How to dance like john travolta

Celebrating John Travolta’s Most Iconic Dance Performances

It has been 45 years since Saturday Night Fever so Mama’s Geeky is celebrating John Travolta’s most iconic dance performances.

45 years ago, John Travolta strut down the streets of Brooklyn dressed in polyester glory. Little did we know of the stellar career awaiting him as Travolta quickly shot to superstardom, and has been floating around Hollywood’s gravity for 50 years!

45 Years Since ‘Saturday Night Fever’:

Celebrating John Travolta’s Most Iconic Dance Performances

While he’s tapped into films of every genre, Travolta is perhaps best known for stealing the show as the king of the dance floor. Overcome with a severe case of ‘Disco Inferno’, Saturday Night Fever sees Travolta flaunt his moves effortlessly. He commands your attention; all eyes fall to him as he grooves his way through a scene – and his disco debut is only the beginning of his musical venture.

‘Wear Out the Grooves’ (Perfect)

Okay, it’s technically not a conventional dance routine, but we’re willing to make an exception wherever Travolta is concerned. In an otherwise forgotten feature of the 80s, our leading man joins a fitness class run by Jamie Lee Curtis, and finds himself caught up in her high-spirited aerobics class.

He flicks, he shimmies, he thrusts, he grinds, it’s every bit as uncomfortable as it sounds, but somehow, he gets away with it. His characters gleams with pride whenever he successfully mimics Curtis’ instructions; his joyful aura radiates off-screen – fair warning, it’s contagious. Travolta looks like he’s having a blast throughout the scene, and we can’t fault his enthusiasm.

‘(You’re) Timeless to Me’ (Hairspray)

Only a few things in life are better than watching John Travolta move to the music, and throwing him in drag to groove in the 60s is one of them; partner him up with Christopher Walken and you’ve got yourself a recipe for pure entertainment gold.

The pair easily bounce off one another and keep the homely vibe flowing. Who can’t feel the love shared between their characters? It’s quirky, hilarious, cosy, romantic, and incredibly catchy. There’s also a lot of elegance and glamour propelling the performance forward, and coming from two seasoned stars, all expectations are exceeded. The song says it all, Travolta is timeless to me.

‘All Shook Up’ (Look Who’s Talking Too)

Travolta may be the only man in history to channel his inner Elvis Presley and give the late King a decent run for his money. His Look Who’s Talking character, James, is the man of every woman’s dreams; he’s charming, playful, funny, a great father, and has the ability to captivate a room full of rowdy toddlers through the power of dance.

We could spend hours watching him glide across the room. This is a guy who knows how win people over, he’s got this admirable confidence about him that makes him so loveable, and he plays into his strengths whenever the opportunity presents itself. By the 90s, Travolta has established himself with a fairly solid line of work, but it’s always a joy to see him return to the theatrics – including his comically seductive kitchen dance with Kirstie Alley in this film’s predecessor.

‘Chain of Fools’ (Michael)

John Travolta is the epitome of cool. It’s obviously second nature to him. He has an entire bar fall under his spell here and conducts a full blown routine that gets the place on their feet – it’s not even his character I’m talking about, Travolta can just do that. We’re practically watching the Pied Piper at work and we can’t take our eyes off of him.

Is it improvised? Is it choreographed? It’s hard to tell where his character, Michael, begins and Travolta ends. This could be a regular Saturday night for the two-time Academy Award nominee. His arms move one way, his feet the other, actually, I don’t think there’s a part of his body that isn’t moving. His performance is euphoric, easing into the soulful croon of Aretha Franklin as Travolta works his magic.

‘Born to Hand Jive’ (Grease)

The hand jive is a party favourite at every type of shindig – in fact, any song from the Grease soundtrack is bound to get your feet tapping. It was hard to narrow this one down considering Travolta always dances like his whole life depends on it, but the build up to his entrance with the hand jive is unmatched.

