Get on up!
Rebel Reel Cine Club curates the best dance scenes in film history
You know, there really isn’t enough dance in films anymore. Nothing can so joyously convey emotion as a spontaneous moment of dance, letting words take the wayside and for the body to do all the talking. We may be far from the days of Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire but that doesn’t mean all is lost.
Chris McGill, founder of Rebel Reel Cine Club, who is responsible for screening cult classics such as Valley of the Dolls, Faster Pussycat Kill! Kill!, and Gummo around the country, has put together a list of his favourite cinematic dance scenes just for HERO, all in anticipation of a very special screening of Elaine Constantine’s 2014 modern classic Northern Soul at the Rio in Dalston on Sept 27th, featuring a live Q+A with the photographer/filmmaker and star Elliot James Landridge. It’ll be an event not to be missed, with dancing in the aisles strictly encouraged!
Chungking Express by Wong Kar Wei, 1994
“To say that Chungking Express is like a pop video is kind of insulting, but it literally is so visually stunning and beautiful – AND yet odd. Faye Wong’s carefree bopping to one of the best soundtracks of any film (there I’ve said it) is as good as her version of The Cranberries’ Dreams in Mandarin.”
Still, Chungking Express by Wong Kar Wei, 1994
Bande à part by Jean Luc Godard, 1968
“A cliché to say this is one of the great dance scenes of all time – NON!
This is perfection – Anna Karina, Sami Frey and Claude Brasseur dancing the Madison inspired Quentin Tarantino to name his production company after the film (we know you know!)… and to include an homage in Pulp Fiction… “
Bande à part by Jean Luc Godard, 1968
Mauvais Sang by Leos Carax, 1986
“Long before his genius Sparks opera Annette starring Adam Driver and Marion Cottilard, Leos Carax directed this story of a virus infecting people who have loveless sex. The scene of Denis Lavant running, punching and dancing through Paris for just over a minute to David Bowie’s Modern Love is joyous and terrifying…
See also, Frances, Ha!…”
Still, Mauvais Sang by Leos Carax, 1986
Frances, Ha! by Noah Baumbach, 2012
Greta Gerwig does an almost moment-for-moment copy of the run/dance in Mauvais Sang (AND to Bowie’s Modern Love!) – and I can’t hate her for doing it and Noah Baumbach for directing her to do it. She is brilliantly annoying and loveable and kind of shit at dancing in this brilliant film (which also stars Adam Driver, linking it to Mauvais Sang via director Leos Carax)
Still, Frances, Ha! by Noah Baumbach, 2012
Northern Soul by Elaine Constantine, 2012
It’s not surprising that Elaine Constantine directed Northern Soul with an authenticity of high-kicking split-dropping energy – she WAS part of the Northern Soul scene and her photographs from the 90s capture movement and kinetic energy like no one else. Elliot James Landridge learned to dance northern soul from scratch… come catch Rebel Reel talking to them at the Rio in Dalston on 27th September.”
Buy tickets to Rebel Reel Cine Club’s Northern Soul Dalston Rio screening here – use code HERO for a special discount.