The 17 best dance movies of all time, ranked

• Compelling dance movies, like "Dirty Dancing," are hard to get right.• These are the best dance movies of all time, from "Happy Feet" to "Step Up."

Dance movies are hard to get right. They need eye-popping (and frequent) dance breaks, but they also need a cast who can act, not just pirouette or break.

The worst dance movies require fast forwarding through all the parts that aren't dance. But the best ones aren't just watchable - they're classics.

Here's our official ranking of the 17 most famous dance movies ever made.

INSIDER Note: This isn't a list of all dance movies - just the most popular. We also excluded movie-musicals. Even though they have lots of dancing, that's an entirely separate genre that deserves its own ranking.