Dancing in Movies Trivia Questions

Answer: Grease

John Travolta is Danny Zuko and Olivia Newton-John is Sandy Olsson. Together they take the world by storm as they sing and dance their way through this film, falling in love, as expected, in the end. Stockard Channing, Jeff Conaway and Didi Conn are among the stellar supporting cast.

Answer: Jessica Biel

"Easy Virtue" (2008) is based on the Noel Coward play and is set in the 1920s. It tells the story of Larita Whittaker (Jessica Biel) who marries into a British family. Colin Firth plays her father-in-law, with whom Larita shares a rather intimate tango to "Por Una Cabeza". Since it is a Noel Coward play, complications ensue.

Kristin Scott Thomas played Veronica, Larita's mother in law. Kimberly Nixon was Hilda, Larita's sister in law. And Charlotte Riley was Sarah, Larita's husband's former girlfriend.

Answer: He dances with giant shadows of himself.

"Bojangles of Harlem", the sequence in "Swing Time" where Astaire dances with three giant versions of his own shadow, was put together ostensibly as a tribute to the great pre-war dancer Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, but also to honour African-American dancers in general. The idea of Astaire dancing with his own shadows came from his collaborator Hermes Pan, with the complexity of the sequence leading to it being the last part of the film to be shot. To produce the sequence, Astaire was first filmed dancing in front of a blank white screen, onto which a powerful light projected his shadow, footage that was then tripled in the film lab. Next, Astaire reshot the sequence in front of another white screen while watching a projection of the shadow dancing, so as to match up as closely as possible the movements. These four pieces of footage (Astaire himself and the three shadows) were then optically combined to form a single piece of footage. The sequence, which earned Hermes Pan an Academy Award nomination for Best Dance Direction, lasts approximately two minutes, and took three days to shoot.

Answer: A Couple of Swells

During the plot of "Easter Parade", Fred's and Judy's characters became more and more successful as stage performers, and "A Couple of Swells" was one of their staged performances. The number "It Only Happens When I Dance with You" was sung by Judy to Fred, but danced by Fred and Ann Miller. The others were all performed by Fred and Judy, but not in tramp costume.

Another song to become famous after its introduction in this show was "Steppin' Out with My Baby", sung by Fred and danced by Fred and the chorus.

Answer: Take the Lead

"Take the Lead" (2006) centres around Pierre Dulain, a dance teacher, who offers to teach ballroom dance to a group of misfit teens while they are in detention at school. Despite the skepticism of the school teachers, parents and even the teenagers themselves, Dulain manages to reach the kids through dance with the action culminating in a ballroom dance competition.
The character of Pierre Dulain, played by Antonio Banderas, is based on a real life dance instructor. The film is a fictionalised version of his real life 'Dancing Classrooms', which are short courses taught to fifth grade students, with the aim of teaching self respect and discipline through dance.

Answer: Slumdog Millionaire

"Slumdog Millionaire" was adapted from a novel by Vikas Swarup called "Q & A" and directed by Danny Boyle. It won eight Oscars including Best Motion Picture and Best Original Song for "Jai Ho".

The film is about a young boy from the slums who appears on the Indian version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" and wins the top prize, despite being suspected of cheating.

For a film which starts with such gritty realism, the choreographed dance scene at the end is something of a surprise, although it does pay homage to the style of Bollywood films. During the closing credits, the main characters dance along with hundreds of extras in the busy train station to the song "Jai Ho".

"Jai Ho", meaning "Victory to You", was sung mainly in Hindi and Spanish. An English version of "Jai Ho" featuring the Pussycat Dolls was released in 2009. It reached number three in the UK charts and number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Answer: jitterbug

The opening credit sequence has little people doing the jitterbug. This film (like most of David Lynch's work) was awfully confusing, but if you want to spoil the mystery for yourself, salon.com has a good article that basically explains everything.

Answer: Nazi officers

"Schindler's List" (1993), a masterpiece by Steven Spielberg, won the Academy Award for Best Picture as well as several other Oscars. It tells the true story of Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson), who rescued several thousand Jews from the Holocaust. At the start of the film, Schindler is an almost amoral businessman interested solely in money. After learning the true nature of the "Final Solution" Schindler used his money to save thousands of Jews from concentration camps.

At the start of the film, Schindler is trying to court several high ranking Nazi officers in a night club as "Por Una Cabeza" plays.

