The Story Behind the Best, Weirdest Dance Scene in Years

If last year’s internet was obsessed with the charmingly off-kilter dance scene in the Netflix series Wednesday, this year’s viral on-screen weird dance is sure to be Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo’s performance in Yorgos Lanthimos’ new film Poor Things. In Poor Things, a young woman, played by Stone, experiences life through the eyes of a child, by way of some fantasy-science trickery. There’s a standout moment in which Stone’s character becomes aware of the concept of dancing, prompting her to stumble her way to the dance floor for her first attempt at moving to a rhythm.

This isn’t Lanthimos’ first time experimenting with strange, somewhat anachronistic, yet deeply entertaining dance sequences. He famously employed the same device in his previous film The Favourite, which showcased some interesting choreography performed by Rachel Weisz and Joe Alwyn. Lanthimos partnered up again with Constanza Macras, the choreographer of The Favourite, to make magic in Poor Things. Slate spoke to the Berlin-based choreographer about her creative process, her love of working with actors, and how she grounds Lanthimos’ surreal style in movement.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Slate: What’s your dance background?

Constanza Macras: I am from Argentina, from Buenos Aires. I started dancing there, and then I studied in New York. I was doing all kinds of dance: ballet, contemporary, very technical dance. Then I was between Amsterdam and New York, and then I ended up moving to Berlin for a job. I’ve been living in Berlin for 20 years. In that time, I founded my own company, called Dorky Park. We’re based in Berlin, in a theater called the Volksbühne, “the Theater of the People.”

In my company, I work a lot with actors as well, and I work in different productions with actors. Our shows are not just dance shows—they’re a bit like plays, almost, but not musicals either. We have our own way of making theater.

What interests you about the acting part?

The shows I do are not purely dance. It’s more like: There’s always a subject, and then the idea comes. I’m very choreographic, and I think in dance because it’s based on improvisations and process. But then, at the end, the shows are always about something. There’s text and there’s music, and there’s also singing.

So you’ve worked with Yorgos Lanthimos before, on The Favourite. How did your creative partnership start?

The production from The Favourite contacted my office, and I didn’t know for a while. And then they contacted me again, and I was like, “Oh, these people who did The Lobster are contacting me for something.” I spoke with Yorgos; he saw my work. The funny part of all of this is that one of my dancers had looked at Dogtooth because we always look at movies to inspire our movement. She re-created this dance, and—I didn’t realize; I didn’t see the movie—she was saying, “It’s from this Greek director.” And then, when I was talking with Yorgos, I put it together: He was the director. I immediately ran to watch Dogtooth, and I realized my dancer copied this dance part. So, it was a very meta moment in which a dancer was copying an actress copying a dancer. And that part was in my show for four years before I met Yorgos.

How is it to work with him?

It’s actually great because he gives some direction but also lets you do. He really knows what he wants, but at the same time, he also gives a lot of space.

So, in Poor Things, Emma Stone’s character is basically a woman with a child’s brain. And in this particular scene, she’s encountering dance and music for what I believe is the first time. How did you start to develop this dance? It’s such an interesting concept.

I got the script before, so I knew where she was at. It’s described in the script as a dance that is really going off because she’s just finding out [about dance]. So, with that in mind, I tried to create. Yorgos was not convinced about some things; it looked too much like acting. When we passed it to the actors, then it grew and took shape. Emma Stone also had really good suggestions about her character because she was working, already, on this way that she moves. She brought in locking the knees. That gave shape to this dance as well. She was great.

I think the way this develops is: You have separate bits in your head, you use this and then you do that, and everything else lies on the head of the director, in a way. It was great to watch how all these things were coming together.

What were some of the real-life foundations and inspirations for the dance? Are there any particular styles that are incorporated?

I always make a playlist of videos, and we watch different things: people doing ballroom, some Portuguese folklore. The music is also an inspiration—it is inspired by Portuguese folklore, so I took some steps from Portuguese folklore. We also watched contests with children dancing partner dances, like ballroom dance and stuff. There’s also this idea, sometimes, that—when she starts moving at the beginning, bouncing—the movement is bigger than you, it’s bigger than your body, that you’re so excited about the movement, that it’s bigger than yourself, so you think that you are throwing everything in, but some things are getting in the way.

It’s a pretty agile dance. There’s a lot of hopping and bending. It doesn’t seem like much of a beginner dance, even though the moves are kind of simple. Where would you put it?

Well, no, it wasn’t a beginner dance. It’s somewhere in the middle. The idea was also to make it look rough, and you need to do it skillfully because otherwise you’ll really hurt yourself—there’s so much going back and forth. But they practiced a lot. They had two weeks of rehearsal. And because I brought two people from my company, they could each practice with one of my dancers to be safe. So that really also helped, I think.

Emma is a very good dancer. She has no problem learning choreography and following the rhythm. It was quite easy. As for Mark, it was more new, and he was a bit more nervous about it. But he did great, and he was also very concentrated. He worked really hard, and he did it very seriously.

The dance is fun and silly in a great way. Did they ever have to stop while shooting because they were laughing? Or were they just all business?

We did so many takes. The level of performance was always really high, and that was sustained for all these hours. I was very impressed. I think they had fun. You could feel the energy.

What’s your favorite part of the scene?

I really like the beginning, when she’s bouncing. It’s like the bouncing of children when they start to get really excited. But I love when Mark goes to her with this little step—it’s killer. I enjoy watching the whole dance with them because with each step, they kind of went for it. I like the struggle with the arms a lot. And when she goes away twerking, I love that. Also, their moments alone are really, really special for me.

How is it seeing this dance scene take off on social media?

It’s going really crazy on social media. I find it funny how some people are saying, “Oh, what is it? Like, is that dance?” I love when I read that: Is that dance? I think we are really achieving what we wanted to. It’s good that you don’t think it’s dance.

It’s helping people expand their idea of what dance is.

Also, I have a feeling that it does really well because people see it out of context. Seeing it in the context of the movie is very, very important—how all of this happens and what it means to both characters and their relationship. That makes a difference for me, when I see dancing movies where it’s like, Now we have the fun dance, and it’s decoration. Coming up as a person who’s a creator who comes from dance, I can really appreciate that we understand that, actually, there’s a dramatic meaning which you don’t have to be super literal about. It’s just happening without words.