Line #26 Main/DanceOfDespair


1	%%
2	%%
3	%%
4	%%
5	%% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks!
6	%%
7	%%
8	%%
9	%%
10	%%
11	%%Current image kept with a quality upgrade per IP thread:https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=16902624230.91009800
12	%%Please do not remove or replace without discussion on Image Pickin'
13	[[quoteright:350:[[Film/Joker2019 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/joker_22.png]]]]
14	[[caption-width-right:350:Dancing, by yourself, in a men's room, in clown makeup? Something ain't right...]]
15
16	This is a desperate attempt to cope with a character's unsolvable problems through a frantic dance sequence.
17
18	The character in question will most likely be in the middle of a HeroicBSOD or a DespairEventHorizon. A StepfordSmiler would be the most likely person to attempt this kind of dancing, either to make the amounting troubles go away, or just to cope with them. You would most likely have this attempt when someone else is around. When the character is left to herself (or himself), a DespairSpeech is imminent. The dance may prove to everybody else that everything is splendid, no problem here, just move along (please).
19
20	Compare/contrast HappyDance, AngryDance, DerangedDance, and WorkingOutTheirEmotions. A subtrope of CopeByCreating. Musical variants to dealing with grief and despair include MelancholyMusicalNumber, SongsOfSolace, GriefSong or BreakupSong.
21
22	----
23	!!Examples:
24
25	[[foldercontrol]]
26
27	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
28	* Manga/HunterXHunter: Shaiapouf, the Royal Guard for the Chimera Ant King, and notable drama queen, dances frantically to himself in sorrow while admitting to himself that he failed as a royal guard, and he doesn't even know what his king wants... right ''during'' an invasion from the heroes to their palace!
29	* ''Manga/OnePiece'': One of the 3 princes of the Ryuugu Kingdom, Manboshi, likes dancing around ("Akka Mambo!"). It's revealed in a flashback that it became a habit after he and his brother Ryuboshi tried to cheer up their crying young sister Shirahoshi after their mother's death. They performed an impromptu dance routine for her while they were still crying themselves.
30	* ''Anime/PrincessTutu'': Rue ends up dancing in the literal Depths of Despair near the end of the series, complete with a DespairSpeech:
31	-->'''Rue''': The depths of despair… I feel so calm here. I won’t be tricked by anyone anymore, and I don’t have to resent anyone. There’s nothing here. Not even loving. Nothing but to keep dancing until I die away.
32	* ''Manga/{{Subaru}}'': Something that Subaru does a lot, simply because she has been using dance to describe and express things to her ill brother for years. Whenever she is worried about something, including dealing with news about her loved ones being sick, she dances to keep herself together.
33	[[/folder]]
34
35	[[folder:Comic Books]]
36	* In the "Homeschooling" arc of ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'', Karolina and Chase share a slow dance, depressed over the recent losses of their respective partners.
37	[[/folder]]
38
39	[[folder:Fan Works]]
40	* ''Fanfic/YouWereMyBestFriend'':
41	** Although {{downplayed}}, this is how Bloom initially accesses Andros. After having a rough day in school, where she's ignored because of her geekiness and intelligence, she dances until her problems fade away. Literally.
42	** A straight example occurs later when Bloom has had enough of her class bullying her and her teachers never acknowledging her. Unfortunately, this leads her to [[FailedASpotCheck miss the recently-placed baby grand piano]] on the dance floor, therefore bumping her head on it.
43	[[/folder]]
44
45	[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]
46	* In ''Film/{{Alps}}'', as her life falls apart around her, Monte Rosa barges in on a dancing class and forces one of the patrons to dance with her.
47	* In the climax of ''Film/BlackSwan'', prima ballerina Nina Sayers has [[spoiler: [[ItMakesSenseInContext accidentally stabbed herself]] quite seriously]] and realizes she's [[SanitySlippage completely losing her mind at this point]], but she decides to go out on stage to finish her performance as the [[Theatre/SwanLake Swan Queen]] rather than seek help (fittingly, this is the moment in the ballet where the White Swan crosses the DespairEventHorizon). Interestingly, from ''Nina's'' perspective it's a triumphant moment even as she [[spoiler: lays bleeding and possibly dying]] following the performance, because in her opinion she finally danced the part 'perfectly'.