Answer: Harriet Hoctor

Harriet Hoctor had begun her training at the Normal School of Dancing under the Russian ballet master Louis Harvy Chalif at the age of twelve. By the age of sixteen, she had joined the Duncan Sisters, a major vaudeville act of the 1920s, playing a major role in their Broadway show "Topsy and Eva", from which she subsequently began appearing in shows produced by the impresario Florenz Ziegfeld, eventually receiving a starring role in the "Ziegfeld Follies". In 1935, the Hollywood gossip columnist Louella Parsons reported that Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers would be ending their partnership after their next film (eventually released as "Swing Time"), and that Hoctor would be recruited to appear alongside Astaire in the subsequent production. This proved to be untrue, as Rogers did appear in "Shall We Dance". As recompense, an extended sequence was devised specially for Hoctor to demonstrate her skills, most notably an elliptical backbend en pointe, which she had perfected as a headline act in the "Ziegfeld Follies". George Gershwin composed a special 10 minute piece of music for the sequence titled "Hoctor's Ballet", which proved to be the last extended piece the composer wrote before his death in 1937.

Answer: Footloose

In "Footloose" (1984), Kevin Bacon plays the part of Ren McCormack, a streetwise city kid who moves to a small town. Ren is astonished to find that music and dancing have been banned by the local council for religious reasons. Ren is determined to show that music and dancing aren't inherently 'bad' and challenges the law. Though his challenge fails, he is determined and starts to organise a dance for his school class just outside the town limits.

Answer: Big

"Big" (1988), starring Tom Hanks, is a movie about a boy called Josh who makes a wish to grow up and, courtesy of an old fairground fortune telling machine, does so overnight. "Big" was the first film directed by a woman (Penny Marshall) to gross over $100 m.

The piano dance scene occurs when Josh (played by Hanks) meets the owner of MacMillan Toy Company (Robert Loggia) at the FAO Schwarz toy store. They play a duet together on a foot-operated giant electronic keyboard.

The big piano was invented in 1976 by Remo Saraceni.

Answer: Napoleon Dynamite

Jon Heder is Napoleon Dynamite, a young man who lives a life of purpose in tiny Preston, Idaho. Aside from assisting his friend Pedro in becoming student body president, Napoleon seeks love with a girl named Deb and banishment of his Uncle Rico from his grandmother's house.

Answer: India

Ted Thomas, one of the company members at the time of the tour, told me that the performance was really difficult because the nights were very cold. The company was performing in a space created for them - a stage under a massive tent with chairs set up. In order to keep the space warm enough, their hosts had huge bins of coal burning. While this did sufficiently maintain a comfortable temperature for the audience, all the smoke from the burning coal blew up to the stage and the dancers could hardly breathe!

Answer: Ransacking a mansion

In "Bad Santa" (2003), Billy Bob Thornton plays Willie Stoke, a thief who poses as Santa Claus in order to rob shopping malls. Tony Cox plays Marcus, a little person who is his elf sidekick. Willie ultimately finds redemption after befriending a young man who believes that Willie is actually Santa.

"Por Una Cabeza" comes into play as Willie ransacks a mansion, including looting a safe.

Answer: Chuck Rodent

"Caddyshack" (1980) is a comedy set at an exclusive golf club and tells the story of a number of caddies. Sub-plots involve a property developer and the ongoing battle between the groundskeeper and a destructive gopher.

One of the stars of the movie (some would say THE star) is the animated gopher, listed in the credits as Chuck Rodent. The dancing gopher, who creates mayhem on the golf course, was so popular that he became available as a plush toy, computer software etc.

The film was directed by Harold Ramis and its human stars included Rodney Dangerfield, Ted Knight, Chevy Chase and Bill Murray.

Answer: Bob Fosse

Roy Scheider plays the part of Joe Gideon in this dance-filled fiesta. He is supported by fellow cast members Jessica Lange, Ben Vereen and John Lithgow, among many others. Ann Reinking essentially played a character based on herself.

Answer: tango

Every time he hears a tango, he has to take the floor with a woman and really work it. This is how he meets the Tia Carrere villain at the beginning, and at the end he and his agent partner wife (Jamie Lee Curtis) also partake.

Answer: Regina Hall

"Naked" (2017) is basically "Groundhog Day" with the twist that Marlon Wayans is naked at the start of the time loop. Wayans plays Rob Anderson, who finds himself in a time loop on his wedding day, trying to make sure his wedding happens. Eliza Coupe plays Vicky, the jealous bridesmaid who tries to sabotage the wedding. Mika Kelly is Callie, the prostitute hired by Viclky to set up Rob (that Rob did not sleep with). And Loretta Devine was Carol, Rob's mother.

