I Don't Dance (Really)

For every great movie dance scene, there's a terrible one. Where a shoddy storyline isn't even redeemed by fun steps, or an idea was ground into the Hollywood machine until it was nearly unrecognizable from its well-intentioned predecessor. From the sublimely ridiculous to the laughably campy, here are 5 scenes that represent cinematic dance at its worst.

1. I Like Boys ("Teen Witch")

This '80's tween dream is mainly known for a supremely shoddy white-boy rap number. However, the oft-overlooked jewel in the film's campy crown is this feast of locker-room shenanigans: complete with towel hijinks, high-cut purple leotards, and bouncing poodle-esque hair. And nothing says "bad dance scene" more than a leading character who clearly can't dance and is relegated to step-touching awkwardly on the sidelines while her more coordinated peers pirouette and scissor-kick center stage.

2. Final Dance ("Stayin' Alive")

The alternate title to this ill-fated "Saturday Night Fever" sequel could have been "When Modern Dance Goes Horribly, Horribly Wrong." Smoke, fake-sweat, screaming and writhing, surprisingly, doesn't add up to art in this Broadway show featuring Tony Manero and his pals. This is what happens when you let Sylvester Stallone direct a dance film.

3. Final Battle ("You Got Served")

Hip-hop is an intricate, intensely physical art form, and dance battles can effectively straddle the line between silly and breathtaking. However, this 2004 film fails on all levels--not necessarily because of choreography, but because of the sheer cheesiness that cheapens what could have been seriously cool. The only good thing that came out of "You Got Served"? A hilarious "South Park" parody.

4. We're Gonna Score Tonight ("Grease 2")

Fact: both "Grease" films had the same choreographer, Patricia Birch. However, perhaps Birch's stepping in as director of the sequel significantly altered her focus. The result: the charming yet athletic steps that inspired a worldwide phenomenon in the original film soured into clumsy, laughable production numbers in the second. Not to mention the terrible editing: at one point in the following, Adrian Zmed's Johnny Nogarelli bowls a strike, then jumps triumphantly off of . . . nothing.

5. Computer Dance ("Lambada")

What's a down on his luck "nerdy" (read: handsome man with glasses) high school teacher to do at night? Easy: get down with underage students and various unsavory characters through a hypersexual dance that never quite caught on the way it was supposed to. Oh, and challenge the rich kids to a "math-off." Nothing comes together in this mess of a film, least of all the choreography, which is embarrassing in its excess. Oh, and apparently computers can make you dance. Who knew?