48	* In the movie adaptation of ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'', Harry and Hermione dance a slow waltz to deal with [[spoiler:their best friend Ron's disappearance]].
49	* In ''Film/Joker2019'', [[VillainProtagonist Arthur Fleck]] dances a few times on his own, and they're often slow and melancholy before he begins his descent into becoming ComicBook/TheJoker (where conversely, [[HappyDance he becomes far more upbeat]]). The most prominent instance of this is right after [[StartOfDarkness he commits his first murders]]: once he escapes the scene of the crime and ducks into a public bathroom, he slowly begins dancing by himself with a completely expressionless face.
50	* In ''Film/Mother2009'', Mother closes the film by getting up to dance with the bus of mothers, [[spoiler:having used the needle on herself to "forget" that her son is an unrepentant murderer.]] The tone is extremely sombre and depressing, and there's a heavy question of whether she really ''is'' dancing from despair, as [[spoiler:she has possibly forgotten her despair from mere seconds ago, but this is highly ambiguous.]]
51	* ''Film/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet'': In the climax of the movie, Todd realizes that the beggar woman he has murdered was his wife Lucy. He accuses Mrs. Lovett of lying to him about her fate. She insists she didn't lie: Lucy did poison herself, but she survived. Todd pretends to forgive her and starts dancing with Mrs. Lovett in a manic way. Then he suddenly pushes her into the oven and burns her alive.
52	* In ''Film/{{Us}}'', Red's dance "controlled" by Adelaide is an expression of her desperation, [[spoiler:as it demonstrates that she is the original and not a copy]].
53	[[/folder]]
54
55	[[folder:Literature]]
56	* In ''Literature/TheFangsOfKaath'', the protagonists are so touched by the sadness of Yarim's dance that they rescue her from its perverted audience, although doing so is politically unwise.
57	* The title heroine of ''Literature/ThaisOfAthens'' falls into a despair after [[spoiler:her BestFriend Aegesichore and her lover Menedem]] are both murdered in a single day. The only thing that keeps her afloat (until major changes in her life help her overcome it) is riding out into the wilderness and dancing for hours at a time.
58	* Implied in ''Literature/TheThingsTheyCarried'' chapter "Style". The platoon comes across a girl whose entire family had died in the war. This girl did nothing but dance, and was dancing when they found her, for reasons they can't understand, but figure it's a cultural thing. One rude soldier is even told off when he tries to mock her dancing.
59	[[/folder]]
60
61	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
62	* In the final season of ''Series/TheAmericans'', Phillip takes up country line dancing in order to fill up all the spare time he now has as his spying career ends and his business falls apart.
63	* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', "Once More, with Feeling": When she's asked by Sweet what she thinks about life, Buffy sings a pessimistic song about its meaning ("Something to Sing About"). Willow reacts with horror at finding out what Buffy's done. Buffy stops singing and dances so frenetically that she begins to smoke and nearly ignites and burns until Spike stops her.
64	* In the first episode of ''Series/TheHauntingOfHillHouse2018'', we see [[BrokenBird troubled]] Nell Crain waltzing around the long-abandoned Hill House by herself following a gradually-revealed TraumaCongaLine, shortly before she [[DrivenToSuicide commits suicide]] in the house. However, later episodes reveal the situation is [[OnceMoreWithClarity not quite as it first appears]]; [[spoiler: [[EldritchLocation Hill]] [[GeniusLoci House]] had actually tricked Nell into believing she was dancing with her [[TheLostLenore deceased husband]], before manipulating her into accidentally killing herself. Although Nell is overjoyed to see her husband again, she's so isolated and mentally broken at this point she doesn't see through the house's obvious trick]].
65	* In ''Series/TheTudors'', Katherine Howard dances alone while imprisoned in Syon Abbey, awaiting to hear her fate, after being arrested for treasonous adultery against King Henry VIII; Katherine's dance is juxtaposed with scenes of her lovers, Thomas Culpeper and Francis Dereham, being gruesomely executed for the same crime. She herself is subsequently taken to the Tower of London and beheaded.
