Dance as Storytelling in School Daze & Do the Right Thing

Director Spike Lee uses dance as an illustrative mode of storytelling throughout his filmography, from the colorful, classical proposal sequence in She’s Gotta Have It to the ballroom juke and minstrel-show tap in Malcolm X and Bamboozled to the late-night soul groove in BlacKkKlansman. In School Daze (1988) and Do the Right Thing (1989), dance is used as a vehicle for the disenfranchised, persecuted, and misunderstood. The following visual essay from Jenna Grochow and Josh De La Rosa analyzes scenes from each, with the first being School Daze’s “Good and Bad Hair” dance number, and the second being Do the Right Thing’s opening credits sequence. As is expected in a Spike Lee Joint, both sequences serve as an engaging springboard to discuss racial issues and their consequences.

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