The film is a remake of the 2000 Swedish film "Naken". It generally received negative reviews, except for the performance of Wayans. The pacing, script and direction were widely criticized with a zero rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

At the end of the film, after he marries Megan (Regina Hall), they dance to "Por Una Cabeza" at the reception.

Answer: Doctor

In the films that Astaire and Rogers had made together, the character that Astaire played was invariably an entertainer of some kind. As a result, on their return from the hiatus after "Shall We Dance" to begin work on "Carefree", Astaire relished the opportunity to play a different type of character, in this case a psychiatrist. In the film, Astaire's character tries a number of different ways to diagnose the reason that Rogers' character won't agree to marry her suitor (played by Ralph Bellamy), including eating "dream promoting foods" (such as shrimp cocktail with whipped cream, and cucumbers with buttermilk), anaesthesia to release her inhibitions, as well as hypnosis. The film also sees Astaire undertake some self-analysis in a famous scene where he talks back to himself in the mirror, making it one of the first Hollywood films to spoof Sigmund Freud's theories. "Carefree" is regarded as being the least "Fred and Ginger"-like of the films Astaire and Rogers made, as it features only four musical numbers, and has a plot that is more akin to a screwball comedy than any of their previous efforts.

Answer: Dance With Me

"Dance With Me" (1998) brings Rafael, a young handyman from Cuba and Ruby, a dance instructor together. The dance studio is owned by John Burnett, who is actually Rafael's father but is unaware of this fact. The conflict in the movie arises as Ruby is more focused on dancing than her relationship with Rafael.
The part of Ruby is played by Vanessa Williams, who may be better known as a recording artist. Williams actually sang one of the tracks on the movie soundtrack.

Answer: Love Actually

"Love Actually" was written and directed by Richard Curtis. It was released in November 2003 and was Curtis' directorial debut. Although an ensemble piece, "Love Actually" was the fourth Curtis/Grant collaboration, following the highly successful "Four Weddings and a Funeral", "Notting Hill" and "Bridget Jones's Diary".

The film is a series of love stories of various people, some linked together, and shows several different sides of love. Grant plays a bachelor Prime Minister who falls in love with the tea lady (Martine McCutcheon) within minutes of entering his official residence at 10 Downing Street.

In the film Hugh Grant has an amusing and impromptu dance around Downing Street to "Jump (For My Love)" by The Pointer Sisters, which comes to a sudden end when he realises he is not alone.

Answer: Marlon Brando

Who would ever have thought that Marlon Brando could sing and dance his way through any film, but he does a pretty good job of it in 'Guys and Dolls'! Frank Sinatra, a song and dance man, was more natural as the selection for Nathan Detroit. Jean Simmons and Viviane Blaine co-star, with Joseph L. Mankiewicz providing direction.

Answer: Pina Bausch

Apparently, the director saw the choreographer's work and wanted to incorporate it into a film. I think this is great, as talented choreographers could always use more publicity.

Answer: All The King's Men

"Por Una Cabeza" is the music as Leila Bazzani performs a burlesque dance for Willie Stark in "All The King's Men" (2006). The film is based on the novel by Robert Penn Warren, and is a remake oi the 1949 Best Picture.

"All the King's Men" stars Penn as Stark, a politician who starts as an idealist but is corrupted by power and money. It is loosely based on real life Louisiana Governor Huey Long. Like Stark, Long had a meteoric rise and an abrupt fall; he was assassinated in 1935.

Answer: Royal Flying Corps

"The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle" tells the story of the titular couple who, prior to the First World War, were famous around the world for their dancing. In 1916, having qualified as a pilot, Vernon Castle enlisted in the Royal Flying Corps, serving on the Western Front until 1917, when he was transferred to Canada. In February 1918, while on a training flight in Texas, his aeroplane crashed and he was killed. The film of their story had a number of elements to it that Irene Castle, despite serving as a consultant, did not approve of. A major departure from the previous films that Astaire and Rogers had made, in that it was a (fictionalised) biopic, with the pair playing an already married couple, and with a tragic ending, the film went on to lose $50,000 as a result of its high costs. By the time of its release, the pair had elected to end their working relationship - while Ginger Rogers remained under contract at RKO, going on to win an Academy Award for the 1940 film "Kitty Foyle", Fred Astaire left RKO to work as a freelance performer, appearing in pictures for a number of different studios. Ten years after "The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle", Astaire and Rogers reunited one final time in the MGM musical "The Barkleys of Broadway".