"It's just another night at the Vampire Club."
— Voltaire, "Vampire Club"
Vampires apparently love to dance (after all, The Dead Can Dance), which is why so many shows that feature the blood-sucking fiends also feature a big dance floor, often ones they own. Often, the dance floor is lined with mirrors, just so the vampire's innocent, unaware dance partner can twig to the fact that there's a reason the guy she's dancing with is so pale.
Sometimes Played for Laughs. Most of the time, though, it's Paranoia Fuel. A Sub-Trope of The Dead Can Dance. Can overlap with Vampires Own Night Clubs.
For another meaning of "blood on the dance floor," you want Ballroom Blitz.
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Examples
Fan Works
- to Überwald and (hopefully) back again: Chapter 8 has a huge ball at Chriek Castle, with a great number of vampires as guests. The only humans at the party are William and Sacharissa.
Films — Animated
- Hotel Transylvania: Count Dracula is dancing disco-style during his daughter's 118th birthday.
Films — Live-Action
- Blade opens with the vampires holding a rave in a meat-packing plant, complete with blood spraying from the fire sprinklers and victims lured in (presumably to be fed on). Though the vampire elders are actually opposed to such things as it violates their secret agreement with the human authorities never to gather in large groups.
- Dracula: Dead and Loving It has a really funny dance sequence with a tango, a waltz, a ceiling length mirror, the works! Of course, the dance was set up by the vampire hunters as a way to reveal Dracula's true nature.
- Love at First Bite has Count Dracula meeting his would-be bride at a disco.
- Roman Polanski's The Fearless Vampire Killers used the dance floor mirror gag, as does Dance of the Vampires (Tanz Der Vampire), the musical adaptation (done live with character doubles).
- In Fright Night (1985), the vampire Jerry Dandridge manages to hypnotize and make off with Amy Peterson while dancing with her at a nightclub, despite her being able to see that Dandridge has no reflection.
- One of the first serious examples of the trope on film was 1983's The Hunger. The opening sequence is set at a rock club where the vampire couple Miriam and John Blaylock, disguised as merely chic clubgoers, observe the revelers on the dance floor and pick out a young couple from amongst them. They proceed to take them to a similarly stylish house to move in for the kill...and since these vampires are different and sexy, the victims have no clue of their true natures until it's far too late. (As these vampires must feed weekly, it's implied that this sequence of events is routine for them.)
- The Hammer Horror film The Kiss Of The Vampire has the vampire ball... and hero and heroine as the unsuspecting guests.
- The title character of 1979's Nocturna (who was played by a professional belly dancer) is the granddaughter of Dracula, who has converted part of his castle into a hotel for tax purposes. She falls in love with an American musician and subsequently dances at the hotel's nightclub while his band plays. From there, she runs away to New York City with her beau and goes clubbing with him. A mirror does figure into her first dance — but in a twist on the usual, she briefly sees her reflection in it and realizes that The Power of Love and music are capable of turning her into a mortal, which is fine with her; at film's end she is fully human.
- Once Bitten features a dance-off between the hero's girlfriend and the vampire. Winner gets the hero.
- Van Helsing features a fancy dress party. The dance hall is lined with mirrors, making it obvious to the female lead that she's basically the only one there with a pulse.
Literature
- At one point in The Auralight Chronicles, Dakota looks for clues in a nightclub owned by her girlfriend, who happens to be a vampire. While there, they start playing "Thriller" and everyone, vampire, werewolf, etc. starts dancing to the tune. Vampires dance the rest of the time as well, but, in this case it takes it straight into meta territory.
- There was a formal vampire ball in one of The Dresden Files books. But in that case, it was already known the ball was being run by vampires.
- In the Evernight series, Evernight Academy (a school for vampires) holds a formal dance, the Autumn Ball, once a year; it's their equivalent of prom though much fancier, and a throwback to when such events were a lot more common.
- During the club scene in Old Scores, the vampire Simon keeps up with his two human companions, though it is actually Christine who appears to be the most skillful of the three.
- The Sookie Stackhouse Mysteries also have a formal ball in which there is dancing.
- During the prom scene in Twilight (2005), Jasper, Alice, Rosalie, and Emmett all show off masterful dance skills. Justified, as most lived during the heyday of ballroom dance and all have had decades to practice since. Downplayed with Edward Cullen, who is just as skilled, but dancing with Bella Swan, who isn't.
- They give a repeat performance at the wedding reception in Breaking Dawn.
- Jack Fleming of The Vampire Files can dance, but only does so when it's necessary to get female suspects to talk with him, not when he's just having fun. His girlfriend Bobbi is a professional singer who dances in many of her acts, so will presumably become an example if and when she's turned.
Live-Action TV
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The vampires often hunted at the Bronze, despite the fact that they knew the Slayer liked to hang out at that night club. In "Crush", Spike and Drusilla dance to the music of "Key" by Devics while selecting their next victims there.
- In the Angel spin-off, Drusilla has some serious Lesbian Subtext dancing with Darla. Angel himself, however, cannot dance. At least, you do not want to watch. Though he did share a romantic dance with Buffy in "The Prom".
