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[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bulletdancing.png]]]]
->''"Let's see you dance!"''
-->-- '''Just about everyone who has used this trope, ever'''

A character with a gun fires quickly and repeatedly at the ground near another character's feet. The victim makes a series of awkward, near-reflexive jumps to save himself from being shot. Though his pride takes a sore beating, the victim's tender tootsies almost always survive unscathed.

Given the number of parodies and subversions listed below, this is obviously a DeadHorseTrope nowadays. Due to being a prominent trope in TheWildWest, it most often involves revolvers, therefore they are often required to have BottomlessMagazines to shoot more than six times (GunsAkimbo can somewhat circumvent the problem but not for long, ThrowAwayGuns is a rare occurence in such situation).

This should be obvious but DoNotTryThisAtHome. Pointing a deadly weapon, much less firing it, at someone should be reserved for life threatening situations. Firing a weapon should only be to eliminate a deadly threat in which case you should be aiming at centre mass. Deliberately firing near someone to scare them will get you into very serious legal trouble in most jurisdictions, not to mention you could hit and kill them accidentally, or someone behind them, and if the surface you are firing at is something like concrete the bullet could ricochet extremely unpredictably - you might even hit yourself.

Compare DeathTrapTango and HurtFootHop. Not to be confused with {{ballet}} dancing or with belly dancing.
----
!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* During the Vampire Twins arc in ''Manga/BlackLagoon'', the local triad leader Mr. Chang had to do some unusual poses to dodge the full-automatic barrage of little Gretel's Browning Automatic Rifle. She evens compliments on his "dancing".
* At one point in ''Manga/{{Eyeshield 21}}'' Hiruma does this ''to his teammates'' while they're doing footwork training. "Do the dance from hell!"
* In ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun'', [[VillainOfTheWeek Disco]]'s Chocolate Disco generates a grid in front of him, essentially trapping his opponents on a deadly dance floor where he forces them to do some Bullet Dancing.
* Rare good guy doing this to bad guy example in ''Anime/MartianSuccessorNadesico''. The crew gets into a conflict with sinister Earth government officials. [[PungeonMaster Izumi]] gets a kick out of doing this to TheMenInBlack.
* In ''Manga/MoriartyThePatriot'', Moran shoots at Dudley's feet in ''Dancers on the Bridge'' until Dudley finds himself over the edge of the bridge.
* In a banned ''Anime/PokemonTheOriginalSeries'' episode, "The Legend of Dratini", Team Rocket is made to do this dance as they finish reciting their motto while the Safari Zone warden shoots at their feet. The warden in general was the reason the episode was banned.
* The MonsterOfTheWeek does this to ''Anime/SailorMoon'' and Sailor Chibi Moon in episode 145 of ''Super S'', only with [[ItMakesSenseInContext nuts instead of bullets]].
* In ''Manga/SoulEater'', [[LargeHam BlackStar]] and Tsubaki end up doing this when the latter decides to confront a roomful of mobsters armed with tommy guns. Black Star and Soul do the same during their fight with Kid.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Audio Plays]]
* Done in Creator/TheFiresignTheater's skit "Temporarily Humboldt County", from the album ''Waiting for the Electician'': someone fires a gun (presumably) at a native American Indian's feet.
--> 'Let's see the war dance, yeah *bang* dance dance'.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* ''ComicBook/TheLifeAndTimesOfScroogeMcduck'': Scrooge does this to [[AmoralAfrikaner Flintheart Glomgold]] in "The Terror of the Transvaal" after tarring and feathering him. He does actually only shoot twelve bullets from both revolvers before reloading.
* A favorite pastime of most ''ComicBook/LuckyLuke'' villains. Even sometimes Lucky Luke himself, generally to return the favor to one of said villains. In album ''Le Pied-tendre'', this is shown to be a common "welcome" for immigrants foreign to TheWildWest. Defied when tried on the title "tenderfoot", who's a QuintessentialBritishGentleman and stays utterly unimpressed by the locals' attempt to intimidate him.
* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'':
** Back in the Golden Age Wondy had a villain pull a version of this on her using swords; she had a bunch of henchwomen swing swords at Di's feet while Di "danced" on a table with her powers nullified with the promise of killing her once she couldn't avoid the blades anymore.
** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': In "The Master Plan of Paula Von Gunther" Diana forces the Warden to dance to avoid bullets from his own gun in order to make him lock her up.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Strips]]
* One ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'' cartoon has two baddies suspect their target is making fun of them when he does a ballet jump while they shoot at him.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
* Variation: In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanAssaultOnArkham'', Harley Quinn tries the shoot the Joker in his cell. When he points out that the cell, including the transparent front plate, is bulletproof, she sticks the gun into an air hole and fires a shot that ricochets around inside, forcing the Joker into silly-looking gyrations to avoid it.