From his hot pink shirt to sweeping Olivia Newton-John around the hall, Travolta is the envy to everyone watching. A triple threat superstar, Grease lets Travolta loose to explore all performative platforms. Having already witnessed a glimpse of what his boogie shoes can do a year earlier, the 1978 musical holds back a little with his dancing in the first half, but a veil is lifted by ‘Greased Lightnin’ and the school dance reaps in all the benefits.

‘You Never Can Tell’ (Pulp Fiction)

Pulp Fiction is an artistic classic. With a cast of Hollywood elites like Bruce Willis, Samuel L Jackson, and Uma Thurman, what’s not love about this Academy Award winning masterpiece – and that’s before we even get into the plot. As Travolta teams up with Thurman, they head to 1950s-style diner, Jack Rabbit Slim’s, and partake in one of the most iconic scenes in cinema history.

Competing in a twist contest, Travolta and Thurman show up every other competitor with their impromptu boogie. If anything, the scene is over far too quick, and requires multiple rewinds to fully embrace how well the pair soar in perfect harmony. Even years down the line, Travolta still has the suave charm of Vincent Vega, reciting the routine at various televised events without skipping a beat. His most recent dabble in twisting reunites him with Thurman and Jackson at the 94th Academy Awards, and it’s like no time has passed.

‘You Should Be Dancing’ (Saturday Night Fever)

No one makes you want to get up and strut your stuff the way Travolta does, and we have Saturday Night Fever to thank for that. Unfortunately, we can’t all pull off the polyester shirt as well as he does – or the moves. His role as Tony Manero really cements his status as the dance floor king; he owns the room, and is finely tuned with the genre of music.

Travolta is fluid with his movements. He steals the spotlight, literally becoming the center of attention as all eyes fall to him. What’s more impressive is that Travolta never once uses a dance double, which is commendable in itself considering how hard he works to achieve this level of choreography. He makes his mark on the filming industry almost immediately into his career. Reflecting on his earlier work to now, Travolta commits himself wholly to his craft, and it pays off immensely.

NEXT: 8 Supernatural Marvel Characters Set to Take Over the MCU

Jenna Scott

Jenna is a Film and Visual Culture graduate and freelance entertainment writer from Scotland. Her passion lies with TV and horror, where she will take any opportunity to geek out. Jenna spends her free time binging shows and looking to be spooked.

John Travolta Still Knows His 'Grease' Dance Moves 40 Years Later!

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Foss, Robbins and Travolta: the best films about dance

Every year there is some new film with the usual plot: two irreconcilable clans (hip-hop against ballet, for example), one important competition, a reconciliation agreement, love, victory in the competition, tears, applause. The fashion for this was introduced by the notorious "Step Up" with Channing Tattoo. But since then, similar films have been churned out with enviable regularity, and it is almost impossible to distinguish the fourth "Step Forward" from some kind of "Dance Brotherhood". nine0003 Therefore, we decided to recall the most (in the modest opinion of the editors of No fixed points) great films about dance, but we could neither limit ourselves to a beautiful number, nor cram everything into one article. Therefore, in three weeks we promise to lay out the second part of the list.
In the meantime, if such names as Sid Charisse, Debbie Reynolds, Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Bob Foss (and many others) are not yet very familiar to you, then rather turn on youtube and start dancing education.

Text - Vita Khlopova

Singin' in the rain, 1952, dir. Gene Kelly, Stanley Donan.

