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5[[quoteright:350:[[Film/LaLaLand https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/anotherdayofsun.png]]]]
6[[caption-width-right:350:Typical. You start singing in the street, and suddenly it's a musical number.]]
7%%
8
9->''"It's funny, isn't it? You would never suspect that everyone at this school is a professional dancer."''
10-->-- ''Film/NotAnotherTeenMovie''
11
12We've all seen {{Crowd Song}}s. A crowd of random people spontaneously burst into a choreographed song and dance number. A pair of red fire trucks pull in from opposite ends of the street and start spraying arcs of water over the crowd to make a rainbow. A flock of animated sparrows flying overhead decide to drop down and whistle a melody. The BigBad might even wander out of his lair to do a little number with a cute kid. But how is this possible? Spontaneous Choreography is the ability for fictional characters to tap into a pseudo-hive mind and perform amazing choreography with little to no practice.
13
14It is not restricted to the CrowdSong either. Sometimes, the dance has been planned in advance, for instance in a school-sponsored dance competition, but the heroes have had no time to practice while on their adventure. No problem, just huddle up for a few seconds, and you have an instant dance routine.
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16It might not even be a dance. Ten seconds left in double overtime? No problem, let's go for that trick play we've only practiced once. It's bound to work. And it always does.
17
18In short, this trope is for anything that has all the trappings of a crowd song, but without the crowd and not always with a song.
19
20Compare SummonBackupDancers, where the participants/dancers in question are called from out of sight.
21
22This ''can'' be TruthInTelevision -- ever heard of a "flash mob"? -- but the illusion of spontaneity is simply that; an illusion. Though the outside observers may be surprised, the performers themselves already know their steps and when to meet.
23----
24!!Examples:
25
26[[foldercontrol]]
27
28[[folder:Advertising]]
29* Advertising/{{Cryptoland}}: A throng of Cryptolanders suddenly burst into choreographed song-and-dance on the beach with Connie and Christopher during the musical number.
30[[/folder]]
31
32[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
33* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureGoldenWind'' features 3 of its main characters joining in a perfectly synchronized dance out of nowhere while torturing a rival gangster for information. The anime has it play out like a music video, even.
34* ''Franchise/LoveLive!'' has surprisingly sparse examples of this trope for the fact, that all animes of the franchise are about school idols with many performances. But at least the movies are prone to this trope.
35** In [[Anime/LoveLive Love Live! The School Idol movie]] we have following examples:
36*** The first years starts singing "Hello, hoshi wo kazoete", when all of μ's are at the entrance door. The performance contains the sudden change of clothes of Rin Hoshizora and stepping out of a taxi of Maki Nishikino.
37*** The third years wants to get away unseen and start singing "?←HEARTBEAT" including an aired video spot on a stage with many presents.
38*** The second years starts spontanously singing "Future Style". While the performance, the green cherry trees starts suddenly to bloom and to let fall their pink blossoms.
39** In [[Anime/LoveLiveSunshine Love Live! Sunshine!! The School Idol Movie Over the Rainbow]] there are examples too:
40*** The film starts with a not fully spontanous performance of "Bokura no Hashittekita michi wa". But it exaggerated to a performance through different places of city of Numazu and with a huge crowd of girls of the city as spontanous background dancers.
41*** The third years are performing "Tousou Meisou Mobius Loop" through Venice while hiding. When they end it is already night.
42** ''Anime/LoveLiveNijigasakiHighschoolIdolClub'' uses this trope more often than its predecessors, especially in the beginning of this series. In the first episodes is the [[CharacterFocus girl who has the focus]] in its episode starting singing her song spontanously in an ordinary situation and suddenly switching to a fancy stage or even to a dream world. This happens for Ayumu Uehara with "Dream with you" switching from a dark stair to a pink stage, this happens for Kasumi Nakazu with "Poppin' Up" who sings in a weird dream world with many sweets, this happens for Setsuna Yuki with "Dive!", where suddenly a stage pops up and she is singing underwater too, this happens for Ai Miyashita, who sings her song in a park, where suddenly a full stage pops up and this happens for Emma Verde, who can use a stage with Alps' motifs in the background.
