We Should Be Dancing,Yeah

(Thanks BeeGees!)

Actor Tom Hiddleston, @Wiki Commons, 2025. I presume he’s filled with post-dancing joy.

Joy.

I had that word written on a sticky note above my desk, along with the words “resonance” and “authenticity.”

I was surprised to read that English actor Tom Hiddleston used the word to describe how he feels when he’s dancing. I shouldn’t have been, because every dancer I’ve ever watched on film invariably reveals a spark of that joy.

I saw Hiddleston’s joy when a friend took me to the movie The Life of Chuck, adapted from a novella by Stephen King.

In this movie about — among other things — the end of the world, Hiddleston plays the role of Chuck in the movie’s second section. Chuck is an accountant attending a professional conference. On a break from meetings, Chuck takes a walk and comes upon an amazing woman playing drums in the street (Taylor Gordon). Hiddleston starts to dance to her beat, enlists a partner from the crowd that gathers in the street, then spends six minutes with her in a magical dance routine choreographed by Mandy Moore, of La La Land fame.

That dance of Hiddleston’s sent me down an enjoyable rabbit hole of online videos of movie dance routines specifically featuring men.

Back to that word “joy.” I admit that I’m playing ostrich, hiding out from analysis of Supreme Court rulings that disappoint — even enrage — me, or from too many articles about whatever the hell is happening in Iran. In a desperate attempt to put American politics on mute for a bit, I offer for your enjoyment these dances from movies you may — or may not — know.

I am going to start with a fabulous tap dancers, The Nicholas Brothers, here with the great Cab Calloway. This is Calloway’s song “Jumpin’ Jive” from the 1945 film Stormy Weather. (This clip reminds me of the great young Seattle tapper Cipher Goings).

Another 20th-century giant, Fred Astaire, with Ginger Rogers (or almost any partner) seemed to float above the dance floor. I have heard he was a taskmaster, perfecting the choreography and pushing whoever he danced with to come as close as possible to his own perfection yardsticks, and apparently that generated a fair bit of ill will.

Astaire’s movies had similar plots: dance partners were in love with one another, had a tiff then reconnected, or were frustrated by their current partners and looking to find other perfect partners, in love and in dance. Here’s a little ditty you can tap your toes to.

I’m not going to add Gene Kelly to this post, but I have spent many hours comparing Astaire’s sleek moves to the more muscular dancing Gene Kelly brought us. Explore those videos yourself, and let me know what you think.

I’m a child of the disco era, and I’ve watched my share of documentaries on the subject but I think the 1977 film Saturday Night Fever brought us what became iconic images, at least when it comes to mass media depictions of the disco era. I don’t remember getting that dressed up for a night at the dance club, but my knees were certainly more able to support me while my friends and I gyrated to Donna Summer.

Not even ten years after John Travolta slithered around that disco, I was mesmerized watching the great dancer Gregory Hines share the floor with another icon, Mikhail Baryshnikov, in White Nights. And this isn’t exactly the dance that makes me want to move with the music, but Channing Tatum, front and center in this clip from 2012’s Magic Mike, will definitely make you wish that clip lasted a minute or so longer.

I could spend hours more clicking through YouTube and savoring more dance movies, specifically those that have etched themselves into my brain. A few days ago I could find the dance scene from The Life of Chuck. For some reason, likely my non-native digital skills, we have to settle for Hiddleston’s heavily edited discourse on dance. Love the movie — or hate it — you can’t deny Hiddleston’s joy in performing the dance, nor, for me, the joy the performance brings to the audience. Enjoy the holiday weekend.