She’s All That – Give It To Me Baby

In 1999, Matthew Lillard brought to life the character of Brock Hudson (an ex character from The Real World) in She’s All That, and so too brought to life his appallingly brilliant dance moves. In a silver velour, uh, tracksuit? Shellsuit..? In a silver velour leisure suit, Brock takes to the dancefloor to get on down to the grossly titled ‘Give It To Me Baby’ by Rick James*. White boy break dancing and hip thrusts galore, plus that particular head swing that was also part of the dance to Tragedy by Steps. They all combine to make this dance scene totally awesome and worthy of a spot on this list.

*BONUS: track down the original music video for this track, you won’t regret it – white suits and unironic mirror dancing feature extensively.

The Breakfast Club – We Are Not Alone

Back to the 80’s now, to talk about some seriously slick detention dancin’. Five teens, all from different high school cliques, are forced to spend a Saturday together in detention, and I pray to God that if you took nothing else from this movie that you were at least in awe of Molly Ringwald’s moves for approximately 4 seconds. The five dance to We Are Not Alone by Karla DeVito in their repective styles for around two minutes in what is possibly the greatest impromptu high school dance scene ever. John Hughes, I salute you.

13 Going on 30 – Thriller

Jennifer Garner. Mark Ruffalo. Dancing. To Michael Jackson’s Thriller. Do I need to say anything more?

The Rocky Horror Picture Show – The Time Warp

The first dance on the list with REAL moves that YOU can partake in! We all know that it’s just a jump to the left and a step to the right, right? Awesome costumes, instructional lyrics, and a sequin spangled, tap dancing groupie. Despite all these heavenly on-screen features, the real beauty of the Time Warp is that anyone can do it. When I say anyone, I mean you. You should definitely dance to this one. Right now. Definitely.

Napoleon Dynamite – Canned Heat

Your best friend is running for class president but has an unimpressive speech. What to do? Why, bust out your greatest moves to the tune of some Jamiroquai of course! Napoleon Dynamite dances much like me, and is probably why I find this scene totally endearing and also pretty formidable. When the going gets tough, the tough SHIMMY.

Grease – The Hand Jive

Rejoice! Another dance that you too can learn. The Hand Jive is simple enough to learn but impressive enough to win dance contests apparently. If your dance partner is John Travolta. Awesome actors pulling some awesome dance moves in some equally awesome costumes, AND a dance-specific song? YOU G-U-Y-S.

Superbad – Too Hot To Stop

Jonah Hill, Michael Cera and Chris Mintz-Plasse gettin down to some old school funk? Is this possibly the definitive dance opening? The answer is yes. Like an apple advert gone wrong, but so much better. I mean, this opening could be nothing less than hilarious, Seth Rogen co-wrote this movie and it shows. Ever wondered what would happen if your brother got to dance in the opening credits to a movie? Wonder no more, and laugh instead.

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Other honorable mentions in this list include: Kat dancing on a table in 10 Things I Hate About You, the cast of High School Musical dancing to All In This Together (sorry, not sorry), the dance off in Hairspray, Romy and Michelle gliding around to Time After Time in a way that can only be described as admirable, and the opening of Ghost World, another strong contender for best dance opening ever made, ever.

by Sarah