Shall We Dance?

I'm no dancer. I actually took an introduction to shag-dance class at a local community college with my babymamma many moons ago. I, apparently, failed. At the conclusion of the class, Tina asked if we could take intermediate shag. The response: "You can; he can't". Don't get me wrong, I can move fine. My sense of rhythm is appropriate for my socio-economic status, and all (Hmmm... Actually, that may be the problem). Anyhow, my inability to adequately trip the light fantastic does not keep me from watching others dance, cinematically or otherwise. Over the last couple of weeks, NetFlix sent my bride-to-be an international trifecta of dance movies: Billy Elliot, Shall We Dance?, and Dirty Dancing.

"Billy Elliot" (2000) is about a boy from a working-class family in a British coal-mining town. His mom is gone, and his tough-guy dad wants him to box, as he, and his dad before him, had done. Billy is no boxer. Billy wants to dance, needs to dance. Will dad "get it"? Could the family afford to send Billy to an elite dance school if he did? Culture clashes and the obligatory try-out before an elite panel- ala Flashdance- ensue. Touching, and entertaining, with decent dancing.

"Shall We Dance" (1996) is a Japanese mid-life crisis film about a straight-laced accountant in a straight-laced society who finds joy in the forbidden world of ballroom dancing. Will his co-workers and his wife find out about his secret life? Will they understand if they do find out? Funny, dramatic, touching, with good (and bad) dancing. Here's a "Shall We Dance" Trailer.

Dirty Dancing" (1987). Oh, come on. You know this one. Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey's "Baby". Baby comes of age against the backdrop of a hoity-toity Summer Camp filled with arrogant Ivy-league camp counselors who use and abuse the downtrodden professional dancers to the beat of a great soundtrack. My perspective changed plenty since I first saw "Dirty Dancing" more than 20 years ago. Having a 19 year-old daughter'll do that for you. Big news when Patrick Swayze died last year, but fathers of daughters everywhere bemoaned the loss, a few years earlier, of Jerry Orbach, who played Baby's daddy.