Dance in Film · 2006
Take the Lead (2006)
Based on the true story of Pierre Dulaine, who brought ballroom dancing to inner-city New York schools.
Take the Lead is a 2006 dance feature film centred on American Rhythm, American Smooth, Blues & Slow Social Dance, Argentine Tango, Club & Social Latin, Hip-Hop & Street Dance. For dancers, it's a chance to see these styles performed on screen — the phrasing, partnering, and musicality that the same dances carry onto a real floor.
Jump to the 31 indexed dance sequences ↓
Dance styles featured
Where to watch: Streaming (various)
The dance sequences in Take the Lead
31 sequences, 24 with a timestamp — what is danced, by whom, and where to find it.
Danced by Katya Virshilas; Lauren Collins; Blaine Academy ballroom dancers (not individually identified) · Choreography JoAnn Jansen
Formal ballroom couples rotating in tails and gowns while the soundtrack cuts toward a public-school dance.
The opening moves from polished shoes and formal gowns into a turning ballroom floor where Katya Virshilas and the academy dancers maintain lifted carriage. Every return to the ballroom side sharpens the contrast with John Drake's crowded gym, making the edit announce Pierre Dulaine's eventual bridge before he enters the story.
Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing. 00:04:10 is the stable musical onset in the named 108-minute subtitle reference. The film intercuts this ballroom preparation and exhibition with the John Drake school dance, so both materially different styles share the same start marker.
Danced by John Drake High School students (not individually identified) · Choreography Rich Talauega; Tone Talauega
The gym's grounded hip-hop attack colliding with a formal ballroom floor in the opening montage.
The John Drake students crowd the gym in sneakers and low-slung streetwear, answering the beat with bent knees, torso drops and tight social exchanges. The rapid cuts back to the academy's gowns and upright frame make the two rooms feel culturally distant even while the same soundtrack locks them together.
Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing. 00:04:10 is the shared musical onset in the named 108-minute subtitle reference. The gym dance is intercut with the Blaine Academy exhibition, and this row separates the hip-hop vocabulary from the simultaneous ballroom material.
Danced by Antonio Banderas; Lauren Collins · Choreography JoAnn Jansen
Caitlin beginning with nothing more elaborate than Pierre's measured walk in closed hold.
Pierre lowers the pressure by walking Caitlin through a slow closed hold instead of asking for a showcase trick. Lauren Collins lets her shoulders settle only after Antonio Banderas adjusts the frame without forcing it, so the small waltz becomes Caitlin's first evidence that ballroom can offer control rather than scrutiny.
Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing. 00:24:01 is Pierre's instruction to take the first slow partnered steps in the named 108-minute reference. The marker belongs to that edition and may shift in other commercial masters.
Danced by Antonio Banderas; detention-class ensemble (not individually identified) · Choreography JoAnn Jansen
The detention students discovering that Pierre's elegant foxtrot begins with the same walk they use in the hallway.
Pierre asks the detention room to turn ordinary walking into partnered rhythm, but the students' stiff arms and side-eye keep breaking the frame. Banderas threads between the pairs and resets their feet one couple at a time, making the cramped basement classroom itself part of the lesson's comic resistance.
Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing. 00:30:18 is Pierre's first counted walking instruction for the foxtrot lesson in the named 108-minute subtitle reference. Timing is medium because rental editions may differ.
Danced by Antonio Banderas; Katya Virshilas; detention-class ensemble (observers) · Choreography JoAnn Jansen
Morgan's heels on the stairs, the rose, and the leg wrap that stops every conversation in detention.
The camera begins at Katya Virshilas's heels descending the basement stairs, then lets her black dress and a rose puncture the detention room's fluorescent drabness. She and Banderas circle through ganchos, leg wraps, grapevines and a lifted release while the students fall silent, turning Pierre's abstract promise of ballroom heat into a physical dare.
Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing. 00:37:14 is the named reference's start of Morgan's entrance and the tango demonstration. The timestamp is directly anchored to the 108-minute edition.