"Citizen Kane" musical films. The greatest musical of all time. So immodestly you can sum up all the ratings that since 1952 have been headed by the Singing in the Rain. This brief history of Hollywood, as historians call this film, tells of the transition from silent to sound films that cost many artists their careers. Silent film diva Lena Lamont has trouble making the transition to talkies because of one minor detail: she has a disgustingly squeaky voice that doesn't match her chic image. Her partner - Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly) - comes up with a way out by inviting a young dancer and singer Katie Seldon (Debbie Reynolds) to voice Lina. They say that Kelly was cruel on the set: he accused the young Reynolds of not being able to dance (but Fred Astaire found her in tears on the set, who rehearsed the movements with her). Due to the lack of dance experience (Reynolds was a gymnast), Kelly was forced to invite his longtime partner Sid Chariss for a small number. For their number - Broadway melody - Charisse smoked the only cigarette in her life. And looking at her gorgeous legs with an incredible rise, you are not surprised that she insured them for five million dollars, which earned her the title of owner of the most expensive legs in the history of cinema. nine0003 14 hours of shooting the famous "Good morning" scene exhausted the dancers so much that Reynolds later admitted that the most difficult thing in her life was only this and the birth of a child. And the most famous scene, in fact, singing in the rain, brought Kelly not only fame, but also a temperature of 39 degrees during filming.
Ironically, it turned out that the original film footage was burned in a fire along with the Citizen Kane footage.

Billy Elliot, 2000, dir. Stephen Holdry

A film about a brave boy, Billy Elliot, who was not afraid to follow his dream when no one supported him. 80s, England, British miners' strike, fictional town where there can be no talk of any ballet. A real guy should do boxing, where his stern dad sent him. But Billy secretly runs to ballet classes, for which he is constantly ridiculed. The finale will squeeze a tear out of anyone: dad comes to the premiere of his already adult son (he dances by the way “Swan Lake” by Matthew Bourne), and looks like a stingy male tear. nine0003 The film is not so much about dance, but about boundless faith in one's mission and one's talent.

West side story, 1961, dir. Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins

West Side Story played a cruel joke on Jerome Robbins: an outstanding American choreographer, he is best known for this incredible film. 10 Oscars, one of the best films of our time, a fantastic mixture of choreography, a new interpretation of the plot, and a superstar in the title role - Natalie Wood. Robbins, always second only to Mr. B-George Balanchine, who came from Petrograd, through the Diaghilev seasons, and created an American ballet from scratch, was his assistant, then his replacement, but never his rival. And if you study Robbins' choreography outside of this film, you will find many subtle non-aggressive works choreographed with taste and talent. Here, in each number - both in the overture and in "America" - an explosion of energy, an amazing combination of choreography with the scenography of the city. This is an ode to love to the main city of the choreographer - New York. Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet now lives on the West Side, and is owned by two warring factions, Puerto Ricans (Maria) and white immigrants (Tony). Further, everything is according to a well-known plot. The second after "Singing in the Rain" musical of all times and peoples. And the incredible George Chakiris as Bernardo and Rita Moreno as Anita, who outplayed and danced the main couple of the film, for which they received an Oscar. nine0003 If you have never watched or heard, urgently purchase a record in good quality, display it on the big screen, and devote three hours to getting to know one of the best films in the history of movies. And if you watched it, then you will be interested that it was restored not so long ago, and it will be useful to review it in new, rich colors.

Step up, 2006, dir. Ann Fletcher

It was "Step Up" that launched a series of similar films, like two drops of water, where love (for dancing) overcomes all obstacles, and the main pair of dancers receives a coveted prize. But most importantly, "Step Up" gave us the main Hollywood dancer of our days, Channing Tatum. The world is divided into those who consider him the dumbest face of Hollywood, and those for whom his smart body is enough. Tatum is a former stripper, and not only does not hide it, but even proudly exploits this image in other films (his "Pony" in "Magic Mike XXL" has even been parodied by his wife Jenna). He can dance everything (except tap, as it turned out), but he dances what sells well in movies. One of Tatum's last appearances, chic and funny, is in the Coen brothers' Hail, Caesar. Thanks to Jerome Robbins and his "Fancy Free" for the hyper-magic, we couldn't help but notice. nine0005