43* In ''Manga/WelcomeToDemonSchoolIrumaKun'' (which is otherwise ''not'' a musical), whenever [[GenkiGirl Clara]] is reunited with her siblings and mother, the Valac family breaks out into choreographed songs. They're the ''only'' characters who do this, and other demons [[LampshadeHanging point out how weird it is]]. But the Valacs are all {{Cloudcuckoolander}}s so it makes sense ''for them'' to behave in such a strange manner. They also use their [[ThePowerOfCreation power to create objects]] to make props for their song and dance routines.
44
45[[/folder]]
46
47[[folder:Fan Works]]
48* In ''Fanfic/ManehattansLoneGuardian'', Drama Heart explains what she calls "heartsongs"[[note]]A fan term for the musical numbers in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''[[/note]] to Leviathan: when somepony is experiencing an emotional high of some kind, the world's magic manifests itself as music and enables said pony and others to join in. The heartsongs are also capable of generating very realistic illusions, as Leviathan finds out when Drama blasts her with an altered version of Music/{{Nightwish|Band}}'s "Storytime" as a demonstration.
49[[/folder]]
50
51[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
52* ''WesternAnimation/SouthParkBiggerLongerAndUncut'': Big Gay Al is talked into doing a musical number by the crowd. Big Gay Al says "Oh, but we haven't rehearsed!". The "I Feel Super" number follows.
53* ''WesternAnimation/TheLorax2012'' begins with a musical number with the entire city. After they finish they go back to their regular routines, making it seem like they all stopped what they were doing to dance.
54[[/folder]]
55
56[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
57* The above quote is from ''Film/NotAnotherTeenMovie'', which parodies HighSchool movies like ''Film/ShesAllThat'' where all the kids know how to dance really well at prom. A more straight example comes from the out-of-nowhere musical number "Prom Tonight".
58* This trope is actually subverted in ''Film/ShesAllThat'' by the DJ played by Usher. He specifically says "Right about now we're going to do that dance I taught you. And I know you've been practicing." Though as noted by WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick, it comes off as more of a tacked-on HandWave than a legitimate explanation. The entire student body (or at least all those attending the prom) being taught a complicated dance for that one moment just raises even more questions than it answers.
59* ''Film/SpiderMan3'': Peter's dance routine at the jazz bar.
60* ''Film/{{Footloose}}'' where they do a similar whole school dance and everyone can dance despite being from a town/county where dancing is illegal.
61** The 2011 remake subverts this at one point, as it updates the music genre from rock-n-roll to [[CountryMusic country]]. Meaning one of the scenes of SpontaneousChoreography is now a line dance in bar--a TruthInTelevision place where you'd fine SpontaneousChoreography in real life.
62* ''Film/{{Grease}}'' pretty much runs on this
63* Bollywood films generally have dance numbers that work like this trope. There are several in ''Film/BrideAndPrejudice''.
64* Animated example: In ''Animation/TheReturnOfHanuman'' musical sequence "Aasman Ko Chhukar", tourists, pirates, animals, even ''the Statue of Liberty'' dances.
65* The opening of ''Film/{{Hair}}'' features a Crowd Dance.
66* In ''Film/MyBestFriendsWedding'', the song "I Say a Little Prayer" breaks out at the family-style seafood restaurant, starting with one guy at the busy table singing in answer to one question, and it grows steadily for almost five minutes, each time the song reaches the end of a verse or chorus, you think its over. But no, it just kicks off bigger and bigger, until the dancing lobsters join in near the end. It's a brilliant spot in a movie that had other problems, but it works so well, it is worth living with the other problems just to see it.
67* In ''Film/FerrisBuellersDayOff'', Ferris manages to get an entire street dancing to "Twist and Shout".
68* Creator/WoodyAllen's ''Film/EveryoneSaysILoveYou'' has this for pretty much all of its musical numbers (whether the dancers/singers be jewelry store clerks, hospital nurses or even ghosts), though the main singers are intentionally not the best singers in order to add a bit of realism to the numbers.
