Dance in Film · 2011
Dancing Chaplin (2011)
Masayuki Suo pairs a 60-day rehearsal documentary with a complete cinematic restaging of Roland Petit’s Chaplin Dances, preserving how Chaplin’s comic timing, pathos, and physical detail are translated into ballet rather than merely discussed.
Dancing Chaplin is a 2011 dance documentary centred on ballroom and social dance. For dancers, it's a chance to see the style performed on screen — the phrasing, partnering, and musicality that the same dances carry onto a real floor.
Jump to the 4 indexed dance sequences ↓
Where to watch: No current full-film stream was verified on 2026-08-10. WOWOW lists no scheduled broadcast; Filmarks points to Japanese TSUTAYA DISCAS home-disc rental, and an Amazon Japan DVD listing remains available, while Fuji TV’s authorized trailer is publicly viewable. Availability and region compatibility may change.
Trailer
Official trailer.
The dance sequences in Dancing Chaplin
4 sequences — what is danced, by whom, and where to find it.
Bonino coaches Kusakari and the male dancers
Classical BalletDanced by Luigi Bonino; Tamiyo Kusakari; unidentified male dancers · Choreography Roland Petit
Bonino shifting from gentle one-to-one coaching with Kusakari to forceful corrections for the young male ensemble.
The rehearsal footage makes classical technique visible as negotiated work: Bonino adjusts Kusakari’s intricate steps with patience, then sharply drives the young men through the ensemble material. Placing those contrasting teaching modes in one sequence reveals how character comedy still depends on exact timing and disciplined repetition.
Not currently available to stream; timestamp is for reference. No edition-specific onset was available, so the timestamp and timestamp confidence are blank. No current full-film streaming or transactional provider was verified on 2026-08-13; Watchmode returned no providers. The official JFDB record credits Roland Petit for choreography, while a contemporaneous Dance on Camera Festival preview describes the updated film staging as choreographed by Luigi Bonino; this row follows the official credit and preserves the unresolved restaging distinction.
Bonino’s bread-roll ballet interpretation
Classical BalletDanced by Luigi Bonino · Choreography Roland Petit
Bonino’s sixty-year-old Tramp making the bread-roll dance feel buoyant, exact, and newly theatrical.
Bonino translates the famous Gold Rush bread-roll image into a full-bodied ballet characterization, sustaining Chaplin’s comic precision without merely copying the film gesture. The sequence becomes a compact test of the documentary’s premise: Chaplin’s timing can be extended through classical technique while remaining recognizably his.
Not currently available to stream; timestamp is for reference. No edition-specific onset was available, so the timestamp and timestamp confidence are blank. No current full-film streaming or transactional provider was verified on 2026-08-13; Watchmode returned no providers. The official JFDB record credits Roland Petit for choreography, while a contemporaneous Dance on Camera Festival preview describes the updated film staging as choreographed by Luigi Bonino; this row follows the official credit and preserves the unresolved restaging distinction.
Open-air park comedy with cop and girl
Classical BalletDanced by Luigi Bonino; unidentified dancers · Choreography Roland Petit
The Tramp, a prancing policeman, and a girl turning an ordinary park into a balletic slapstick chase.
Moving the ballet outdoors gives Bonino’s Tramp real space to evade, court, and redirect the other figures; ballet placement and silent-comedy pursuit become the same dramatic mechanism. Suo’s restrained camera keeps the dancers’ full-body phrasing legible while the park setting restores the physical openness of Chaplin’s early films.
Not currently available to stream; timestamp is for reference. No edition-specific onset was available, so the timestamp and timestamp confidence are blank. No current full-film streaming or transactional provider was verified on 2026-08-13; Watchmode returned no providers. The official JFDB record credits Roland Petit for choreography, while a contemporaneous Dance on Camera Festival preview describes the updated film staging as choreographed by Luigi Bonino; this row follows the official credit and preserves the unresolved restaging distinction.
The Kid — Tramp and urchin ballet
Classical BalletDanced by Luigi Bonino; Tamiyo Kusakari · Choreography Roland Petit
Kusakari transformed into the urchin while Bonino’s Tramp answers in precise, character-driven ballet.
Kusakari’s young urchin meets Bonino’s established Tramp through ballet rather than impersonation, letting Petit's steps extend the tenderness and comic alertness of The Kid. Their role contrast gives the Chaplin vocabulary a clear relational center instead of treating the waddle as an isolated mannerism.
Not currently available to stream; timestamp is for reference. No edition-specific onset was available, so the timestamp and timestamp confidence are blank. No current full-film streaming or transactional provider was verified on 2026-08-13; Watchmode returned no providers. The official JFDB record credits Roland Petit for choreography, while a contemporaneous Dance on Camera Festival preview describes the updated film staging as choreographed by Luigi Bonino; this row follows the official credit and preserves the unresolved restaging distinction.
Poster artwork from TMDB.
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