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| Dance scene from Anna Karenina with Keira Knightley and Aaron Taylor-Johnson |
In honor of my novel Cosmic
Dancer---a metaphysical tale of dance, love, and dancing between lifetimes---I
am announcing the winners in the first annual
Cosmic
Dancer Dance in Film Awards
for
English-language films released in 2012
Joseph and I love dancing, and therefore dance movies.
Give us any kind of dancing: West Side Story, Dirty Dancing, Flash Dance, The Turning Point, Boot Men, Dance with Me,
Saturday Night Fever, Center Stage, Step Up, Bollywood movies, and on and on. We've watched all three films titled Shall
We Dance? Not to mention documentaries and television celebrations of dance
and dancers, along with a number of movies that we suffered through only for the dancing.
Can't leave out the old films with Fred, Ginger, Gene, and others
hoofing it all over the silver screen: on ships, over furniture, up walls, around
hotel rooms, among parades, and in the rain.
More recently, we've had to rely on television series
to keep our dance mania alive while some real stinkers have shown up at the
cineplex.
But in 2012 we noticed filmmakers using dance in exciting
new ways, featuring choreographers we’ve come to love. We wanted to honor and applaud those efforts to bring
quality dancing into movie theaters.
Hence the Cosmic Dancer Dance in Film Awards, which we hope to make an annual tradition, encouraging more good dancing in excellent films.
If you love dance, dancers, and dancing, please join us to promote better dancing in the movies by sharing our winners list around the Net via Facebook, Twitter, your own blog, or wherever! And be
sure to support the makers of the following films.
Which were your favorites this year? Or for all time? We’d love to hear your opinions in the comments section below! Did we miss any good ones?
* * * *
2012 Winners of the Cosmic Dancer Dance in Film Awards
Best Dramatic Use of
Dance: Anna Karenina,
directed by Joe Wright.
For a stunningly clever Viennese waltz choreographed by Sidi
Larbi Cherkaoui, and for the director’s overall use of choreographed movement.
Apparently, we’re not the only ones who noticed how extraordinary the
Wright/Cherkaoui team was:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/24/arts/dance/sidi-larbi-cherkaouis-choreography-for-anna-karenina.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Best Choreography: Travis Wall, Christopher Scott, Jamal Sims, and Chuck Maldonado, choreographers of Step
Up Revolution, directed by Scott Speer
For their wild, daring, passionate, and innovative numbers.
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| Kathryn McCormick and Ryan Guzman in Step Up Revolution |
Best Dancing: The dancers of Step Up
Revolution, especially Kathryn McCormick
For keeping up with those choreographers and pushing the
envelope.
Most Therapeutic Use
of Dance: Silver Linings
Playbook, directed by David O. Russell, choreographed by Mandy Moore
You’ll understand why if you watch the film!
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| Scene from Silver Linings Playbook |
* * * *
Now it’s difficult to choose “bests” without coming across a
few disappointments, and sometimes the disappointment is so harsh, you just
have to mention it in the hope that you can discourage such missteps by future
filmmakers. That’s my excuse anyway.
Most Underused Dancer: Julianne Hough in Rock
of Ages, directed by Adam Shankman, choreographed by Adam Shankman and Mia
Michaels
It’s a fun movie, but she’s a dancer we’d like
to see more from. We had to find her edited-out dance scene with Tom Cruise on YouTube, where it seems to be very popular (and R-rated).
Most Ill-Used Dancer: Channing Tatum in Magic
Mike, directed by Steven Soderbergh, choreographed by Alison Faulk.
His talent deserves better than this dark mess.
Fastest Turn-Off: Battlefield America,
directed by Chris Stokes, choreographers’ names withheld to protect the
innocent.
Joseph and I used to brag that they’d never make a dance
movie we couldn’t enjoy but we were wrong. A trite script is one thing, but too
many unlikable characters and odious plot lines and it becomes this year’s
reject, winning the dubious “Fastest Turn-Off” award after only 34 minutes! The
dancing might have been good, but we wouldn’t know because of the poor camera angles and editing on the little bit we could stand to watch.
* * * *
I’m happy to say Julianne Hough must have a great sense of
humor and made up for her lack of dancing in Rock of Ages at an after-party for the Golden Globes. Wish we’d
been there to see it! Here’s the photo she posted on Instagram: http://instagram.com/p/Udpboaifw4/
Happy dancing and movie-going!
We’ve got high hopes for 2013!
Hello, dear friends. I have moved my Soul Pursuits blog to www.liannedowney.com See you there!