69* ''Film/TheBluesBrothers'':
70** The patrons at the soul food diner start dancing when Aretha Franklin starts singing "Think".
71** The crowd outside the music store breaks out into spontaneous dance once Ray Charles starts up "Shake Your Tail Feather". But then, it's Ray Charles, so it's sort of expected.
72* Lampshaded in ''Film/{{Enchanted}}'', as Robert is [[OnlySaneMan the only one who finds it odd]] that everyone is spontaneously dancing and singing in the middle of Central Park. He is also confused by the fact that everybody in the park seems to know the song being performed, "That's How You Know," but he doesn't, even though he apparently follows popular music.
73* ''[[Film/AlvinAndTheChipmunks Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel]]'': After escaping Ian, the six chipmunks arrive at the singing competition. After a quick huddle, they break out into a perfectly choreographed dance routine that none of them had ever done before.
74* '' Film/ClerksII'' had one of these with that Jackson 5 song.
75* ''Film/SisterAct 2: Back in the Habit'' also had one in that the kids had been practicing a big traditional choral presentation, but then at the last minute when faced up against a big-time school that did the same thing better than they could have, turn it into a mixed-style free-for-all version of the same basic song. Note that the accompanying music also keeps up with the different style changes, even though they just decided to do it this way a few minutes prior.
76* In ''Film/TheMask'', the title character and Tina do a dance number together in the club without any practice. {{Justified|Trope}} because of the Mask's magical abilities. Not to mention a big dance number with a squad of police. At one point a woman doing a solo manages to express with her eyes that she's just as confused by this development as anyone else, and is rather freaked out by the fact that her body is doing this without her say-so.
77* ''Film/TheFisherKing'' starring Creator/RobinWilliams: As Parry, Williams's character, loses himself in a romantic reverie, the buzzling crowd in New York Central Station turns into a grand ballroom party. {{Justified|Trope}} as it's an ImagineSpot.
78* Film/MontyPythonsTheMeaningOfLife [[JustifiedTrope justifies this]] (not outrightly though) with the, er, [[ItMakesSenseInContext abundance of sons and daughters.]]
79* ''Film/TankGirl''. During the "Let's Do It" CrowdSong number in Liquid Silver, all of the prostitutes suddenly start dancing.
80* Parodied in ''Film/ShaolinSoccer'', when Sing leads the customers at a rice cake stand in a spontaneous and [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment wholly incongruous]] homage to ''Thriller''. Before the singing can begin, the shop owner screams at them, and they instantly return to their seats and continue eating as if nothing had happened.
81* ''Film/ThirteenGoingOnThirty'': Jenna starts dancing to ''Thriller'', and everyone at the party remembers and executes the choreography perfectly.
82* In ''Film/FiveHundredDaysOfSummer'', after Tom sleeps with Summer he initiates such a sequence.
83* The most JustForFun/{{egregious}} example most likely can be found during the 10 minute dance number at UsefulNotes/McDonalds in ''Film/MacAndMe''.
84* ''Film/{{Beetlejuice}}'' - the Maitlands' ghostly powers make the Deetze's dinner party get up and dance to Harry Belafonte's " Banana Boat Song". Justified of course, since it was supernatural forces at work
85* In ''Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesIITheSecretOfTheOoze'', the climactic fight spills into a club where Music/VanillaIce is performing. After a brief chat with his backup dancers, he launches into what's apparently an entire improvised rap with perfectly matched dancing about the fight.
86* In the original ''Film/StepUp'' Tyler and Nora go to a party and Nora's entire class breaks into Spontaneous Choreography.
87* ''Film/TheMuppets2011'': Pops up as Gary and Walter walk to the school to pick up Mary, then as the three walk to the bus stop. Evidently this is exhausting in-universe. When Mary looks out the window at Walter after saying it is fine that he's coming to LA you can see the townspeople who danced along with them lying around, exhausted. Then once they leave town, everyone collapses.