- Forever Knight: The Raven, a goth nightclub which is also a haunt for vampires. Humans also use the club, so presumably it's used to hunt as well, as Schanke finds out when he ignores his partner's warning not to go in there, and gets in a Mating Dance with a sultry vampire chick.
Vampire girl: And what else goes with dancing?
Schanke: I don't know... Dining? - Interview with the Vampire (2022): In "The Thing Lay Still", Louis de Pointe du Lac and Lestat de Lioncourt (who are both vampires) waltz together
in French period costumes at the Mardi Gras ball. There's also a brief shot of them dancing◊ in "...The Ruthless Pursuit of Blood with All a Child's Demanding" during Claudia's birthday.
- In the 1980s mini-series The Little Vampire, we see the boy vampire Rudiger's punk-rocker brother Lumpi leading the band at a rave of Goth teenaged humans who don't suspect what he really is. Towards the end of the series, Rudiger invites his human friend Anton to a Vampire Ball, disguising him as a vampire to fool the other guests. Anton's cover is almost blown when it turns out he can't dance, something which all vampires love to do, according to Rudiger.
- In the 1990s mini-series reboot of The Little Vampire, Rudiger again brings Anton to a Vampire Ball disguised as a vampire, but they get a shock when Anton's unsuspecting parents also come to the dance dressed as vampires, thinking it is just a costume party. The rest of the evening is spent with Rudiger and Anton trying to prevent the other vampires from catching on that Anton and his parents are human, and Anton's parents from catching on that the other guests aren't people dressed as vampires, but the REAL THING!
- In True Blood, Fangtasia is a vampire-run nightclub.
- Inverted in the British series Ultraviolet (1998). The protagonist nearly shoots his unrequited Love Interest in a nightclub because he's convinced she's been turned into a vampire. It's only when she flees down a mirrored corridor that he realises he's made a mistake.
- In The Vampire Diaries, Damon Salvatore loves to dance. No, not seductive cooler than thou dancing. 1800's formal dancing, goofy swing dancing, shirtless dancing around the house while drunk to drown his sorrows dancing... Stefan has even commented upon it. Boy just loves to dance. YMMV on whether it is being played for laughs or not.
- The town's obsession with theme events also leads to a lot of dances, and at least a couple of vampires generally attend. It's a rare Mystic Falls event that ends without a body count.
Music
- (She's My) Vampire Girl by pop punk band Groovie Ghoulies:
I wanna rock and roll every night and sleep through every day, yeah
- In Bobby Picket's "Monster Mash", Dracula is upset at first that the Transylvania Twist is passé because of the new dance (which is a "graveyard smash"), but he gets over it.
- While Voltaire's original 'Vampire Club' was more about LARPers, the 'Twilight Edition' played this trope straight...or would have, if the werewolves hadn't crashed the party.
- Jimmy Spicer's "Adventures of Super Rhyme" has Dracula going to dance at Studio 54 as a Story Within a Story.
Sports
- Canadian figure skater Roman Sadovsky portrayed a waltzing vampire in his short program from the 2017-2018 competitive season, which is set to Peter Gundry's "The Vampire Masquerade."
Theatre
- ROMEO in the Darkness — when the Dhampyr Romeo reveals Rikka/Ichiru in his dream world, playing his Juliet/Julio, he dances with him. Rikka/Ichiru is in a trance, and when he wakes up, he doesn't remember having danced with Romeo.
- Tanz Der Vampire's climax sequence is named "Tanzsaal" ("Ballroom") and takes place at the von Krolocks' Midnight Ball (Mitternachtsball). In an inversion, the heroes are busted when it's revealed that they are the only dancers to have reflections in the mirror.
Video Games
- Deadbolt: Several of the missions that see the Reaper fighting the 1000 Year Royals feature vampires dancing and partying hard enough that they don't even notice the Reaper unless attacked. The game likes to mix in armed and alert vampires with these passive ones, requiring the player to pay close attention.
- One is featured in Sam & Max: Freelance Police: Night Of The Raving Dead, though there's only one vampire there.
- This trope is probably the reason why vampires were included in The Sims 2: Nightlife Expansion Pack. The pre-made Downtown subhood includes a vampire-themed nightclub, of course.
- The Sims 3 also introduced vampires in the Late Night expansion pack. And the new city in that pack includes a nightclub for vampires - Plasma 501.
- True Crime: New York City has a mission where Detective Marcus must enter a "vampyre" Club, complete with smoke machine and fetish attire. Granted you barely get to see any dancing and they are not "real vampires" (goths, and wannabes mostly) but it looks like something out of the first Blade movie. Once Marcus upsets the girl he's there to rescue, the ringleader of the club promises to show Marcus "How Vampyrer fight!"
- You can dance at most of the clubs in Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. Keeping it going long enough causes most of the other dancers to join in and prop up your Karma Meter.
Web Animation
- Duke from the music video The Night seems rather fond of dancing.
Webcomics
- The Elite Council in Charby the Vampirate throws a formal party at King Samrick's castle complete with a dance floor and DJ.
Western Animation
- In this episode of The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy Grim is sentenced to 50 hours of dancing, and having to put up with Dracula as he does so.
- Mad Monster Party? has Count Dracula dancing with Francesca, assistant to the brilliant and devious Baron von Frankenstein, to "Our Time to Shine" at a party the Baron is giving on the Isle of Evil.