* The snake version occurs in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanSoulOfTheDragon''. In an EstablishingCharacterMoment, Jeffrey Burr pays off a call girl, but as she leaves she finds herself locked in a chamber where Jeffrey order her to dance for him. She refuses, and then the cobras come out... [[DisposableSexWorker Her 'dance' doesn't last very long.]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Rango}}'', as Bad Bill and his gang enter the bar they start shooting the ceiling and the feet of a farmer who owes them money, making him move rapidly to avoid the bullets.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* In ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII'', Mad Dog Tannen fires a gun at Marty's feet while ordering him to "dance". Spoofed as Marty turns it into a full-fledged [[MoonwalkDance moonwalk]], jumping on a loose board to launch a spittoon on Tannen for a finale. As another nod to Music/MichaelJackson, you can hear Marty singing the chorus of "Billie Jean" to himself as he moonwalks.
* The conclusion of Spike Lee's film ''Film/{{Bamboozled}}'', [[spoiler:where the gangsta rapper Mau-Maus force Manray to tapdance one last time before shooting him.]] Spike Lee uses footage from the scene in "Bugs Bunny Rides Again" to contrast with the tragedy of the scene.
* Inverted in the 1987 comedy ''Film/BlindDate''. Bruce Willis' character gets hold of revolver and forces his date's psycho ex-boyfriend to dance at gunpoint. After commanding the guy to moonwalk, Bruce stares for a moment, screams "I HATE THAT SHIT!" and ''then'' starts shooting at his feet.
* Creator/MartyFeldman imagines doing this to a rival during an ImagineSpot in ''Film/EveryHomeShouldHaveOne''.
* Subverted in the gangster flick ''Film/{{Goodfellas}}''. Tommy actually shoots the bartender, Spider in the foot as he's doing the Bullet Dance. Spider is naturally resentful and insults Tommy on a later occasion; so this time [[AxeCrazy Tommy]] [[DisproportionateRetribution empties his gun into Spider]], and action that [[EvenEvilHasStandards shocks even his fellow Mafiosi]].
* OlderThanRadio: It was even done in the first movie western, ''Film/TheGreatTrainRobbery1903''.
* An alternate version can be seen in ''Film/Hero2002'', when the Imperial archers attack a calligraphy school, unleashing wave after wave of arrows. [[NoNameGiven Nameless]] and Flying Snow stand in front of the school, brushing aside as many arrows as they can with martial arts moves that closely resemble dancing.
* In ''Film/InspectorGadget1999'', our favorite bumbling cyborg is face to face with his evil robotic double on the Roberto Clemente Bridge. When asked if he knows how to dance, Gadget mentions taking lessons not too long ago in what quickly becomes a NoodleIncident as Robo-Gadget fires at his feet.
* ''Film/JudasKiss'': While dealing with DirtyCop Matty Grimes, Friedman fires his gun into the floor a fraction of an inch away from Grimes' foot; causing him to jump back and blurt out the answer Friedman wants.
* During the finale of ''Film/LittleShopOfHorrors'', Seymour grabs a revolver and tries to shoot Audrey II to little effect. Audrey snatches the gun from his hand, does some GunTwirling then fires at Seymour's feet during the song "Mean Green Mother From Outer Space".
* ''Film/TheMask'': After Dorian and his accomplices stop The Mask and Tina's dancing in Coco Bongo, one of the henchmen tries to shoot The Mask, but The Mask manages to avoid the bullets using his elastic body and shapeshifting ability, before he got "shot for real" (pretending).
* ''Film/PaleRider'': The corrupt marshalls led by Stockburn force one of the pan miners to do this, until he reaches for his own gun and they can 'legally' shoot him.
* ''Film/{{Platoon}}'': Taylor does this to a one-legged Vietnamese villager.
* ''Film/PrairieFever'': Olivia does this to James and Earl to prevent them following the wagon after their ambush goes wrong at the trading post.
* ''Film/TheQuickAndTheDead'': Herod briefly makes 'Ace' Hanlon do this before killing him, as a means of showing his contempt for the MilesGloriosus.
* When tormenting Hoop for attempting to abandon the group in ''Film/TheRevengers'', Quiberon and Job make him dance by throwing knives at his feet.
* ''Film/ShanghaiNoon'': Marshal Van Cleef's deputies try to make [[Creator/JackieChan Chon Wang]] do this before he whoops them.
