Dance in Film · 1988
Smooth Criminal (1988)
Colin Chilvers turns Michael Jackson's Club 30s number into a gangster mini-musical whose ensemble choreography, sharply syncopated solo accents, and anti-gravity lean make dance the narrative climax rather than an ornament to the song.
Smooth Criminal is a 1988 dance film 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 2 indexed dance sequences ↓
Where to watch: Free authorized 9:26 official video on Michael Jackson's YouTube channel; MichaelJackson.com hosts the title and Apple Music lists the 1988 official video, all verified 2026-08-08.
Watch it in full
The complete work, on the rights holder's official channel.
The dance sequences in Smooth Criminal
2 sequences — what is danced, by whom, and where to find it.
Anti-gravity lean
Commercial / Industry DanceDanced by Michael Jackson; ensemble dancers · Choreography Vincent Paterson
Jackson and the dancers holding the seemingly impossible forward tilt before returning upright in unison.
The ensemble's sustained forward lean converts a physical impossibility into a synchronized narrative climax, making screen illusion part of the choreography.
Watch this sequence · The full film is on YouTube; the link opens at this sequence. The opened rights-holder upload shows the full passage; the opened Paterson interview credits him as Smooth Criminal's creator and explicitly associates him with the Lean. No edition-specific timestamp was inferred.
Club 30s ensemble: percussive isolations and accent hits
Commercial / Industry DanceDanced by Michael Jackson; ensemble dancers · Choreography Vincent Paterson
Jackson in a white suit and fedora cutting through the nightclub ensemble as every sharp accent lands together.
Paterson's character-led commercial choreography turns Jackson's percussive attack into tightly synchronized ensemble isolations and clean musical accents.
Watch this sequence · The full film is on YouTube; the link opens at this sequence. The opened rights-holder upload is the complete short film, and Paterson's opened interview directly discusses the male dancers' isolations, clean accent hits, and his creation of the work. No edition-specific timestamp was inferred.
Poster artwork and title data from TMDB. This site uses TMDB and the TMDB APIs but is not endorsed, certified, or otherwise approved by TMDB.