History Film / StepUp

* {{Deconstruction)): In ''3'', Moose and Camille engage in a dance number while strolling through several sidewalks and doorways and snatching various props. Several people get annoyed by this, telling them to get out of their space or put their stuff down.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: In ''3'', Moose and Camille engage in a dance number while strolling through several sidewalks and doorways and snatching various props. Several people get annoyed by this, telling them to get out of their space or put their stuff down.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The first film has much less elaborated dance numbers than the other films, as well as more focus on one-on-one dancing as opposed to full-on dance crews. It's also more dramatic with the death of a character, and recurring characters such as Moose, Jenny, and Hair are absent.

* DoesNotLikeShoes: Emily from ''Revolution'', portrayed by Contemporary Ballet dancer Kathryn [=McCormick=], is barefoot in all but two of her many dance scenes. In fact, she probably is seen barefoot more often than with shoes on. There's even a close-up of her sliding her shoes off before she can perform her Contemporary duet with Sean.

* AlternativeForeignThemeSong: Koda Kumi's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMhP53SPBTI "But"]] is used as the theme song for the first film in the Japanese version.

* BareYourMidriff: Many of the female characters throughout the series, most notably Andie in ''The Streets'' and ''All In'' and Natalie in ''3D''. Emily in ''Revolution'' is a notable exception, opting for LegFocus instead.

* BareYourMidriff: Many of the female characters throughout the series, most notably Andie in ''The Streets'' and ''All In'' and Natalie in ''3D''. Emily in ''Revolution'' is a notable exception, opting for ShesGotLegs instead.

* InstantWebHit: One of the driving forces of the plot of ''Revolution'', with The Mob's flash mobs generating massive amounts of views on Website/YouTube. Their first protest flash mob at the Miami city council ends up being the most successful of them all, generating the 10 million views they needed to win the contest... [[only for them to be disqualified when Sean and Eddy are arrested following The Mob's disruption of Bill Anderson's gala.]]

* FanService: Some of the one-on-one dances are really sensual. ''Step Up Revolution'', due to being set in tropical Miami, cranks it UpToEleven, most of all [[https://youtu.be/T45fEa8eOwk?t=42 during the beach party in which Sean first meets Emily]].

* TomBoy: Andie West.

A drama web television series [[RecycledTheSeries based on the films]] called ''Step Up: High Water'' premiered on January 31, 2018 on Website/YouTube Red (now Website/YouTube Premium), and was renewed for a second season that premiered on March 20, 2019. Tatum and Dewan are executive producers on the series.

* {{Adorkable}}: Moose has shades of this, especially in his earlier appearances.

** Alexxa Brava, a popstar with dramatic mannerisms and extravagant outfits, appears to be a direct reference to early-era Music/LadyGaga. Her first appearance in the promo video for The Vortexx has her in a purple wig and white dress that bring to mind ''Anime/SaintSeiya'''s Saori Kido, which is particularly clever when you remember that [[FridgeBrilliance Saori also hosted a televised competitive event]], the Galaxian Wars, during the first arc of the original manga. Meanwhile, the purple tentacles on [[https://i.pinimg.com/originals/fb/69/b2/fb69b208430946a1f7efd4cb96dc14c5.jpg Alexxa's dress for the Vortexx final]], [[spoiler:after she's revealed to be working with the Grim Knights to rig the competition in their favor]], can arguably be seen as a visual reference to Ursula from ''Disney/TheLittleMermaid''. And then there's the Marie Antoinette-influenced outfit she wears for the first elimination round...

* ChekovsGun: In ''3D'', Moose first comes in contact with the House of Pirates when Luke's Limited Edition Nikes catch his eye. At the end of the movie, when Luke and Natalie are about to leave to California, Luke gives Moose the Nikes as a parting gift.

There are currently five ''Step Up'' films:

* HappilyMarried: Implied with Moose and Camille in ''All In''. No wedding rings in sight, but they're shown to be living together in Los Angeles.

