If you’ve seen the hit 2019 film Joker, you may remember a few pretty notorious dancing scenes. This has many people wondering can Joaquin Phoenix dance?
Joaquin Phoenix can dance, and quite well too. He’s demonstrated his skills in several films he’s featured in.
What may come to a surprise for Joaquin Phoenix fans is the fact that this film isn’t his first time on a dance floor. The Oscar-winning actor has been dancing for most of his life—from when his family moved to Hollywood and he got involved with acting at the ripe age of eight years old.
A Young Performer
After being born in Puerto Rico and travelling around as a young child through South and Central America, the Phoenix family eventually ended up in Hollywood. Joaquin and his four siblings loved to perform.
The family loved putting shows on for each other and spent their free time playing music and singing. They were encouraged by their parents to express themselves and, as a result, were a very outgoing and lovable group of brothers and sisters.
Eventually, they took this to the next level as Joaquin’s mother found them an agent and they started to get into acting.
Joaquin’s brother River was the first breakout star of the family. He landed his first role in the early 80’s and Joaquin joined him as a guest star when he was just eight years old.
Joaquin Phoenix’s Dance Moves
Dancing has been a part of several of Joaquin’s most popular movies, with his one of his most recent films (Joker) being most notable.
Back in 1982, the entire Phoenix family was shown dancing and performing on a TV show.
1995’s hit To Die For features a teen Joaquin Phoenix dancing with Nicole Kidman. In the 2000 film The Yards, a dancing Joaquin appears again, joining Charlize Theron’s character on the dance floor of a club. Buffalo Soldiers (2001) also includes a sultry dance floor scene between Joaquin’s and Anna Paquin’s character.
It wasn’t until the 2008 film Two Lovers that Joaquin Phoenix really took center stage while dancing. His character impresses people at a club by putting on an impromptu (and reportedly improvised) dance performance (it includes him doing the worm!). In this movie, his breakdancing moves impressed fans around the world.
Joaquin and a Dancing Joker
When the words “dance” and “Joaquin Phoenix” go together, many people quickly get the image of him dancing in the recent Joker movie.
Joaquin performs several chillingly good dance routines in the film, all of which really contribute to his character.
There’s a reason these are the most infamous Joaquin Phoenix dance routines. His character went through a transformation throughout the film, with the most significant shift taking place in the bathroom dance scene.
According to one critic, “What makes Mr. Phoenix’s performance so confusingly poignant—and not just a tale of good vs. evil—is the way in which he has essentially placed two characters within one dancing body.”
So, not only is Joaquin Phoenix a “good” dancer in the traditional sense of the word, but he’s also capable of going above and beyond to really perfect his role.
And while some critics didn’t end up enjoying the film, everyone seems to agree on the fact that Phoenix is a great dancer.
To prepare for the role, Joaquin lost a significant amount of weight and perhaps it’s for this reason that he demonstrated great finesse while moving around on the stairs or in the bathroom during the film.
He was able to use his body and his movement to convey so much more than what we can see in a typical dance. Dance becomes liberation for Arthur, Mr. Phoenix’s character, and it’s hard to draw our eyes away while watching him.
Not only can Joaquin Phoenix dance, but he can truly transfix audiences while doing so.