History Main / TheDeadCanDance

People who are hung by the neck are sometimes mentioned to dance "the hemp fandango", "[[Discworld the sisal twostep]]" or "the gallows jig".

People who are hung by the neck are sometimes mentioned to dance "the hemp fandango" or "the gallows jig".

* In ''[[{{ptitlec2bovk1y}} Weekend at Bernie's 2]]'', despite being dead, Bernie dances when he hears music as the result of a voodoo spell.

* MastersofHorror episode Dance of the Dead.

* [[RuleOfThree It probably shouldn't go unmentioned so, Michael Jackson's "Thriller"]].

What do the dead do? Why, dance, of course. ([[BloodOnTheDanceFloor Vampires]] and [[TheSkeletonDance skeletons]] especially, it seems]].) It's the hidden language of the soul (whether they have a soul or not), as well as a metaphor for...[[SexTropes something]]. And if the dead aren't immediately [[ZombieApocalypse chowing down on you]], they may end up leading you in a jaunty tune. This probably stems from the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danse_macabre Danse Macabre]], a medieval allegory about how death unites everyone, how no matter your station, everyone does the "dance of death." And [[WhoWantsToLiveForever who doesn't want to dance]]? So if you're a [[OurVampiresAreDifferent bloodsucker]], a [[DemBones bag of bones]], or the [[TheGrimReaper bleak bringer of biolysis]] you can still boogie.

What do the dead do? Why, dance, of course. ([[BloodOnTheDanceFloor Vampires especially, it seems]].) It's the hidden language of the soul (whether they have a soul or not), as well as a metaphor for...[[SexTropes something]]. And if the dead aren't immediately [[ZombieApocalypse chowing down on you]], they may end up leading you in a jaunty tune. This probably stems from the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danse_macabre Danse Macabre]], a medieval allegory about how death unites everyone, how no matter your station, everyone does the "dance of death." And [[WhoWantsToLiveForever who doesn't want to dance]]? So if you're a [[OurVampiresAreDifferent bloodsucker]], a [[DemBones bag of bones]], or the [[TheGrimReaper bleak bringer of biolysis]] you can still boogie.

* ''CorpseBride'' and ''TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'', both TimBurton movies, have dance scenes where the dead get down to a swinging soundtrack. The dead in the former movie purposely look livelier than the living. Victor and Victoria live in a dull gray/black world which is, well, stereotypical Victorian. Underground, things are more colorful.
** Nightmare was directed by Henry Selick.

* TimBurton's ''CorpseBride'' has the awesome song "Remains of the Day," where the dead sing ''and'' dance.

* Interestingly tales of music animating the recently dead and causing them to dance can be found from Europe to the Far East. Almost all versions feature a husband going into haunted ground (ghosts or elves) in order to retrieve the dancing body of his late wife.

* Michael Jackson's "Thriller," obviously....

* The {{Discworld}} example that gives up the quote above is when [[AC:Death]] dances with Miss Flitworth at the end of ''Discworld/ReaperMan''. She's dead, too.

* DresdenFiles ''Dead Beat'' the necromancers use techno music to keep the zombies alive. Though not technically dead Thomas hang out a clubs quite alot.

* [[OnePiece Brook]], natch. Much of the Thriller Bark arc, actually.

* WorldOfWarcraft, besides having dance animations for every playable race including the undead Forsaken, has an odd encounter in one of the Razorfen dungeons where the PCs walk in on a skeleton dance party. [[BallroomBlitz The skeletons are not amused.]]

* ''TheIncrediblyStrangeCreaturesWhoStoppedLivingAndBecameMixedUpZombies'' is a musical with zombie dance numbers. Except they're not really zombies, and... oh, just read the movie's page.

People who are [[IncrediblyLamePun well hung]] are sometimes mentioned to dance "the hemp fandango" or "the gallows jig".

[[caption-width:330: [[{{DannyElfman}} It's a dead man's party]];[[OingoBoingo Who could ask for more...]]]]

[[caption-width:330: [[{{DannyElfman}} It's a dead man's party; Who could ask for more...]]]]

* The old {{Disney}} short "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkhxjzc9uuE The Skeleton Dance]]."

* ''PrincessTutu'' has this trope show up ''twice'', although considering the show is about dancing and can be darkly bizarre at times that might not be too surprising. The first time is in an episode based on the ballet ''Giselle'', where a ghost of a woman that committed suicide dances against Rue and later Princess Tutu for the right to take Mytho to the Underworld. Later on, in the Depths of Despair, skeletons dance ballet--but not to ''Danse Macabre'', as you might expect, but ''Dance of the Dying Swan''. You also might count Drosselmeyer, who occasionally does brief dance steps and is quite dead.

* Every episode of ''Strangers With Candy'' would end with everyone in the episode dancing happily, and the series finale, after Jerri and the teachers rioted and destroyed the school, was no different. Except everyone was looking a little tranlucent this time.

* Saint-Saëns's instrumental "Danse Macabre", based on a French poem by Henri Cazalis about Death using his violin to raise the dead and make them dance. The Skeleton Dance is based on this.
** [[IronMaiden Iron Maiden's]] "Dance of Death" has a narrator speak of of their experience joining in a festival straight out of the medieval Danse Macabre archetype. Given the band's penchant for literary, historical, and musical references, it's a good bet they were well aware of Saint-Saën's piece.

* Iron Maidens Dance of Death. A man is dragged to the realms of the dead, as his body beins to join in with his kidnappers dancing upon the flames and coals.

* "Move Your Dead Bones", a song by somebody called ''The Reanimator''... I doubt very many people knows it (I only knows it from a hilarious flash-animation where it's used in the context of 'Resurrection Fanfics') but it's basically about this - bringing the dead back so they can dance.

* Micheal Jackson's "Thriller," obviously....

** Similair, the Dutch amusement park "De Efteling" has a Haunted Mansion with the same theme where the death dance to the "Dance Macabre".
* The song by Saint-Saëns mentioned above is based on a poem by Henri Cazalis which was in turn based on an old French superstition that said that Death appears at midnight on Hallowe'en and calls forth the dead to dance while he plays the fiddle until the break of dawn.

* WorldOfWarcraft, besides having dance animations for every playable race including the undead Forsaken, has an odd encounter in one of the Razorfen dungeons where your party walks in on a skeleton dance party. [[BallroomBlitz The skeletons are not amused.]]

* The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!? is a musical with zombie dance numbers.