** In ''Step Up Revolution'', the whole crew and their families and friends live in a humble Latin neighborhood, mostly as blue-collar workers. The budget needed for every one of their flash mobs goes easily into several hundred or even thousand dollars.
** In ''Step Up 3D'', they need to win the contest that they've been after for the whole movie or they won't be able to keep their only shelter, where many of them are lucky to be able to live... a whole building that contains an amazing discotheque, a first floor only for training, a wall made of boomboxes, a collection of really expensive mint-state limited edition sneakers... the guy in charge of this all? Oh, he is a waiter with a dream. The dream made everything else possible. Somehow.

* AlternativeForeignThemeSong: Koda Kumi's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMhP53SPBTI "But"]] is used as the theme song in the Japanese version.
* BareYourMidriff: Many of the female characters throughout the series, most notably Andie in ''The Streets'' and ''All In'' and Natalie in ''3D''.

* CommunityThreateningConstruction: In ''Revolution'', Emily's father plans to demolish the neighborhood Sean and his family live in to expand his business.

** ''Step Up 2'': If you are an arts school alumni who would rather freestyle than follow choreography, or who's prone to dancing when you're not supposed to during class, the big bad establishment is guilty of not allowing you to express yourself.
** ''Step Up Revolution'': If your father, the businessman, only allows you to pursue a dancing career, instead of having a more secure job that you have studied to be able to have... as long as you pass the very same intense test that you were already trying to pass, he is being blind to who you are and his judgement is clouded by his corporativism. Oh, and this same international businessman called on the staff of one of his hotels for a meeting. One of them arrived to the meeting twenty minutes late and untidy, didn't provide of a convincing explanation. The boss dared to fire him. [[SarcasmMode What a douche]].

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The first film has much less elaborated dance numbers than the other films, as well as more focus on one-on-one dancing as opposed to full-on dance crews. It's also more dramatic with the death of a character, and recurring characters Moose, Jenny, and Hair are absent.

** Chad in ''All In'' is introduced teaching Latin ballroom to elderly ladies and children at the dance academy owned by Moose's grandparents. During LMNTRIX's first day of practice, he offers to join the crew, [[https://youtu.be/mn6Wmceebfc?t=37 revealing he's just as talented in breakdancing]].

** ''Step Up 3D'' is about saving the headquarters of the House of Pirates, where runaway dancers live for free. The place is fully equipped with training rooms, a functional boombox wall, and a whole display of high-brand sneakers, complete with lighting to show them off. That on the first floor. The ground floor is a free-entrance club that is shown as successful, but seemingly not enough to pay the bills. The only one who seems to be working to afford it all is the lead character... as a waiter. ''After'' their place seems to be definitely lost. And he promptly quits when Moose calls him back.

* MeaningfulEcho: In ''Revolution'', early on, Sean teaches his niece Sarah a dance move he calls the "ocean motion". Later, he performs this very dance move during The Mob's protest performance at the city council, resulting in Sarah recognizing him when the performance starts to generate buzz and appear on TV.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: The fourth film has an instance of this when Eddy, frustrated with how things were going between him and Sean, stages a Mob outing that decidedly looks more like an act of terrorism than a traditional Mob performance, which ends in The Mob being disqualified from the Website/YouTube competition that they were trying to win for the community. ''[[SincerityMode Dick move, Eddy.]]''

** Alexxa Brava, a popstar with dramatic mannerisms and extravagant outfits, appears to be a direct reference to early-era Music/LadyGaga. Her first appearance in the promo video for The Vortexx has her in a purple wig and white dress that bring to mind ''Anime/SaintSeiya'''s Saori Kido, in particular as [[FridgeBrilliance Saori also hosted a televised competitive event]], the Galaxian Wars, during the first arc of the original manga. Meanwhile, the purple tentacles on [[https://i.pinimg.com/originals/fb/69/b2/fb69b208430946a1f7efd4cb96dc14c5.jpg Alexxa's dress for the Vortexx final]], [[spoiler:after she's revealed to be working with the Grim Knights to rig the competition in their favor]], can arguably be seen as a visual reference to Ursula from ''Disney/TheLittleMermaid''. And then there's the Marie Antoinette-influenced outfit she wears for the first elimination round...

