The 9 Best Dance Movies On Netflix, From Burlesque to I Dream Of Dance

Christina Aguilera stars as a small-town singer named Ali who moves to Los Angeles to take a shot at stardom and gets sucked into the world of Burlesque, a glamorous nightclub in search of a star. Superstar singer Cher appropriately plays the owner of the club, where scantily clad dancers perform risque numbers. But Burlesque finds something new when they get a performer who can actually sing. It's no wonder this movie rounded out the first decade of the millennium when burlesque acts started to hit the mainstream. Burlesque co-stars Eric Dane, Kristen Bell and Stanley Tucci.

Aspiring ballet dancer Paige (Juliet Doherty) is torn between her mother's expectations of her success and her own dreams of joining an impressive ballet academy in San Francisco. The film's star, Juliet Doherty, is a two-time gold medalist at the Youth America Grand Prix, the largest dance competition in the world. She took the dance world by storm via her Instagram before hitting up the acting world.

Speaking of Juliet Doherty, ballet isn't the only dance genre in which she excels. This Netflix original tells the story of a contemporary dancer (Doherty) who is cast in an innovative new Broadway show. But a love triangle between the dancer, the choreographer, and a pianist basically make this movie this decade's Center Stage.

Also known by the title Ballerina, this french animated film is set in the 19th century with the Paris Opera Ballet School as its main setting. Elle Fanning voices the lead character Felicie, an orphan who wants to be a dancer. Dan DeHaan, Carly Rae Jepsen, dancer Maddie Zeigler, and Mel Brooks round out the rest of the voice cast.

Battle is basically Norway's version of Save the Last Dance. Amalie (Lisa Teige) is a privileged teenager who is extensively trained in modern dance. But when her family loses their wealth, Amalie moves to a less affluent neighborhood. That's where she meets Mikael (Fabian Svegaard Tapia) who introduced her to the world of hip hop. All of the dancing in this film is outstanding, particularly the sequence set to "Poison” by Bel Biv DeVoe.

This documentary dives into the real world of dance competitions and the reality of just how many dancers there are out there versus how many spots there are on any given stage. The film specifically follows the Dance Energy company run by Denise Wall, who is considered one of the best dance teachers in America, and her son Travis Wall, who broke out in 2006 by competing on So You Think you Can Dance and has gone on to win multiple Emmy Awards for choreography.

Honey: Rise Up and Dance is the fourth, yes the fourth movie in the Honey franchise, which began in 2003 with the first film starring Jessica Alba. This entry stars dancer Teyana Taylor who broke out in Kanye West’s “FADE” music video, which premiered during the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards. She also appears in BET's dance drama Hit the Floor, and will have a role in the upcoming sequel Coming 2 America.

Let's Dance is the rare dance movie where the aspiring dancer is a male lead. Joseph (Rayanne Bensetti), a passionate hip hop dancer, rejects his family legacy of working a stuffy corporate job and heads to Paris to make it as a dancer. He and his girlfriend, Emma (Fiorella Campanella) and his best friend Karim (Mehdi Kerkouche) join a famous Parisian break dancing crew to win an international competition.

What's a dance movie list without a little Bollywood? After Vishnu is thrown out of his swanky dance academy, he discovers India's best street dancers and decides to start a new squad. ABCD: Anybody Can Dance and its sequel, ABCD2, are both on Netflix. The acting in both is a little cheesy, the voice dubbing cringy, and the whole story kind of exaggerated, but that's really part of the fun.