An American in Paris, 1951, dir. Vincent Minnelli

Classic American musical with the most important dancer of the era, Gene Kelly, is good for everything, except for a frankly weak plot. Music by George Gershwin, a choreographic 17-minute finale staged by Kelly himself, a high-profile debut of a young Frenchwoman and ballerina of the Roland troupe Petit Leslie Caron, who at the last moment replaced the chic (and already pregnant) star of those years Syd Charisse, a production by one of the most brilliant directors of musicals Vincent Minnelli (in addition, not only Judy Garland's husband, but also Liza Minnelli's father) - all this is so bright, colorful, and even saturated with a Parisian mood, that you can not follow the frail script. Briefly: the war is over, American soldier Gerry Mulligan decides to stay in Paris and earn a living by painting. An older rich lady falls in love with him, but his heart is given to a young French woman, Lisa. Unfortunately, Lisa is engaged to his best composer friend Henri, who saved her during the war. But - and here is the most beautiful piano in the bushes - Henri learns about the feeling of his friend, and decides to give Lisa to him. Happy ending and 17-minute ballet (for 500 thousand dollars) in the final. But for the sake of dancing Kelly and Caron, it's definitely worth watching An American in Paris. nine0005

"The turning point", 1977, dir. Herbert Ross

A very simple story about two friends dancing in the same American troupe. One of them became pregnant and decided to leave the ballet, devoting herself to housekeeping. The other one became a well-known prima. The story is complicated by the fact that the daughter of a housewife became a prima student, and yet could not resist the charm of the main playboy of the troupe, in the role of which was (for the first time in American cinema) Mikhail Baryshnikov.
Interestingly, this story is true, and moreover, it happened to the director's wife, Nora Kay. In the character of the main choreographer of the troupe, you can recognize Jerome Robbins, with whom Nora Kay had an affair in real life. Her role was played by the famous "Mrs. Robinson" Anne Bancroft, and the role of the housewife was played by Shirley MacLaine. But if you are not interested in NYCB life in the 60s and 70s, watch it at least for the sake of the young Baryshnikov or the choreography of Balanchine or Alvin Ailey, who staged some of the numbers in the film. nine0005

Stormy weather, 1943, dir. Andrew L. Stone

A little known but very interesting film. The fact is that African-American dancers and musical artists could not get the main roles in films at that time. They played mainly servants (the famous Mr. Bojangle, for example, is trying to get Shirley Temple to go to bed). And there is no need to prove that African-American musical performers are able to outshine other artists with their skill. Therefore, 20th Century Fox decides to make a film where all the roles will be played by African Americans. Tells "Stormy weather" just the story of the life of that very famous Bojungle. The film is quite short, but during this hour you can see about 20 dance scenes there. One of which is used in the demonstration of a course on the history of modern dance in America: Katherine Dunham, the brightest choreographer of the first half of the 20th century, choreographed an entire number for her troupe for this film. nine0005

Flashdance, 1983, dir. Adrian Line

Although based on a true story, this film is rather sweet and uncomplicated. A welder girl (!!!) dances a striptease at night, but dreams of becoming a real ballerina. She has talent, but she doesn't have the courage to audition. In general, the finale turns out to be the story of a ballet Cinderella with a real handsome prince on a Porsche. But despite the weak plot, the film is still loved by the audience. This is facilitated by the beautiful (and unable to dance) Jennifer Beals, who won the casting from Demi Moore, and a couple of cool dance numbers. The film looks like a long video clip, which is logical given the previous experience of director Adrian Lyne. The final audition scene for the ballet academy inspired both Jerry Halliwell and Jennifer Lopez, who, by the way, was even sued for exactly copying the film's dance scenes. nine0003 Curiously, Jennifer Gray (Babe from Dirty Dancing) was not invited to the casting, because, according to the producers, she had too "Jewish" appearance for this role.

