“Step Up 2: The Streets” (2008)
Dance Style: Hip Hop
Rival Crews: While Andie (Briana Evigan) and her new art school crew (including 3 time “Step Up” franchise regular Adam Sevani as Moose), battle her old crew the 410 IN THE RAIN, the more exciting dance-off happens in the beginning of the film when she battles Channing Tatum in the club, with excellent use made of the incongruous trampoline installed in the floor.
Who Got Served? Andie of course. One doesn’t simply win against C-Tates in a dance battle. The young trainee takes her great abs and gets them to art school to enhance her hip hop street dancing with something a bit more avant garde. And as this is Tatum’s only appearance in the sequel to the film that made him a star, you know he’s going to dominate.
See Also: Its lack of direct battles excludes it, but the first “Step Up” is so adorable that stars Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan fell in love and got married for ever and ever for reals and had real babies in real life, so come on.
“Breakin’” (1984)
Dance Style: Breakdancing/Body Popping
Rival Crews: Our heroes Ozone (Adolfo “Shabba Doo” Quinones) and Turbo (Michael “Boogaloo Shrimp” Chambers) team up with jazz ballet dancer (remember when Jazz Ballet was a thing?) Kelly (Lucinda Dickey) and face down Electro Rock, a threesome who had previously schooled them only by having a secret weapon in their line-up: a girl! And yes, that’s Ice-T in his debut (he now considers the film “wack”) and “Boardwalk Empire” dude Christopher MacDonald in a suit.
Who Got Served? This time out, Electro Rock go down when it’s proved that Ozone’s slick moves and Turbo’s (incredible) popping are are complemented by Kelly’s high-kicks and back flips. But also, the audience kinda gets served for anything that isn’t a dance scene, suffering under the yoke of terrible acting, and some eye-gougingly awful ‘80s costumes. Still, spotting Jean Claude Van Damme (Black unitard, from 9 mins) in an early beachside scene is a marvellous pause-and-rewatch moment.
See Also: Turbo’s dance with a broom
“Step Up 3D” (2010)
Dance Style: Hip Hop
Rival Crews: Aspiring filmmaker Luke (Rick Malambri) houses his diverse band of a Lost Boys/dance crew, House of Pirates, in a Brooklyn warehouse squat, recruiting Natalie (Sharni Vinson) after he spots her on a club security camera, and basically kidnapping Moose (Adam Sevani) from his NYU dorm. They battle House of Samurai, led by richy rich Julien (Joe Slaughter), who is, gasp!, a former Pirate, and Natalie’s brother.
Who Got Served? While the entirety of “Step Up 3D” is an insane surrealist nightmare that makes little to no sense (though it serves as the seed for some of the almost Communist ideals that are espoused in the even more nonsensical “Step Up Revolution,” wherein there are no dance-offs, just dance flash mobs battling against The Man), it features some of the best battles in the series, probably because director Jon M. Chu is more concerned with the 3D capabilities than the story itself. The ultimate battle at the World Jam is one of the flashiest and best of the series. And obviously, the Samurai get served and the Pirates remain supreme. The embed is poor quality but the link beneath will bring you to a better version.
See Also: That scene in HD on youtube
“Fast Forward” (1985)
Dance Style: ’80s streetdancing, a little breaking, a lot of high kicks.
Rival Crews: It’s small-towners with big dreams vs. the big bad city that threatens to eat them alive, in this Sidney Poitier-directed film, as a fame-obsessed troupe from Sandusky, Ohio journey to New York City for their big break. But first, they gotta learn how to survive in the urban jungle, and more specifically in The Zoo, a club that houses the freshest dancers in NYC. First time they go, they get truly schooled, but they return stronger than ever and hellbent on dance floor revenge…
Who Got Served? Second time out and the Zoo residents get a taste of their own medicine as the Ohioans break, pop and high kick rings around them. And, in case you didn’t realize how much more streetwise these kids have become, NUN-CHUCKS. Unfortunately their winning Zoo battle (number 2) is unavailable online so the one below is the less impressive first one, that they lose to the flashy urbanites (conspiracy???).
See Also: Here’s where the plucky youngsters win over the upscale attendees at a stuffy convention dinner by sheer force of pep, but really, just try and find the second Zoo battle. The one with the nun-chucks.
“West Side Story” (1961)
Dance Style: Urban Jazz Parkour
Rival Crews: Street gangs The Sharks and The Jets are locked in a bloody race war that they dance out on the streets of New York.
Who Got Served? Love. Love gets served. It’s hard to distinguish who actually wins since this 1950s New York adaptation of “Romeo & Juliet” ends tragically in death for both sides. But that doesn’t mean we don’t get awesome, Jerome Robbins-choreographed and directed dance along the way. Using the urban environment (even if it is a set) as a prop, Robbins creates an energetic and masculine style of dance that seems a natural extension of gesture and movement. This is perfectly laid out in the opening/prologue, when the gangs dance out a turf war, setting the tradition in place for future dance battles. Just play it cool boy, real cool.
See Also: The Gym Mambo number, the film’s other dance-off.