* This was already being parodied by 1917 and ''Film/WildAndWoolly''. The protagonist, a goofball New Yorker who likes to dress up in cowboy clothes and pretend he's in TheWildWest, does this to ''his butler''. Later when he goes to a perfectly modern 1917 Arizona town, the townsfolk make it over to look like TheWildWest for his amusement. Bullet Dancing is one of the tropes they fake.
* In ''Film/WrongfullyAccused'', when the police arrest and shoot the bad guys on the feet with a parody of ''Theatre/{{Riverdance}}''. The bad guys, in this case, are Irish terrorists, so it makes sense.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* Wannabe hardcase Bill Wendee does this to the local schoolteacher in the short story "Bill Wendee Likes an Edge" in ''Sagebrush Sleuth'' by Creator/JTEdson.
* A variation in ''Literature/ManEatersOfZamboula''. An EvilSorcerer forces dancing girl Zabibi to dance between four cobras who keep lashing out at her.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* In ''Series/TheAdventuresOfSuperman'' episode "[[Recap/TheAdventuresOfSupermanS3E10TheBullyOfDryGulch The Bully of Dry Gulch]]", the villain ends up hopping to avoid his former lackeys' (?) bullets.
* ''Series/TheAquabatsSuperShow'': The robot gunslinger does this to MC Bat Commander in "Cowboy Android!".
* A saber variant occurs in ''Series/Batman1966''. Batgirl is singlehandedly fending off a fleet of Cossack henchmen. One of them stops the battle by throwing something in her path which causes her to slip. They truss her up and proceed to work their sabers on her, which she has to dance to avoid. Helpful in that Yvonne Craig was a trained dancer.
* On Cleveland's ''Big Chuck and Lil' John Show'' a skit showed a cowboy at a saloon offering "Dance Lessons $20". He gives the beautiful saloon girl the money, but instead of dancing with her, a gunslinger comes out and everyone else starts clapping as they do the bullet dance.
* ''Series/TheCarolBurnettShow'': A sketch with Creator/JohnByner has him as a gunslinger who enters a bar and takes over. It ends with him ordering everyone to dance as he fires around their feet. Creator/LyleWaggoner is the bartender, Creator/HarveyKorman is one of the patrons, and the others are played by the Ernie Flatt Dancers. They all do a very well-choreographed number.
* ''Series/DoctorWho''
** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E9EmpressOfMars Empress of Mars]]", one of the Victorian soldiers takes a shot at the Doctor's feet, causing him to jump back from Friday.
** Inverted in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E1E2Spyfall "Spyfall"]] where one of the Doctor's companions is wearing [[ShoePhone spy shoes that fire lasers]]. When surrounded by hostile aliens he starts dancing, shooting laser beams in all directions.
* Parodied on Australian SketchComedy program ''Series/DoubleTake'' where a gunslinger makes an old prospector bullet dance, only for it to be revealed as an audition for ''Series/SoYouThinkYouCanDance''.
* A ''Series/FastForward'' skit spoofing ''Series/KungFu1972'' had cowboys doing this to Caine. His hat falls off and he's mistaken for Midnight Oil singer Peter Garrett thanks to his bald head -- the cowboys flee [[DreadfulMusician before he starts singing]] as well as dancing.
* ''Series/JonathanCreek'': Mr Ipswich does this to the two burglars who break into his house at the end of "The Sinner and the Sandman"; pulling a pistol out of his stuffed rabbit. The burglars think it is a prop till he starts shooting at their feet.
* An episode of ''Series/LandOfTheLost1991'' has one of the main characters doing this to the Sleestaks using a ray gun he found.
* ''Series/{{Maverick}}'': In "Point Blank", Moose--a local bully and practical joker--plans to make Bret dance by shooting at his feet. Bret, not trusting the drunk Moose's aim, escapes by FlippingTheTable and [[BlastingItOutOfTheirHands shooting the gun out of his hand]].
* ''Series/MidsomerMurders'': In "[[Recap/MidsomerMurdersS19E1 The Village That Rose From the Dead]]", a CrazyJealousGuy does this to man who cuckolded him in preparation for shooting him for real.
* ''Series/MissFishersMurderMysteries'': In "Murder Under the Mistletoe", the killer does this to Phryne; shooting at her feet in order to make her dance in keeping with his [[ThemeSerialKiller Twelve Days of Christmas theme]].
* In the Creator/RoyRogers episode of ''Series/TheMuppetShow'', Statler gets Waldorf bullet dancing, and Waldorf starts doing ballet. When they try it the other way around, all that happens is Statler gets a bullet in his foot.