Showgirls, 1995, dir. Paul Verhoeven

It took a long time to decide whether to include this film in the list. On the one hand, "Golden Raspberry", the not very talented performance of the main character Elizabeth Berkley, a lot of sex, vulgarity and cruelty. On the other hand, everyone understands that in the world, whether it's a theater or a strip club, it's not angels who fly. Everywhere there is envy, meanness, the desire to overthrow the prima, find a rich prince, and so on. That's probably why Showgirls is the most honest film about the entertainment industry. And when the main character sets up the soloist, she forgives her, saying that she did the same at the time. Such is the philosophy of this world of scoundrels. nine0003 Young former ballerina Charlize Theron auditioned for the lead role, for whom this film could be the first, and Madonna dreamed of playing the role of prima.
Of course, think before you watch this cruel story of modern Cinderella. Definitely do not watch with children. After all, the director, who had filmed "Basic Instinct" before, cannot devote the entire film only to choreography. If the Americans in 1995 gave the film the toughest rental rating of NC-17, then 20 years later, little has changed.

Greese, 1978, dir. Randle Kleiser

A fantastic dancer, John Travolta made his name on Grease, and his duets with Olivia Newton-John still inspire new dance filmmakers. But if you haven't watched the films of its early period, then you definitely remember the movie "Pulp Fiction" and the famous twist of John Travolta and Uma Thurman.
So, before Pulp Fiction, Travolta was the forgotten idol of the late 80s. A tall, daring American with an Italian surname conquered the whole world with his dances, but the era of dance cinema has passed. Tarantino, a fan of Travolta's old films, invites him to his film, but can't resist giving him a memorable dance. nine0003 The film "Grease" is remarkable not so much for its plot, but for the transmission of the bright atmosphere of America in the 50s. The costumes are such that you want to steal all the looks and wear them today. And the final scene of the film "You're the one that I want" is so chic that if it does not win you over, then you have a stone heart.

Chorus Line, 1985, dir. Richard Attenborough Chorus Line stands out from our general list in that it tells the story not of a lonely and talented Cinderella who got a place of prima, but of those whom we pay little attention to in the theater. Choreographer performed by Michael Douglas is looking for eight dancers for the Broadway musical. To do this, he conducts a huge casting. Each of the dancers who came to the selection deserves a place as a soloist, but fate puts them in the fifth row from the left, where few people will look. The film has a lot of solo performances, rehearsals, mass dances, and unlike many films, the choreography here is simply fantastic. And each of the many rooms is a small masterpiece. And, of course, Michael Douglas - in him every dancer will see the director of his troupe. Which even if you love, sometimes you really want to beat. nine0005

Dirty dancing, 1987, dir. Emil Ardolino

The main dance film of the 80s-90s generation. When everyone rushed to the seas to rehearse the famous support. When you cry every time you watch. When you don’t understand what he found in this ugly girl, but in the final dance you forgive her everything.
Patrick Swayze - the main dancer of his generation - was engaged in ballet, and modern choreography, and ballroom dancing, and had some kind of soft charisma. It didn't have Travolta's brash drive, or Astaire's detached intelligence. There was also no irrepressible thirst to create 25 pas in the frame, like Gene Kelly. He was like a guy from next door who just dances like a god. nine0003 Dirty Dancing is such a rare movie that doesn't get boring. And even though the story is two lines long, and the dances were more complicated, but there is something so dear in it that once you fell in love, then forever.

Hustle • Arzamas

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Author Irina Sirotkina

John Travolta and Karen Horney's Hustle from Saturday Night Fever. 1977

The music and dance style of disco (from disc - “vinyl record”) developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when records began to be played in clubs instead of jazz bands and rock bands playing live music . A nightclub in Paris, on rue Huchette, where a whole library of discs was collected, became known as "Disco". The disco style absorbed many different influences: jazz, rhythm and blues, soul, gospel, Latino - everyone could find something to their liking in it. The generation of loners, "atomized individuals", could not help but like the fact that disco is danced with little or no physical contact, and that the dancer is given complete freedom - he can improvise his movements. Musicians who created the style - Donna Summer, Gloria Gaynor, Bee Gees, Van McCoy; the latter's hit "Do the Hustle" gave rise to the dance of that name. Hustle has incorporated Latin American rhythms and its rhythmic structure is similar to two-step or lindy-hop - two steps per measure.