I wouldn't trust her any farther than I could throw her.
19:43She was selling hard.
19:45From the hard-boiled voiceovers to the intriguing narrative arc spanning 12 minutes,
19:50this scene combines incredible choreography with a wry sense of humor
19:54and deserves its enduring reputation in pop culture.
20:06Number 5.
20:07Margot Fontaine and Rudolf Nureyev make their U.S. debut.
20:11The Ed Sullivan Show.
20:24The Royal Ballet's Margot Fontaine was in her early 40s
20:27when she was partnered up with Rudolf Nureyev,
20:29a recent Soviet Union defector who was 19 years her junior.
20:33Yet from their first performance together in 1962,
20:37it was clear that the pair were artistic soulmates.
20:39Their 1965 U.S. television debut
20:42stands as a lasting testament to the magic
20:45that made Fontaine and Nureyev into global superstars.
21:02Presenting a pas de deux from Swan Lake,
21:05they move through the choreography with weightless ease
21:07and perfect coordination.
21:09It's as if they're in their own dream world,
21:12completely unaware that anyone else is watching.
21:14With their storied connection at its most ethereally potent,
21:18performances like this leave no question
21:20of how Fontaine and Nureyev became household names.
21:45number four, Cooper's Ballet, Center Stage.
21:48This teen drama finds a cast of eager dancers brought together amidst a tussle
21:53for creative control at a New York City ballet academy.
21:57You're afraid of opening the times and reading that last,
21:59someone is making interesting dances for ABC.
22:01The differing visions of director Jonathan and upstart Cooper
22:05culminate in this climactic performance that is thoroughly untraditional
22:09and all the better for it.
22:21When Cooper drives in on a motorcycle and rips off his one-time lover Jodie's tutu,
22:27all bets are off.
22:28Stars Ethan Stiefel and Amanda Schull show off their professional chops
22:32while infusing the piece with some serious sexual chemistry.
22:36However, the highlight of the ballet is in the final scene,
22:39as Jodie burns up the stage in a red costume to match.
22:43Her fierce empowerment gives us a triumphant performance
22:46that would have any audience on its feet.
23:05Number three, the premiere telecast of George Balanchine's
23:08The Nutcracker, Playhouse 90.
23:10Good evening.
23:12Tonight, a magical world of wonderful surprises.
23:15A Christmas story with a difference.
23:17For as you will soon see, it is not told, it is dance.
23:22New York City Ballet can't claim the oldest production of The Nutcracker,
23:25but they can claim the first telecast of the ballet in history,
23:29establishing theirs as the model so many would emulate for holiday seasons ever after.
23:34Not only was this 1958 production captured in full color,
23:38but it features some true legends of American dance preserved for posterity at their peak.
23:43Yes, that is Arthur Mitchell, future founder of Dance Theatre of Harlem, playing coffee.
23:48Yes, that is the great Allegra Kent dancing dewdrop.
23:52And yes, yes, that is Balanchine himself setting the plot in motion as Drosselmeyer.
23:57This is Godfather Drosselmeyer's latest and most extraordinary invention.
24:02A nutcracker in the shape of a general.
24:05A most important general.
24:07With June Lockhart's narration to help the ballet Neophytes,
24:11this production helped cement The Nutcracker as a quintessential piece of American Christmas culture.
24:16And its charm doesn't shine any less brightly all these years later.
24:33Number 2. An American in Paris Ballet.
24:36An American in Paris.
24:38This beloved musical comedy centers around Jerry,
24:42an American veteran navigating romance and a burgeoning painting career in post-war Paris.
24:56Choreographer extraordinaire Gene Kelly was behind the film's numerous dance sequences,
25:01and none is more impressive than the 17-minute finale.
25:05As Jerry's true love Lisa drives away from her fiancé,
25:08his dreams of a perfect day and night spent in the French capital come to life
25:13in a lively number combining ballet and tap.
25:25With a huge cast of performers representing a variety of Parisian characters
25:30and set pieces drawing from famous French paintings,
25:33this sequence stands out as one of the most ambitious of its kind.
25:52Number 1. The Ballet of the Red Shoes.
25:55The Red Shoes.
25:56This mid-century psychological drama features one of the most beautiful dances ever put to film.
26:03Victoria Page is a ballerina caught between impresario Lermontov
26:06and her love for composer Julian.
26:09You cannot have it both ways.
26:12The dancer who relies upon the doubtful comforts of human love
26:16will never be a great dancer.
26:19Never.
26:20Their collaboration on an adaptation of the fairy tale about enchanted shoes gives rise to this spectacle.
26:27Rather than giving us an audience's view of the production,
26:30visual effects transport us through numerous striking vignettes filmed in Technicolor.
26:42The performance blurs the line between reality and hallucination
26:46as Victoria imagines both Lermontov and Julian in the place of her actual dance partner.
26:52If that weren't enough, its story of a girl who can't stop dancing
26:55ominously foreshadows Victoria's demise.
26:59From concepts to costumes to choreography,
27:01this legendary sequence truly has it all.
27:05Which scene carried you off like a ballerina in the arms of her cavalier?
27:09Jete down to the comments and let us know.
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