88* There's an inversion in ''Film/ChittyChittyBangBang'': when Caractacus Potts (Dick Van Dyke) is at the fair, he stumbles into a song-and-dance routine ("Me Old Bamboo"). The inversion is that the ''rest'' of the performers have presumably trained together for the number, but Potts manages to not only carry off the dance routine but also does most of the solo singing.
89* The ''Film/EddieAndTheCruisers'' sequel, ''Eddie and the Cruisers 2: Eddie Lives!'', includes a performance at a retro Sixties school dance where it becomes increasingly apparent that the students at this ordinary liberal arts college seem to know a lot of complicated dance choreography. The funny part is this actually has an impact on the plot when one of the hoofers starts dancing up a storm with [[http://www.agonybooth.com/recaps/Eddie_and_the_Cruisers_II__Eddie_Lives__1989.aspx?Page=9 the hotheaded protagonist's comely girlfriend]].
90* ''Film/AustinPowersInternationalManOfMystery''. During the opening titles Austin is chased through the streets of London in 1967. At one point he and his pursuers start dancing to the music.
91* ''Film/SundaySchoolMusical'' plays it completely straight, not only when the protagonists break into song, pulling people into the song, but also in how they pull together an elaborate dance number in the course of a week despite the majority of the Crossroads kids appearing completely clueless on how to dance before then
92* ''Film/EncinoMan''. Partly subverted when Link's friends join him in his wild dance at the school prom and they aren't very well co-ordinated. Then the rest of the crowd pitch in and begin flawlessly executing choreographed moves that weren't even part of the original routine.
93* The SuddenMusicalEnding of ''Film/SaveYourLegs'' has both cricket teams erupt into a Bollywood style dance. Granted one team is being captained by a Bollywood actor, and presumably has other Bollywood types in the team. The Aussies? Not so much.
94* In ''Film/LoveAtTheChristmasTable'', to cheer up a recently jilted Kat, Sam puts dance music on and begins dancing with her. Where the trope comes into place is that they start going into more and more elaborate choreography, although when, the other couples join in, they're doing more realistically awkward dance moves.
95* A gradual build-up in the final scene of ''Sunshine on Leith'', a JukeboxMusical based on the works of Music/TheProclaimers. At first, it just looks like a crowd has gathered around Davy and Yvonne as they start singing "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" on Princes Street. Then on the first chorus, two groups of dancers, one male and one female, pull the bewildered couple into a routine. And by the end, it goes full CrowdSong, as ''everyone'' joins in, even the living statue on the corner!
96* ''Film/TheAddamsFamily'' throws a welcome home party for the return of Uncle Fester (Gomez's brother in this continuity). Gomez makes them dance "The Mamushka," the traditional family dance that was taught by "[their] Cossack cousins" and a family tradition since God-knows when. Gordon Craven, who is pretending to be the long-lost Fester, somehow is able to not only keep up with Gomez, but actually ''knows'' the dance. [[spoiler:This is a clue that Gordon actually ''is'' Fester!]]
97[[/folder]]
98
99[[folder:Literature]]
100* {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in Terry Pratchett's ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novels. Specifically, Captain Carrot is the kind of heroic protagonist with such charisma that, in his girlfriend's words, if he chose to start singing some sort of song like "My town" half the people in the street would join in and dance with him despite not possibly being able to know the dance steps.
101[[/folder]]
102
103[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
104* Characters in ''Series/{{Glee}}'' seem to pull this off from time to time. Most of their numbers are rehearsed, but sometimes, as in sectionals, one character get the others to follow their lead and everything goes perfectly.
105* The ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' episode "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS6E7OnceMoreWithFeeling Once More with Feeling]]". Unfortunately for some of those affected, it's followed by SpontaneousHumanCombustion.
106-->'''Giles:''' That would explain the huge backing orchestra I couldn't see and the synchronised dancing from the room service chaps.
107* The "Nothing Suits Me Like A Suit" routine from ''Series/HowIMetYourMother.'' {{Justified|Trope}} as it's a DreamSequence / ImagineSpot. Also in the seventh season premiere, during Barney and Robin's passionate dance. This one ''isn't'' a character's ImagineSpot like "Nothing Suits Me Like A Suit," but since the entire show is made up of Future!Ted's first- and second-hand memories, it could be explained as ''his'' ImagineSpot.