Danced by Antonio Banderas; Lauren Collins; Brandon D. Andrews; detention-class ensemble (not individually identified) · Choreography JoAnn Jansen
Monster carefully matching Caitlin's small rumba steps despite towering over her.
Pierre slows the basement class into rumba weight changes, then places Caitlin opposite Monster so neither can hide behind the louder students. Collins keeps her focus on the step while Brandon D. Andrews softens his imposing stance to match her pace, giving the unlikely pair a believable first success.
Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing. 00:42:53 is Pierre's first rumba cue in the named 108-minute subtitle reference. Caitlin and Monster's pairing occurs within the same continuous lesson.
Danced by Marcus T. Paulk; Antonio Banderas; detention-class ensemble (not individually identified) · Choreography Rich Talauega; Tone Talauega
Eddie pointing out two simultaneous layers in the music and dancing each one differently.
Eddie separates the music into a polished top beat and the heavier underbelly, marking each layer with a different body accent for Pierre. Marcus T. Paulk makes the explanation visible rather than theoretical, providing the rhythmic mechanism the class will use to fuse ballroom counts with hip-hop pressure.
Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing. 00:49:54 is Eddie's start of the top-beat and underbelly explanation in the named 108-minute subtitle reference. His physical demonstration follows immediately.
Danced by Antonio Banderas; Lauren Collins; Brandon D. Andrews; detention-class ensemble (not individually identified) · Choreography JoAnn Jansen; Rich Talauega; Tone Talauega
The salsa basic settling into the remix as Caitlin and Monster finally move across the basement together.
The remixed track gives Pierre's salsa timing the bass weight Eddie has just identified, and the detention pairs immediately loosen their frames. Caitlin and Monster travel farther with each basic while the other couples add their own shoulder texture, showing the fusion emerging from a specific musical solution rather than a costume change.
Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing. 00:51:25 is the remixed music cue that begins the salsa practice in the named 108-minute reference. The passage is continuous through the class's increasingly confident partnering.
Danced by Rob Brown; Yaya DaCosta; Antonio Banderas · Choreography JoAnn Jansen
Rock and LaRhette discovering a shared pulse while insisting they cannot stand each other.
Pierre strips Rock and LaRhette's partnership down to a forward walk, forcing them to share direction without the verbal attacks that usually fill the room. Brown and DaCosta keep their torsos rigid at first, but the matched stride exposes how naturally their timing agrees before either character admits it.
Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing. 01:02:17 is Pierre's walking cue to Rock and LaRhette in the named 108-minute subtitle reference. The exercise initiates their trust work.
Danced by Rob Brown; Yaya DaCosta; Antonio Banderas; detention-class ensemble (not individually identified) · Choreography JoAnn Jansen
LaRhette's blindfold and the quiet turn in which she finally lets Rock lead.
Pierre blindfolds LaRhette so she must read Rock through the contact of their frame instead of his expression. DaCosta's shoulders release as Brown guides the turn without looking for approval, and the tie covering her eyes makes their first smooth waltz impossible to dismiss as another argument.
Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing. 01:05:43 is Pierre's instruction to use the blindfold in the named 108-minute subtitle reference. The trust exercise continues through the pair's unguarded waltz.
- 01:08:05
Academy and detention students share one practice floor
Danced by Antonio Banderas; detention-class ensemble; Blaine Academy students (not individually identified) · Choreography JoAnn Jansen; Rich Talauega; Tone Talauega
The detention class entering the polished academy and discovering that the 'corny' steps can carry their beat.
Pierre brings the detention dancers onto the academy floor, where formal couples and sneakered newcomers have to negotiate the same lanes. The students test ballroom holds against hip-hop accents without disguising either group, so the crowded room makes the film's cultural exchange visible as an awkward rehearsal rather than an instant merger.
Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing. 01:08:05 is the transition into the shared academy-floor practice in the named 108-minute reference. Dialogue describing the new combination anchors the passage.
