Original air date: 11/11/2005note
Dora recalls a time where Swiper is tricked by a mean Dancing Elf who seals him up in a magic bottle, and only Dora and Boots can free him by winning King Juan el Bobo's dance contest. Join them on a dance adventure as they travel through the pyramid and across the ocean, to reach the king's castle so they can enter the contest to win one big wish and save Swiper!
Tropes:
- Art Evolution: The backgrounds have gotten brighter and more shaded, and Dora's face is redesigned slightly, somewhat adapting to the style introduced in Go, Diego, Go!.
- Big Bad: The Dancing Elf, who tricks Swiper into getting encased in the magic bottle so he can take his place.
- Cunning Like a Fox: Strangely zigzagged with Swiper. The same fox who has tricked Dora and her friends in the past with his near-effective disguises is also easily tricked by the dancing elf and falls into his trap at the beginning.
- Dark Reprise: The Dancing Elf's signature song gets a somber variation after Swiper is freed from the bottle meaning it's time for him to go back in it.
- Department of Redundancy Department: The dance the magic bottle suggests for the king's mommy is the Everyone Can Dance dance, which gets everyone dancing.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: This is the second and last double-length episode to feature the usual three places instead of four, which was introduced in "Dora's Fairytale Adventure".
- Either/Or Title: This episode is sometimes called "Dance to the Rescue".
- End of an Age: Not only is this the final episode to have the "Bonus Map" formula for passing the locations before returning to the traditional three-picture sequence, it is also the final episode where Dora's star pocket is visible.
- Extra-Long Episode: The third after "Dora's Pirate Adventure" and "Dora's Fairytale Adventure".
- Heel–Face Turn: The Dancing Elf and Cane in the end, when he apologizes for tricking Swiper and Dora feels bad for him having to go back in the bottle, and asks King Juan el Bobo if he could stay out so he'll have room to dance.
- Make a Wish: The "one big wish", which is the prize for winning the dance contest. Dora and Boots have to win such to save Swiper from the bottle.
- Pepper Sneeze: Backpack is sneezing because of a pepper shaker in her; Dora finds it and uses it on the whale to make him sneeze Swiper out.
- Pet the Dog: The beginning of the episode, despite revealing the Dancing Elf to be the main antagonist, is a good example of Swiper being much nicer than he lets on, as he (to him, at least) sees how miserable the elf looks being confined inside a bottle and decides to let him out... ending up trapped inside in the elf's place as a result.
- Re-Cut: Nick Jr. later released an alternate version of the episode which alters certain lines, specifically the parts where Dora is telling the viewer to stand up, in the case the viewer is walking disabled, and also added in scenes of people in wheelchairs and crutches during the dance contest scenes. While the original version was on the DVD release, the later TV airings and digital releases use the altered version.
- Rule of Three: There were three challenges in King Juan el Bobo's dance contest. The first has the contestants do the "Ants in Your Pants" dance, the second has them dance like fish, and the third is the hardest challenge to get the king's mommy to dance; Dora and Boots succeed by coming up with the Everyone Can Dance dance.
- Save the Villain: Dora and Boots had to save Swiper from the magic bottle.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: The Dancing Elf in the magic bottle, until tricking Swiper and letting him take his place in it.
- Sympathy for the Devil:
- Dora and Boots feel bad for Swiper when the Dancing Elf traps him in the bottle, and promise to help free him.
- Near the end when the Dancing Elf faces going back in the bottle, Dora feels bad for him and asks King Juan el Bobo to have the Elf stay out of the bottle so he can dance freely.
- Whole Episode Flashback: The entire special is a flashback to when Dora and Boots saved Swiper with their dancing.