* The ''Series/RedDwarf'' episode "Gunmen of the Apocalypse" has the leader of the gunmen get Kryten to dance this way.
* ''Series/RelicHunter'': Sydney does this to Reiner in "Diamond in the Rough". After Sydney gets Reiner's gun away from him, he grabs Nigel and holds him hostage. Sydney proceeds to empty the gun at Reiner's feet; forcing him to jump while delivering a lecture about why she DoesNotLikeGuns.
* [[PlayingWithATrope Tongue-in-cheek variation]]: In the second episode of the 2006 series of ''Series/RobinHood'', Robin and his friends are robbed by bandits, then turn the tables; after tying the bandits up, Robin gets them dancing by shooting ''arrows'' at their feet.
* On ''Series/RowanAndMartinsLaughIn'', there was a sketch set in a typical Western bar. Goldie Hawn asked Alan Sues if he wanted to dance. When he said yes, she produced a gun and began doing this to him. For good measure, guest star Lorne Greene commented, "He's very light on his feet."
* ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' had a WildWest sketch with Creator/DannyDevito where he played a stereotypical bandit doing this trope to a character played by Creator/JonLovitz, until the bandit accidentally ''hits'' the guy's foot, and spends the rest of the sketch summoning all his charm to make up for it.
* In an episode of ''Series/TheSlammer'', the Governor does this to Gimbert after he has lost the Governor's showtime suit and the Governor has to host the Freedom Show dressed as a cowboy (ItMakesSenseInContext).
* ''Series/{{Whiplash}}'': In "Episode in Bathurst", outlaw Matt Denver attempts to to this Chris Cobb; who does not even flinch as the bullets impact by his feet. at the end of the episode, Cobb forces Denver to dance by cracking his whip at Denver's feet.
* ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'': In "The Xena Scrolls", Dr Janice Covington (Gabrielle) does this to the bandit who attempts to steal Mel (Xena)'s briefcase. Using a ''tommy gun''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Music]]
* In one of Music/StanRogers's songs, an Albertan rancher makes some cattle rustlers do the bullet dance. In this case, it's the hero doing it to the bad guys.
* The narrator of "[[UsefulNotes/CharlesManson Charlie M]]" by Music/{{Space}} is being forced to do this by the titular criminal.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theater]]
* In the Act One finale of ''Theatre/GirlCrazy'', when Danny tries to restrain Molly from running off to Mexico with a RomanticFalseLead, she derides him as a dancing man and starts firing at his feet.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/ANNOMutationem'': In the DLC, once Noni defeats the firmware AI, she continuously fires making it hop around until it explains what the mysterious console actually is.
* ''VideoGame/BombermanGeneration'': After Assault Bomber arrives to battle, he first intimidates Bomberman by firing his machine gun at the ground.
%% Needs Context * Used by [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot cowboy robot gunslingers]] in ''VideoGame/ChampionsOnline''.
* Referenced by the Flash Gitz of ''VideoGame/DawnOfWar'' (the fastest-shooting ork unit), who have "Dance, 'umie! Dance!" as a quote. Of course, they're not shooting at their feet, but [[ATeamFiring ork shooting being what it is]], they might as well be.
* ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry3DantesAwakening'': Jester loves doing this as a parody, especially when he [[EstablishingCharacterMoment introduced himself]]. Dante shoots at Jester's feet when he's becoming annoying, then the clown breaks into the Charleston as he dodges the bullets. In his boss fights, Jester does this whenever you attempt to shoot him, though after a few shots, he's tired out and left wide open for some melee hits.
* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', Barret is on the receiving end of an accident example due to ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy firing.
* Two {{Crazy Survivalist}}s pull this [[AssholeVictim on a North Korean soldier]] in ''VideoGame/{{Homefront}}''.
* [[SpaceMaster Xigbar]]'s [[BulletHell ultimate attack]] in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII''. He even calls out [[PreAssKickingOneLiner "Let's see you dance!"]] before unleashing it.
* ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption2'':
** If the player chooses to shoot one of the two kidnappers in lieu of beating them up at the campsite during the mission "Magicians for Sport", a cutscene will play of Arthur coming up to the remaining kidnapper with gun drawn, demanding to know where they took Trelawny, and when the terrified man has trouble finding his words, Arthur decides to help him find his tongue by shooting repeatedly at his feet.
** Early in the epilogue, the leader of the Laramie Gang threatens Abe, one of the Pronghorn ranch hands, in this manner.
* In ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia'', Gilder references the trope when performing his "Gunslinger" S-Move, although since the enemies take (quite a bit of) damage from the attack they apparently don't dance very well.
