Movies like War Dancing - Dance to Win (1989)
The best movies like War Dancing - Dance to Win (1989) are Honey 3: Dare to Dance (2016), Step Up (2006) and Footloose (2011). If War Dancing - Dance to Win hooked you with its music and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedDirty Dancing (1987)7.3/10 from 6,755 votes
- NewestIs It A Plaisir (2025)Released 2025
Honey 3: Dare to Dance (2016)
While attending college in Cape Town, Melea Martin feels constrained by the school's strict policies, and decides to set out on her own. Searching for a way to use her talents as a dancer and inspire the community around her, Melea rents a failing theater in order to put on a Hip-Hop Romeo and Juliet performance. But much like the Capulets and Montagues, conflicts between cast members threaten to bring the whole performance to a halt...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStep Up (2006)
Delinquent Tyler Gage receives the opportunity of a lifetime after vandalizing a performing arts school, gaining him the chance to earn a scholarship and dance with up-and-coming dancer Nora.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFootloose (2011)
Ren MacCormack is transplanted from Boston to the small southern town of Bomont where loud music and dancing are prohibited. Not one to bow to the status quo, Ren challenges the ban, revitalizing the town and falling in love with the minister’s troubled daughter Ariel in the process.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStep Up Revolution (2012)
Emily arrives in Miami with aspirations to become a professional dancer. She sparks with Sean, the leader of a dance crew whose neighborhood is threatened by Emily's father's development plans.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSave the Last Dance (2001)
After the death of her mother, Sara moves to the South Side of Chicago to live with her father and gets transferred to a majority-black school. Her life takes a turn for the better when befriends Chenille and her brother Derek, who helps her with her dancing skills.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStep Up All In (2014)
All-stars from previous installments convene in glittering Las Vegas, battling for a victory that could define their dreams and their careers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCenter Stage: Turn It Up (2008)
All self-taught dancer Kate Parker has ever wanted to do was perform with the American Academy of Ballet. But when she doesnt make it after auditioning, she learns that it takes more than precision and perfection to succeed in the dance world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPure Country 2: The Gift (2010)
Three angels bestow the gift of song to a young girl, who must follow a series of rules in order hold on to it during her rise to fame and fortune.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDirty Dancing (1987)
Expecting the usual tedium that accompanies a summer in the Catskills with her family, 17-year-old Frances 'Baby' Houseman is surprised to find herself stepping into the shoes of a professional hoofer—and unexpectedly falling in love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPure Country (1992)
Dusty Chandler is a super star in the country music world, but his shows have the style of a '70s rock concert. One day he takes a walk - out of his overdone concerts to find his real country roots. He's helped and hindered by friends and staff, but pushes on in his search for a real music style as well as a real romance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStaying Alive (1983)
Five years later, Tony Manero's Saturday Night Fever still burns. Now he's struts toward his biggest challenger yet - making it as a dancer on the Broadway stage.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
SnoozefestMovies like thisStep Up 3D (2010)
A tight-knit group of New York City street dancers, including Luke and Natalie, team up with NYU freshman Moose, and find themselves pitted against the world's best hip-hop dancers in a high-stakes showdown that will change their lives forever.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNot Easily Broken (2009)
A car accident and shifting affections test the bond between a married couple.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTrapeze (1956)
A pair of men try to perform the dangerous "triple" in their trapeze act. Problems arise when the duo is made into a trio following the addition of a sexy female performer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBorn to Dance (2015)
Coming of age tale told through the eyes of 'Tu', an ambitious young man from Auckland who dreams of being a professional hip-hop dancer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAli and Nino (2016)
Muslim prince Ali and Georgian aristocrat Nino have grown up in the Russian province of Azerbaijan. Their tragic love story sees the outbreak of the First World War and the world’s struggle for Baku’s oil. Ultimately they must choose to fight for their country’s independence or for each other.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Cutting Edge: Fire & Ice (2010)
After her partner's career-ending injury, a former figure skater shifts gears to become an instructor. Later, she finds the strength to return to competitive skating by partnering with an unconventional and notorious speed skater.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLove Everlasting (2016)
Bridger is a young outsider who's always wanted more. He and his mother flee an abusive home, eventually finding a small town in the middle of nowhere. Once there, Bridger finds true acceptance with another misfit.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe History of Love (2016)
The story of a long-lost book that mysteriously reappears and connects an old man searching for his son with a girl seeking a cure for her mother's loneliness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between (2022)
Clare and Aidan make a pact to break up before college — no regrets, no broken hearts. But will one epic goodbye date offer them a last chance at love?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFame (1980)
A chronicle of the lives of several teenagers who attend a New York high school for students gifted in the performing arts.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDancers (2008)
»Dancers« is centred round a dance school run by the bright and lively Annika and her no-nonsense mother. One day Annika meets Lasse and falls passionately in love. But there is something Lasse hasn't told her, something he has done that is not so easy to forgive. Confronting an unknown darkness in Lasse, and in herself, Annika is forced to recognize the high cost of saying yes to love.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Saturday Night Fever (1977)
Tony spends his Saturdays at a disco where his stylish moves raise his popularity among the patrons. But his life outside the disco is not easy and things change when he gets attracted to Stephanie.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMillie's Care Free Day (2023)
Weighed down and despondent from crushing depression, Millie tries to escape the daily grind by deciding today will be different. However, she must first confront her trauma before it consumes her.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Is It A Plaisir (2025)
'Is it a plaisir' is an experimental short film that explores femininity and the body as a sharp territory, crossed by the tension between desire and imposition. Through symbolic, sound and visual saturation, the film acts from pleasure (plaisir), revealing a liberation that emerges in the midst of excess, where intensity and lightness, dark and light, intertwine, collide and converge.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Turk 182! (1985)
After New York City firefighter Terry Lynch is unable to receive any compensation for an injury incurred during the off-duty rescue of a young girl, he grows suicidal. Furious, his brother Jimmy attempts to have Mayor Tyler intervene, but the corrupt politician instead denounces Terry as a drunk. Determined to get justice, Jimmy begins a graffiti campaign of embarrassing slogans mocking the mayor, which soon captivates the city.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisStyle Wars (1984)
Tony Silver and Henry Chalfant's PBS documentary tracks the rise and fall of subway graffiti in New York in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both music
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWild Boys of the Road (1933)
At the height of the Great Depression, Tommy's mother has been out of work for months when Eddie's father loses his job. Eager not to burden their parents, the two high school sophomores decide to hop the freight trains and look for work.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCarillon (2018)
Ortensia is a mechanical ballerina, that every day is forced to dance for an audience, in a seemingly endless loop. But one day, she sees in the crowd someone drawing her: the first representation of herself as an individual.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like War Dancing - Dance to Win?
The closest matches to War Dancing - Dance to Win are Honey 3: Dare to Dance (2016), Step Up (2006) and Footloose (2011). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after War Dancing - Dance to Win?
Start with Honey 3: Dare to Dance (2016), the closest match to War Dancing - Dance to Win.
What is the highest-rated movie like War Dancing - Dance to Win?
Dirty Dancing (1987), rated 7.3/10 by 6,755 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like War Dancing - Dance to Win?
Is It A Plaisir (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like War Dancing - Dance to Win?
Yes: Honey 3: Dare to Dance (2016), Step Up (2006) and Footloose (2011).
How are movies similar to War Dancing - Dance to Win chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside War Dancing - Dance to Win, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.