108* Crosses over with a CrowdSong in ''Series/{{Mongrels}}'' with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5zsxfhAh6Q "Everyone Loves A Lesbian."]]
109* In ''Series/{{Community}}'' episode "[[Recap/CommunityS1E14InterpretiveDance Interpretive Dance]]" Britta and Troy are able to pull off an improved dance duet seamlessly.
110* Justified in ''Series/KamenRiderDenO'', where making people spontaneously start breakdancing is explicitly stated to be one of Ryutaros' powers. [[spoiler:He got it from the BigBad, who can also do it.]]
111* Creator/NormMacDonald lampshades this in a ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' [[http://snltranscripts.jt.org/96/96fcobras.phtml sketch.]]
112-->'''Gangleader:''' Whoa, whoa, whoa! What the hell is this? ''imitates "Cobra" hand motion'' What are you doing?
113-->'''Colin:''' We're being Cobras.
114-->'''Gangleader:''' Ah, that's it! What is '''up''' with you guys?
115-->'''Mark:''' What? He started singing, then he started singing, then he started singing, so I started singing. It happens.
116-->'''Gangleader:''' No, it does not happen. This was clearly choreographed.
117-->'''Dan:''' No. He was dancin', and I saw what his legs were doin', so I kinda copied it, like this...
118* Subverted in the ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'' episode "High School Reunion, Part 2". The gang decide to wow all their former classmates with a dance routine, with perfect choreography and every boy band music video trope you can think of, and they pull it off, instantly becoming the most popular people at the party... [[UnreliableNarrator and then we see]] what's [[ImagineSpot actually going on]]: five very drunk people stumbling aimlessly around a dance floor, sweating like pigs, while the audience cringes in open-mouthed embarrassment.
119* Featured in the game "Show Stopping Number" on ''Series/WhoseLineIsItAnyway''
120* ''The Carol Burnett Show'' did a wild version of this early in its run. Carol came out and addressed the audience in front of a plain curtain as she often did. She said they wanted to feature a song by her co-star, Vikki Lawrence. (This was long before she had a hit with the song "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia".) Carol continued by saying a lot of the people on the show were pulling for Vikki to do well and they had done all they could to make this special, so if their enthusiasm overtook their judgement she hoped the audience would understand. Vikki is introduced, she comes out in front of the plain curtain and begins to sing her number. Gradually, of course, the curtain pulls back and the choreography and stuff begins, and keeps building and topping itself, each time. By the end the whole stage is covered with dancers, acrobats, animals, fireworks and confetti. If that wasn't bad enough, the song she performed was a version of "Look What They've Done to My Song".
121* Though it stops short of a song-and-dance number, every {{Toku}} hero has a series of poses he or she goes through before battle. Teams will do it in unison. Even when the ByThePowerOfGreyskull phrase is taught to them, the dance they do before never is and it's really unclear how it came to them or why they would. (Franchise/SuperSentai and several but not all Franchise/PowerRangers series even have the 'roll call,' where everyone does a ''unique'' dance and InTheNameOfTheMoon phrase. You're taught a couple words... and spontaneously do [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMsyTtNY5Xc this.]]) It's especially visible in ''Series/ZyudenSentaiKyoryuger'', where the pre-more pose is more of a pre-morph ''samba.''
122* {{Series/Sanctuary}}'s Kali, Part 2 plays with this: there's a scene where one of the main characters, trying to find Kali, remembers that she told him to dance earlier and starts dancing in the middle of a street in Mumbai. It looks like everyone else in the street has joined in, in a textbook example of this trope... until we cut away from his point of view, at which point it turns out that he's hallucinating the whole thing and everyone else there is staring at him like he's gone insane.
123* In the ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'' episode "[[Recap/LegendsOfTomorrowS4E11SeanceAndSensibility Séance & Sensibility]]", Zari uses [[Myth/HinduMythology Kamadeva]]'s powers to start a Bollywood musical number in RegencyEngland.