Danced by Antonio Banderas; Alfre Woodard; parents and school staff (observers) · Choreography JoAnn Jansen
Principal Augustine reluctantly taking Pierre's hand and finding herself dancing through the PTA meeting.
Pierre asks Principal Augustine for her hand in front of the skeptical parents and converts his defense of the program into a measured foxtrot walk. Alfre Woodard's wary posture eases as Banderas guides her around the meeting space, letting the demonstration answer objections with the same trust exercise he uses downstairs.
Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing. 01:17:35 is Pierre's invitation for Principal Augustine to demonstrate the partnered walk before the PTA in the named 108-minute subtitle reference. The timestamp is edition-specific.
- 01:19:37
Competition-preparation montage and trio plan
Danced by Jenna Dewan; Elijah Kelley; Dante Basco; detention-class ensemble (not individually identified) · Choreography JoAnn Jansen; Rich Talauega; Tone Talauega
Sasha solving the partner rivalry by putting both Danjou and Ramos into the tango.
The basement shifts from classroom drills to competition choices as Sasha places herself between Danjou and Ramos and refuses to reduce the partnership to one man. Dewan, Kelley and Basco rehearse interlocking holds that require the two rivals to pass her momentum cleanly, making the trio's geometry the answer to their off-floor contest.
Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing. 01:19:37 is the beginning of the competition-preparation passage in the named 108-minute reference. The trio arrangement is introduced during this continuous montage.
Danced by Lauren Collins; Marcus T. Paulk · Choreography JoAnn Jansen
Eddie keeping Caitlin on count without treating her uncertainty as a joke.
Caitlin rehearses the cotillion waltz with Eddie in the school corridor, concentrating on the count while he keeps the exchange playful. Collins's careful frame contrasts with Paulk's relaxed encouragement, giving her a low-stakes bridge from Pierre's lesson to the public dance she fears.
Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing. 01:23:46 is the named reference's start of Caitlin and Eddie's cotillion practice. The rehearsal is directly anchored by dialogue.
Danced by Rob Brown; Yaya DaCosta · Choreography JoAnn Jansen
The former enemies sustaining eye contact through the turn they first managed only under a blindfold.
Rock and LaRhette repeat the waltz without a blindfold, carrying the trust exercise into a larger traveling phrase. Brown now guides the rotation with an open chest while DaCosta meets his eyes through the turn, so their progress is legible in the removal of Pierre's prop.
Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing. 01:26:26 is the start of Rock and LaRhette's late preparation in the named 108-minute subtitle reference. The practice foreshadows their competition-floor entry.
Danced by Detention-class competitors; ballroom competitors (not individually identified) · Choreography JoAnn Jansen
The entire competition floor revolving at once as the detention students enter an unfamiliar ballroom system.
The all-in waltz fills the floor with formal competitors before the John Drake students have a featured event, forcing the newcomers to navigate moving traffic and judges at once. The sweeping group rotation makes their basement practice look suddenly small, setting the scale of the challenge without isolating a single couple.
Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing. 01:31:10 is the all-in waltz announcement and musical onset in the named 108-minute reference. It begins the competition program.
Danced by Detention-class competitors; ballroom competitors (not individually identified) · Choreography JoAnn Jansen; Rich Talauega; Tone Talauega
The basement class bringing its heavier salsa groove into a field of polished competition couples.
The salsa heat lets the detention couples carry Eddie's underbelly rhythm onto the regulated competition floor, keeping their shoulders active inside ballroom holds. Their remix-trained attack distinguishes them from the surrounding couples without abandoning the partner basics Pierre demanded.
Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing. 01:32:57 is the salsa round's musical onset in the named 108-minute subtitle reference. Commercial runtimes may shift the marker by seconds.
Danced by Brandon D. Andrews; Lauren Collins · Choreography JoAnn Jansen
Monster catching Caitlin in her gown and continuing the dance as though the slip belonged to the phrase.
