Alice and Bob are a pair of Adventurer Archaeologists who find themselves in the Temple of Doom, out to find the shiny gold MacGuffin atop the king's throne. But uh oh! They've sprung a Durable Deathtrap and now the hallway is shooting flaming Annoying Arrows from one side to the next, perfectly timed with rising and falling poison-tipped Spikes of Doom coming out of the floor, all moving to a crochet beat time signature. Thankfully, both archeologists have a Minor in Tango argentino and the two of them manage to dance their way past the traps to the other side.
Of course it doesn't just have to be ancient temples and Lara Crofts. Any trap-rigged hallways combined with fancy dancin' will do. Spies or thieves navigating Laser Hallways in an art museum, or Final Girls escaping the improbably dangerous lair of the maniac hunting them and they need to do a jig to evade the saw blades.
Expect at least one of the dancers getting to the other side, only to either trigger the next trap on the very last step, or they find ammo from one of the death traps stuck in their butt after the fact, proving that not only was someone's rhythm off but that butt-trauma will always be funny.
This may apply to Chekhov's Hobby if the character is previously mentioned to enjoy dancing, or a standard Chekhov's Skill if the character taking dance lessons happened earlier in the story, and may also involve a character who claims they can't dance. May result in heavy Ship Tease if the dance appears similar to a Mating Dance, though a Dance of Romance is usually too slow to avoid death traps. If the people engaging in this came dressed for combat, they may be Boogie Knights.
Compare Bullet Dancing. Not to be confused with The Masochism Tango or Sinister Tango Music. May involve Soundtrack Dissonance. See also Tango.
Examples:
- Disney Ducks Comic Universe: In "The Incredible Shrinking Tightwad", the Beagle Boys are shown to have a dance called the "Money Bin Shuffle" which they use to avoid traps around Scrooge's money bin.
- Despicable Me 2: The entrance to El Macho's lair is a set of tiles that play musical notes when stepped on, the safe path plays the tune to "La Cucaracha" while missteps trigger death traps.
- In Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation, Dracula manages to protect Ericka from a series of death traps leading up to the Instrument of Destruction in Atlantean ruins, the two of them devolving into a dance. While Dracula's reflexes manage to keep Ericka out of harm's way, Dracula takes the brunt of said traps, but he's too love-struck by her and simply too powerful to actually notice.
- In The Librarian: Quest for the Spear, Flynn and Nicole find themselves trapped in a Mayan temple, the only exit at the end of a hallway full of arrow-shooting walls. When Flynn picks up on the perfect rhythm the arrows are moving, the two of them manage to waltz their way out.
- Ocean's Twelve: When François "Night Fox" Toulour recounts stealing a Fabergé Egg, he's seen using a Capoeira-style dance routine to evade the museum's assorted security lasers.
- The Pacifier: The dead scientist who created the GHOST program, and whose kids Shane is watching, made up a goofy song and dance to entertain the younger kids which also turns out to be coded directions around the series of death traps he hid the program under.
- In Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny, when Jables and Kage raid the Rock and Roll History Museum, they have to pass through a Laser Hallway. After some thinking, Jables decides to go through with moves looking like some odd cross between robot dance and pretending to be a caterpillar. In contrast to the otherwise rock-based rest of the soundtrack, the entire sequence is put to an electronic tune with lyrics made of classic video game titles.
- Crypt Of The Necrodancer runs on this trope, with the player having to move and fight to the beat of the soundtrack.
- Secret Agent Clank: Certain segments have Clank have to navigate through a series of traps. These segments take the form of a rhythm game with Clank moving to the beat to avoid the traps.
- Trillion: God of Destruction: One of the training sessions an Overlord can be sent on is visiting a permanent windstorm flinging blades around in a vortex and dodging through by dancing. It doesn't even have the be a dance, that's just part of the challenge.
- SMG4: In "Mushrooms & Morons: Quest Quest for the Spaghetti of Power", one of the last obstacles is a dungeon, with Mario and co. using bait to locate traps. At one point during the exploration Montage, Mario dances to "Stayin' Alive" while dodging spear traps.
- Played with in Amphibia: In "The Beginning of the End", Olivia and Yunan are placed as the final forces guarding the calamity box after being brainwashed by The Core. The gang struggles to fight them until Anne comes up with a plan. She and Sasha reenact their Super Dance Fusion routine to fight off the brainwashed pair in sync, complete with an Evangelion reference.
- Avatar: The Last Airbender: In "The Firebending Masters", Zuko and Aang get trapped after touching a glowing sphere. After being freed, they do a "dragon dance" to prove themselves to the Sun Warriors and the dragons themselves.
- The Backyardigans: During the "Dance For Your Life" musical number in Break Out!, the two princesses (played by Tasha and Uniqua) dance through a Laser Hallway.
- Donkey Kong Country: Invoked in "Orangutango". Donkey Kong, Diddy, and Funky head to the Temple of Inka Dinka Doo and consult the Idol for help in learning to dance so he can beat King K. Rool in an upcoming dance contest. The Idol has Donkey Kong go through three hallways full of Death Traps to learn how to dance.
- The DuckTales (2017) episode "The Most Dangerous Game...Night!" opens with the Duck Family navigating an ancient temple. One of the traps includes a perfectly-timed floor-to-ceiling arrow trap that Huey and Scrooge get through with perfectly timed steps.
- Regular Show: Part of the death trap Gene made to protect the volcano is a game of DanceDanceRevolution mixed with instantaneous impalement upon screwing up the choreography.
- Total Drama: In "Aftermath III: Aftermath Aftermayhem", Noah has to dodge a series of lasers or he will get attacked by a pair of face-hugging aliens. He does so by dancing (and performs so well that Blaineley asks him "Are you available for birthday parties?"), dodges almost all of them except the last one, and gets attacked by the aliens.