124* In the opening of the ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' episode "Musical Chairs" one man rapping against a metal bar on a bus with drumsticks is followed by another person on the bus pulling out a trumpet and joining in, and within a minute the entire bus has produced instruments and is having an impromptu jam session. More justified than most by the fact that it was the tour bus for a professional jazz band.
125[[/folder]]
126
127[[folder:Music]]
128* Music/CaravanPalace has their music video to "Dramophone", which features a group of partying girls and a gang of intimidating bikers meeting at a diner. As it seems like they're about to get into a fight, the diner staff busts out an emergency vinyl (naturally of "Dramophone") and causes them to instead resolve their conflict with a kickass DanceOff, complete with [[SummonBackupDancers local patrons acting as backup]].
129[[/folder]]
130
131[[folder:Other Sites]]
132* ''Website/SCPFoundation'', [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-630-j SCP-630-J ("A Song In Their Heart")]]. When SCP-630-J activates it causes all sentient beings (even animals such as house cats) within range and all sentient beings that watch the performance live to start performing complex dance routines. It also alters the local environment to provide special effects that would be expected in a theatrical production.
133[[/folder]]
134
135[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
136* ''Blog/ThingsMrWelchIsNoLongerAllowedToDoInAnRPG'' has Mr. Welch looking for an excuse to break out into song or dance.
137--> 762. Fighter can't put points in Perform just so he can hammer dance after each fatal critical hit.
138--> 940. I will not abuse the Exemplary virtue to set up highly choreographed dance routines with random crowds.
139--> 1120. Even if I'm in charge I can't order the Assault Lance to perform West Side Story dance routines.
140[[/folder]]
141
142[[folder:Video Games]]
143* The Pianist Zombie from ''VideoGame/PlantsVsZombies2ItsAboutTime''. When at least one on the battlefield and not stunned/frozen, they'll play a catchy piano music. All the basic cowboy zombies will burst into a dance, and periodically all of them will switch to a different lane at the same time.
144[[/folder]]
145
146[[folder:Web Comics]]
147%% * [[http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=840 Did]] [[Webcomic/QuestionableContent Marten and Dora]] [[DidYouJustHaveSex just have sex?]]
148* In ''Webcomic/BadMachinery'' Lottie tries to do this, but despite the MassHypnosis of the student body, finds that no one joins in.
149--> HEY I thought everyone was going to start singing! ''I hate you all.''
150* [[http://rhapsodies.wpmorse.com/comic/just-one-musical-number/ One holds up traffic in downtown Homestead]] for at [[NoodleIncident least three hours]] in ''Webcomic/{{Rhapsodies}}''.
151[[/folder]]
152
153[[folder:Web Original]]
154* WebVideo/MuppetViralVideos: Apparently, the Muppets' [[BohemianParody rendition]] of [[Music/{{Queen}} Bohemian Rhapsody]] resulted from an otherwise unrelated video-chat conference.
155* Parodied in ''WebAnimation/{{asdfmovie}}''.
156--> "EVERYBODY DO THE FLOP!" *everyone in the room faceplants in unison*
157* In ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'' episode "Dance Dance Infiltration", Jaune leads team JNPR into one of these. ''WebAnimation/RWBYChibi'' episode 23 jokes about that scene with the revelation that Ren forced the team to drill for the number.
158* Parodied in the finale Music/BadLipReading's ''Film/HighSchoolMusical'' parody:
159--> "[[LampshadeHanging This is a dance we practiced in the gym]]! [...] [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome There's no way it could've been spontaneous!]]"
160[[/folder]]
161
162[[folder:Western Animation]]
163* Used and {{lampshade|Hanging}}d in ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}''. During Fry's holophoner concert, the Robot Devil interrupts and takes the musical on an entirely different course. Nevertheless, everyone, even the crowd, is able to stay perfectly in tune. Lampshaded when Zoidberg sings, in tune with the beat no less, "I can't believe everybody's just ad libbing!"