** [[spoiler:Emily being led to believe Sean was behind the second protest flash mob against her father in ''Revolution'', when it was actually Eddy, as retaliation for Sean and Emily keeping that from him and from the rest of The Mob.]]

* TroubledButCute: Tyler Gage.
** An argument could be made for Andie as a GenderFlipped version at the beginning of ''The Streets'' prior to her CharacterDevelopment.

* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Nora Clark falls in love with Tyler. Well, Tyler isn't ''bad'' persay, but he is very TroubledButCute.

* BareYourMidriff: Many of the female characters throughout the series.

* CallBack: Tyler in ''Step Up 2'' is only there for a couple of scenes to remind us that he was in the first movie. Tyler's sister Camille is brought back as a main character for the third movie.
** Sean and Andie's duet to "Every Little Step" in ''All In'', with its playfulness and the constant interactions with the scenery, is somewhat reminiscent of Moose and Camille's "I Won't Dance" number from ''3D''.

* CommunityThreateningConstruction: In ''Revolution'', Emily's father has plans to demolish the neighborhood Sean and his family live in to expand his business.
* CoolPeopleRebelAgainstAuthority: Oh so much. Specially stagnant in ''Step Up 2'' and ''Revolution''.
** ''Step Up 2'': If you are an arts school alumni who insists in making your own steps whenever you are being taught some, or to break-dance in the middle of a dramatic swashbuckler scene, the big bad establishment is guilty of not allowing you to express yourself.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The first film has much less elaborated dance numbers than the other films, as well as more focus on one-on-one dancing as opposed to full-on dance crews. It's also more dramatic with the death of a character, and recurring characters Moose, Jenny, Monster and Hair are absent.

* ExcusePlot: The films can be reasonably viewed as just an excuse to see multiple street dancing numbers.
* FanService: Some of the one-on-one dances are really sensual. ''Step Up Revolution'' ranked that UpToEleven.

* DoesNotLikeShoes: Emily from ''Revolution'', portrayed by Contemporary Ballet dancer Kathryn [=McCormick=], is barefoot in all but two of her many dance scenes. In fact, she probably is seen barefoot more often than with shoes on.

* EleventhHourRanger: The MSA Crew (minus Camille) in ''3D''.

* GondorCallsForAid: The ending of ''Revolution'', with Jason calling Vladd, Jenny, Monster, Hair and Moose back for The Mob's big final number.

* HappyEndingOverride: ''Revolution'' ends with The Mob accepting an offer to do an advertising campaign for Nike, seemingly adding onto the fame they already got thanks to the viral flash mobs... Only for ''All In'' to reveal they've been reduced to HopelessAuditionees and {{Starving Artist}}s by the end of the campaign and couldn't find any other decent projects to pay the bills.

* LogoJoke: For Revolution, the Summit Entertainment logo gets spray-painted, seen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcn8pmhBGS4 here]].

** Many of the franchise's big scenes are initiated by Moose. ''The Streets'' initially makes it look like he's just there to be the quirky sidekick to main character Andie, [[https://youtu.be/V-4d3GUhgjA?t=25 and then his ringtone comes on...]]

* ThirdActMisunderstanding: A common staple. [[spoiler:Notably, Luke finding out about Natalie being Julian's sister in ''3D'' and Emily being led to believe Sean was behind the second protest flash mob against her father in ''Revolution''.]]
** [[spoiler:Not so much in ''3D''; Natalie was Julian's sister AND she came to the Pirates to spy them. The misunderstanding is not being believed when she declared that she had [[DefectingForLove defected for love]].]]