How to shoot dance

Time for Old Man Cranor to yell at clouds again, y’all. Buckle up, fellow Olds. 

So, I saw Sinners opening weekend. Like most of you (I presume), I loved this movie. But there’s one thing that’s still sitting weird with me, and this is not a big spoiler, btw, for those who haven’t see it yet. (also, if you comment below, please avoid or clearly mark any spoilers)

My complaint here isn’t about director Ryan Coogler specifically. It’s about the GenXers and Millennials in Hollywood in general and how I wish they’d take a cue from the “Kids These Days.”

There are a couple of big dance numbers in Sinners. One is a glorious mashup of many different people in a juke joint dance. Good good. I adored that. It’s about the joy of music and dance, and this scene is so tremendous. What a franking treat.

Later there’s another group dance scene, but it’s anchored by one character in particular who is really leading this thing with some extraordinary leg work. Holy shucks is this actor/dancer so good at movement. 

But, as I was watching this particular dance scene, I got a bit distracted by the MTV-ification of the filming. The camera can’t hold still, whipping this way and that. The effect of which is to create energy and excitement in the viewer, to capture the electricity generated by this whole group, led by this one man. 

For the film itself, this works absolutely. It's the correct choice, in my limited film crit opinion. But as a person who loves dance, I kept thinking, oh no, again with the moving camera. This was my major complaint with the Step Up franchise (well among many complaints, if I’m being honest). It’s that many directors and DPs grew up in the MTV generation of the 80s and 90s, where quick cuts and constantly flickering visuals drove the short form medium.

And when the dance is just there to support the music, sure, yes, make it frenetic and fun. But sometimes, as is the case with the later dance number in Sinners, the music is supporting the dance. The dance in this scene is highly technical and mesmerizing to watch, but as is the norm in Hollywood, we’re not allowed to settle on it.

But take a moment to think about the TikTok generation. The medium itself pretty much requires a still camera with full body framing to capture dance. From jazz to pop and lock, dancers on TikTok fully comprehend that the body itself is the message, that quick cuts, motion, and cropping only hide the dance from us. And in fact, that kind of editing can look like cheating. 

This is not an open letter to Ryan Coogler, whose movie isn’t really about dance. If it’s about any art form at all, it’s clearly about music, so I’m not mad at him. He succeeded. But that last dance number really stirred up some old feelings in me about dance on camera, and how I wish Hollywood would more consistently let us watch dance as dance wants to be seen. 

Single shot, wide angle. Show us what that body can do, y’all. And if you’re interested in watching great filming of dance, check out Wim Wenders’ PINA, which captures the work of legendary choreographer Pina Bausch. I hope you are all aspiring filmmakers and will take Wenders’s movie (and the work of thousands of TikTok dancers) to heart.

Okay, I’m stepping off the soap box. Time for a nap.

(PS: I want to keep the overall vibe around this movie positive, bc that was my overall feeling about it. So let's finish with a compliment: this movie, especially the first act exposition, is a masterclass on how to write historical fiction. Every character has a Want. Every scene has a Point. And instead of being didactic about its historical corrections, it demonstrations them visually. Stunning.)

-Jeffrey Cranor