Dance Scenes In Movies Can Be Tricky, But Sometimes Magical

Oscar front-runner "La La Land" opens with a bang, or should we say a burst — of leaps and pirouettes, not to mention bicycles sashaying along the roofs of automobiles. "When it's done right, it's this perfect marriage of how the camera is moving in conjunction and collaboration with the movement of the dancer," she says. Dancing on a stage is three-dimensional; on a screen, you lose an entire dimension. Because everyone has their favorite dance moments in movies, and because the Oscars are coming, and because, hey, it's just fun to remember this stuff (all available online), here are a few scenes where the cameras helped create dance magic: Check out that guy on the spinning log, not to mention what can best be described as a balance beam routine that includes arm-wrestling. [...] Kelly's rain-drenched virtuoso performance in the title song of "Singin' in the Rain" (1952) is a wonder — especially when you consider that, according to movie lore, he had a bad cold and fever. [...] let's consider the recently departed Debbie Reynolds, who at age 19 had no dance training, and somehow held her own, expertly tapping away with Kelly and O'Connor in the joyous "Good Morning" — which she has said made her feet bleed. The two, who both play defectors (it's complicated), have silly dialogue but compelling dancing, together and apart. First there was "Saturday Night Fever" (1977), where the actor earned big-screen fame as Tony Manero, king of the disco floor and champion of the strut. Only a year later he tore up the gym floor in "Grease," co-starring Olivia Newton-John. [...] in 1994, there was that understated — but unforgettable — twist contest with Uma Thurman in "Pulp Fiction." Before Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling did "La La Land," they did "Crazy, Stupid, Love," (2011) in which they recreated the famous "Dirty Dancing" lift made famous by Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey in 1977.