Caitlin loses her footing at the cotillion and Monster catches her before the stumble can become the public humiliation she expected. Andrews steadies Collins and returns directly to the waltz frame, turning the unlikely rumba pairing from detention into a calm act of protection under the formal lights.
Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing. 01:34:56 is the start of Monster and Caitlin's cotillion exchange in the named 108-minute reference. The catch occurs in the same continuous waltz passage.
Danced by Jenna Dewan; Elijah Kelley; Dante Basco; competition dancers (not individually identified) · Choreography JoAnn Jansen; Rich Talauega; Tone Talauega
Sasha dancing between the two men while the surrounding floor still expects standard couples.
The preliminary tango heat puts Sasha, Danjou and Ramos among conventional two-person couples before their rule-breaking plan is revealed. Dewan slices through sharp head changes while Kelley and Basco track her from separate positions, storing the rivalry inside the floor pattern instead of pausing the competition for exposition.
Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing. 01:36:02 is the tango heat announcement and onset in the named 108-minute subtitle reference. The trio has not yet entered its final featured configuration.
Danced by Katya Virshilas; ballroom partner playing Travis (not separately identified) · Choreography JoAnn Jansen
Morgan's crisp promenade reappearing in competition form just before Sasha's trio takes over.
Morgan returns in competition polish with a sharply framed tango that gives the students a professional benchmark seconds before their own final. Virshilas drives the promenade with the same decisive feet seen on the detention stairs, but the regulated floor and fixed partner recast that earlier seduction as technical authority.
Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing. 01:39:12 is the final tango couple's entrance in the named 108-minute subtitle reference. The passage precedes the John Drake trio's intervention.
Danced by Jenna Dewan; Elijah Kelley; Dante Basco · Choreography JoAnn Jansen; Rich Talauega; Tone Talauega
Sasha suspended between two rival partners in the competition's three-person tango.
Sasha refuses the expected couple format and lets Danjou and Ramos trade her weight through leg hooks, catches and linked promenades. Dewan's body becomes the hinge between Kelley and Basco, so the famous three-person tango resolves their competition only when both men support the same phrase.
Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing. 01:39:55 is the trio's featured entrance in the named 108-minute subtitle reference. The sequence continues through the judges' and audience's response.
Danced by Rob Brown; Yaya DaCosta · Choreography JoAnn Jansen
Rock and LaRhette completing the open-floor turn that began as a blindfold exercise.
Rock and LaRhette enter without Pierre, a blindfold or the basement walls, carrying their once-fragile walk into a full competition waltz. Brown keeps DaCosta traveling through the turn even when outside conflict presses at the room, making their smooth shared frame the clearest proof that trust has survived beyond class.
Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing. 01:43:38 is Rock and LaRhette's final-floor entrance in the named 108-minute subtitle reference. The waltz is directly anchored by the competition dialogue.
- 01:48:01
Students take over the sound system for the tie-breaker
Danced by Detention-class ensemble; competition dancers (not individually identified); Antonio Banderas (observer) · Choreography JoAnn Jansen; Rich Talauega; Tone Talauega
The detention class hijacking the competition music until every ballroom couple joins the new groove.
The John Drake students seize the sound system and push a heavier track across the formal floor, inviting the other competitors to abandon separate heats. Ballroom holds break into hip-hop accents and regroup across the room while Pierre watches from the boundary, so the tie-breaker becomes a collective version of Eddie's two-layer beat.
Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing. 01:48:01 is the students' sound-system takeover and new musical cue in the named 108-minute subtitle reference. It starts the competition-floor fusion finale.
- 01:49:21
Closing 'just walk' dance
Danced by Antonio Banderas; Laura Benanti · Choreography JoAnn Jansen
Tina turning Pierre's phrase 'just walk' back on the teacher as the final dance begins.
After Pierre declines a formal dance, Tina answers with his own teaching language and proposes that they simply walk together. Banderas and Laura Benanti step into the floor without exhibition flourishes, giving the film's last partnered movement to the humble action Pierre used to make ballroom accessible.
Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing. 01:49:21 is the suggestion to 'just walk' in the named 108-minute subtitle reference. The closing dance deliberately reprises Pierre's first ballroom teaching device.
Ballroom competition finale
Fusion DanceDanced by Antonio Banderas; student ensemble; ballroom competitors · Choreography JoAnn Fregalette Jansen
Formal rounds give way to a group fusion statement whose formation changes make inclusion spatially concrete.
The camera expands and contracts with the number, moving from architectural wides to selective details at musical turning points. Scale, costume and formation changes amplify the choreography instead of replacing it, so the spectacle remains anchored in dancing bodies.
Basement ballroom training
American FoxtrotDanced by Antonio Banderas; Rob Brown; Yaya DaCosta; students · Choreography JoAnn Fregalette Jansen
Repeated basics, improvised music and peer watching make the class's hybrid vocabulary visibly collective.
Observational coverage keeps the dancers' full bodies and surrounding community in view, using close-ups mainly to reveal effort and response. Because the film lets attempts, corrections and recoveries remain visible, the sequence shows how the dance is made rather than presenting only a polished result.
Detention students answer with their own freestyle
New Style Hip-HopDanced by Detention-class ensemble (not individually identified); Antonio Banderas (observer) · Choreography Rich Talauega; Tone Talauega
The class commandeering the music and making Pierre watch their movement vocabulary first.
The students replace Pierre's record with their own track and open the basement into a circle of shoulder hits, rebounds and individual call-outs. Banderas stays at the edge while the dancers claim the room, allowing their fluency to reverse the teacher-student hierarchy before Pierre proposes a compromise.
Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing. The students' response begins in the subtitle-silent interval after the 00:32:05 exchange and before Pierre speaks again at 00:32:55 in the named 108-minute reference. The exact movement onset is therefore left blank/low.
Hip-hop and tango fusion rehearsal
Fusion DanceDanced by Rob Brown; Yaya DaCosta; Dante Basco; Jenna Dewan; ensemble · Choreography JoAnn Fregalette Jansen
Cuts between grounded groove and elongated tango lines emphasize friction before the accents begin to align.
The sequence gains force by cutting between sharply different movement textures while keeping each style visually legible. That contrast turns technique into character: posture, groove and use of space communicate the conflict before dialogue can explain it.
LaRhette's after-hours basement solo
New Style Hip-HopDanced by Yaya DaCosta; Rob Brown (observer) · Choreography Rich Talauega; Tone Talauega
Rock silently watching LaRhette dance after hours in the otherwise empty detention room.
Alone in the basement, LaRhette drives a private solo through sharp chest accents and floor-directed weight until Rock appears in the doorway. Yaya DaCosta keeps dancing for a beat after she notices him, and Rob Brown's stillness turns the empty classroom into the first place their hostility reads as attention.
Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing. The solo occurs in the subtitle-silent interval from approximately 00:47:42 to 00:49:12 in the named 108-minute reference. Because no dialogue or lyric fixes the first movement, the timestamp remains blank/low.
Tango demonstration in detention
American TangoDanced by Antonio Banderas; Katya Virshilas; students · Choreography JoAnn Fregalette Jansen
A formal tango is staged at close range so stillness, eye-line and controlled danger challenge the room's assumptions.
The camera favors sustained, full-body framing, preserving the phrasing and the relationship between the dancers and the floor. The movement is allowed to build through complete musical ideas, so the payoff comes from performance rather than editorial camouflage.
Tango trio at the competition
American TangoDanced by Rob Brown; Yaya DaCosta; Jenna Dewan · Choreography JoAnn Fregalette Jansen
The three-person partnering changes familiar lead-follow geometry while the competition frame keeps risk visible.
The coverage alternates between adjudicator-style wide views and reaction shots without abandoning the routine's structure. Clear musical hits, difficulty peaks and formation changes create a legible competitive arc, making the result feel earned on the floor.
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