66	* In ''Series/TwinPeaks'', Mr. Palmer dances multiple times throughout the series when dealing with the loss of his daughter, Laura, often calling out her name. [[spoiler: He performs the same dance as he murders his niece, Maddy Ferguson. The dance serves as a clue to Agent Cooper that Mr. Palmer killed Laura because it mirrors the dances the dwarf performed in his dream.]]
67	* In the first episode of ''Series/{{The Umbrella Academy\|2019}}'', the Hargreaves siblings immediately start arguing when they reunite for their father's funeral. After separating to different rooms in the house, one of them starts playing loud music and they all break into dance alone. Their identical reactions but with differing styles of dancing show just how similar-inside-yet-different-outside they all are.
68	[[/folder]]
69
70	[[folder:Music]]
71	* Implied in "Shadow of the Moon" by Blackmore's Night:
72	-->In the shadow of the moon,\
73	She danced in the starlight\
74	Whispering a haunting tune\
75	To the night...\
76	[...]\
77	Feeling lonely, feeling sad,\
78	She cried in the moonlight.\
79	Driven by a world gone mad\
80	She took flight...
81	* Music/MegMyers's "Take Me to the Disco" is a BsodSong that says, "Now I'm dancing on my own."
82	* Xandria's "Dancer."
83	-->She's a dancer on the glass\
84	That's broken like her past\
85	She would never flee
86	[[/folder]]
87
88	[[folder:Theatre]]
89	* ''Theatre/ADollsHouse'': Nora's tarantella becomes more and more frantic. At one point, she is clearly desperate because she ''knows'' she may be busted by Krogstad any minute and she dances out of despair.
90	* ''Theatre/{{Elisabeth}}'': The Mayerling Waltz is a frantic dance sequence with Rudolf either [[spoiler:chasing the Angels for a gun, which they're playing keep-away with, or running from them. It ends with him [[DrivenToSuicide shooting himself,]] usually with Death's helping hand.]]
91	* Some adaptations of ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'' have [[TheOphelia Ophelia]] dancing around Elsinore after she goes mad with grief after her love interest rejects her and accidentally kills her father, such as Creator/KateWinslet's version in the 1994 film adaptation. It helps to underscore both Ophelia's instability and her innocence, and she sometimes sings when she dances too.
92	* The Creator/TakarazukaRevue musical ''Theatre/NijinskyTheMiraculousGodOfDance'' has Vaslav's nervous breakdown portrayed as a frenetic solo dance, ending with his SanitySlippage.
93	* ''Theatre/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet'': When Sweeney Todd realizes that the Beggar Woman he has killed is his wife Lucy, he is utterly shocked and accuses Mrs. Lovett of lying to him. She explains that technically she didn't lie: Lucy did poison herself, but she lived and lost her mental health. Mrs. Lovett confesses she loves Mr. Todd. He pretends to forgive her and he starts dancing manically with Mrs. Lovett. Then he suddenly pushes her into the oven and she burns alive. Full of despair, Mr. Todd [[CradlingYourKill cradles his dead wife Lucy in his arms]].
94	[[/folder]]
95
96	[[folder:Video Games]]
97	* PlayedForLaughs in ''VideoGame/GhostTrick'' with Bailey's "panic dance". It's been passed down by his family for generations:
98	-->'''Bailey:''' When you don't know! What else to do! Dance! Dance! Dance!
99	* In ''VideoGame/OctopathTraveler'', SexSlave Primrose channels her feelings of despair into the dances she's forced to perform.
100	[[/folder]]
101
102	[[folder:Web Videos]]
103	* ''Series/TheCryOfMann'': In one scene, as Courtney is losing her mind and suffering a breakdown, she asks her callers to tell her about their favorite dance moves, so she can try them out. Shortly after, her mood goes spiraling down, as she gives a sad monologue and listens to a recording from Tank Mann.
104	* ''WebVideo/TitanAcademy'': [=TikTok=] dance-obsessed girl Juhi faces an exam that she thinks she's not doing well about. She proceeds to break down to a dance to express her hopelessness. The majority of the class follow suit temporarily.
105	[[/folder]]

Context Main / DanceOfDespair