--> '''Gilder:''' C'mon... Dance for me.
* In ''VideoGame/SpyroYearOfTheDragon'', [[BloodKnight Agent 9]] inflicts this on Moneybags with his laser gun after being freed by Spyro.
-->'''Agent 9''': Ooh, say, you ever see a bear ''dance?'' (''cackles'')\\
'''Spyro:''' Uh... no.\\
'''Agent 9:''' We-heh-heh-''eeeeell'', it's your lucky day! [[https://youtu.be/E3lgFp9c4aA Check this out!]]
* Parodied in ''Franchise/StarWars: Behind the Magic'', which offers weapons demonstrations for, among other things, a blaster. The Stormtrooper used for the test subject starts dancing as is normally expected of the trope, and by the time the blaster has stopped firing, he's doing actual dance moves. He's finally shot in the chest when his routine ends.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* Lampshaded in a sing-song voice and subsequently subverted in the "Spanish Class" episode of ''[[http://www.atom.com/channel/channel_stickman_exodus/ Stickman Exodus]]''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfTheGummiBears'': In "Friar Tum", a trio of trolls were doing this to an abbot; this show taking place in the medieval ages, so the gun was a [[FantasticFirearms walnut shooter.]]
* Variation in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', a man swings his dual dao swords at Uncle Iroh's feet, prompting him to dance and avoid the blades. Upon closer inspection you can see he just slashes ''in front'' of his feet, so it really wouldn't hurt him if he didn't move (but then he wouldn't get paid for dancing).
* One ''WesternAnimation/BettyBoop'' cartoon has Betty held at gunpoint by a bunch of hillbillies who start shooting at her feet when she tells them that she is a dancer to get her to prove it. They are so impressed by her dancing that they join in and play music for her.
* One of the most famous subversions was in the WesternAnimation/BugsBunny [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes cartoon]] "Bugs Bunny Rides Again", where Yosemite Sam fires at Bugs' feet and orders him to "Dance!" -- and Bugs breaks into a full-bore softshoe routine complete with straw hat and cane. Bugs then yells "Take it, Sam!" and the confused Sam does -- straight into an open mine shaft.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Dilbert}}'' animated series Dogbert abuses his diplomatic immunity by commanding an Elbonian traffic cop to dance while firing at his feet. Dogbert then orders him to ''riverdance'', whereupon the cop strips off his shirt and puts on a bandana he inexplicably had on his person.
* The ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'' episode [[Recap/EdEddNEddyS2E1KnowItAllEd "Know It All Ed"]] is a CowboyEpisode where in place of guns, the kids use turkey basters (that the Eds sold as "Canadian Squirt Guns"). The Kankers shoot all their basters' contents at the Ed's feet while telling them to dance. Eddy is unimpressed that the Kankers "got their feet wet", [[ExactlyWhatIAimedAt until he finds out]] he's standing in [[StickySituation rubber cement]].
* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' features a CutawayGag with Stewie parodying ''Literature/OliverTwist''; after the typical "I want some more" request, he holds the cook at gunpoint (with a laser pistol, no less) and forces him to put on a dress before invoking this trope. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-_YNAeD_dQ It's as awesome as it sounds.]]
* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'', in the episode where Ron is obsessed with the boy band "Oh Boyz". He gets out of a cage and dodges ''heat seeking lasers'' by -- you guessed it-- '''dancing.'''
* Sindbad, played by Bluto, does this to a captured Olive Oyl in ''WesternAnimation/PopeyeTheSailorMeetsSindbadTheSailor'' using a peashooter.
* Parodied on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "Burns' Heir", in a flashback where Mr. Burns recalls performing this trick with a single shot pistol -- firing, manually loading a bullet and powder into the muzzle, cocking the hammer, and firing again while the victim dances obligingly.
* ''WesternAnimation/SpaceGhostCoastToCoast'': Space Ghost repeatedly blasts the floor near Zorak in "Pal Joey".
-->'''Space Ghost:''' Dance, mantis! Dance for [[Creator/MichaelMoore Michael]]'s pleasure!
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'', Mandalorian Death Watch combatants make a bunch of captured droids to dance the "cowboy dance".
* Bruce Wayne in a rather embarrassing scene from his three-part Franchise/DCAnimatedUniverse teamup with Superman in the ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "World's Finest."
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* RealLife [[TheGunslinger Bad Man]] Clay Allison is alleged to have actually done this to someone; the story goes that the man later tracked him down and returned the favor. Allison was supposedly so impressed he didn't even hold a grudge, despite the fact that (unlike the other guy) Allison had a club foot.
[[/folder]]
----