164* Takes a more realistic turn in ''[[WesternAnimation/TotalDrama Total Drama World Tour]]''. While they don't dance in every song, the times that they do it's very simple and predictable so the other contestants would be able to catch on(like Alejandro holding Bridgette's hand in 'Before We Die' prompted everyone to make a big circle by holding hands,) or in songs like Leshawna's 'Sisters' the other two dancers aren't in-time with each other so it looks more real. TDWT does do this quite well. There are even times where you can see the contestants looking at each other so they can suddenly think of moves (like Lindsay and Bridgette in 'Come Fly with Us.' Other times, in 'What's Not to Love?' Courtney said before the song started that she was going to dance in the song, so Owen, D.J., and Leshawna just took after her.
165* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''
166** Played with in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS4E12MargeVsTheMonorail Marge vs. the Monorail]]", where the whole town joined in on a salesman's song about the benefits of having a monorail. Homer sang on after the song ended, and immediately realised his mistake.
167** This happens again in "Homer and Apu" where the Simpsons sing about the Kwik-E-Mart with Apu. Each family member (plus Apu) sing lines that ends in a rhyme with "Kwik-E-Mart," but Homer accidentally begins with it and interrupts it mid-line with his trademark grunt.
168** And again in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E5BartAfterDark Bart After Dark]]" with those who are gathered to tear down the burlesque house and people sing 'We Put the Spring in Springfield'... except Marge who was out renting the bulldozer. She asks if they can sing it again but Ned Flanders tells her it really was one of those spur-of-the-moment type things. Ironically that musical number was recorded as seen on a clip show so she should've played the tape instead of asking Ned to sing it again.
169** Subverted in "Special Edna", where Homer starts singing a song about a pie, complete with musical-style choreography... which takes him out of shot, and the camera holds on the rest of the family, who don't move a muscle.
170--->'''Edna:''' Should we follow him?
171--->'''Marge:''' I'm on vacation.
172* ''WesternAnimation/HomeMovies'' - facing a performance in a class show with no preparation, Brendon has Melissa and Jason just follow his lead, and they go into a haphazard interpretive dance number while scat-singing about rice.
173* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' do it at least OncePerEpisode. [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Rollercoaster: The Musical]] features this in just about every other scene, and is naturally {{lampshade|Hanging}}d. It gets further {{lampshade|Hanging}}d in [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/PhineasAndFerbWheresPinky Where's Pinky?]] where it is revealed that the Tri-State Area is famous for this kind of thing.
174* ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'' had a MusicalEpisode where everyone broke out in song and dance numbers. When Rocko questions it, Heffer remarks that they had rehearsals, which Rocko has apparently been missing.
175* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' does this a lot, particularly the numbers "Shipoopi" (taken directly from ''Theatre/TheMusicMan'', and just as bizarre there), "A Bag of Weed" (a parody of "Me Old Bamboo" from ''Film/ChittyChittyBangBang''), and "Mr. Booze" (from the Rat Pack musical Robin and the Seven Hoods).
176* In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'', TheMusicMeister's powers are only given as singing-based MindControl, but this and [[ChangingClothesIsAFreeAction spontaneous wardrobe changes]] seem to fall under his RequiredSecondaryPowers. In another episode Huntress, Catwoman and Black Canary are sneaking backstage at the biggest hoodlum hangout in Gotham when the curtain goes up. They pretend to be the entertainment and launch into a risqué song about superheroes with spontaneous choreography and perfect unrehearsed harmony with both the house band and each other. The villains love it.
177* A few songs in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' feature this, like "At the Gala" from "The Best Night Ever" and "The Smile Song" from "A Friend in Deed".
178** Lampshaded by Rainbow Dash in "Rarity Takes Manehattan". She remarks that she's not normally into musicals, saying "ponies bursting into song at the drop of a hat" is unrealistic. Then Rarity breaks into song.
179** Some fanworks have run with the idea that this is actually a documented natural phenomenon in Equestria, which makes at least as much sense as [[PaintingTheFrostOnWindows a manually operated day-night cycle and seasons that have to be changed by hoof.]]
180[[/folder]]

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