Top Ten ‘Glee’ Performances
#9 – ‘Safety Dance’ – Artie
I was a latecomer to Glee. My wife and I resisted the hype through the entire first season before we finally broke down and borrowed the DVDs about a month ago.
We gobbled up the first half of the season in a matter of days and then, faced with a 6-week wait for the release of the second half of the season on DVD, we downloaded the episodes on iTunes and hooked her Mac up to our TV. This is an indication of exactly how addictive a show this is… and that despite a wildly uneven start to the season.
I’ve found that when it comes to TV the hype is always right. Having resisted and then fallen for shows as diverse as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Modern Family, Arrested Development, Battlestar Galactica, Friday Night Lights and now Glee, I know firsthand that fans and critics passionately align only with good reason.
I’ll take advantage of that observation to throw in another plug for Mad Men, a thoroughly hyped show that is thoroughly deserving. For my money it’s been the very best show on TV since it debuted, and that’s saying something.
But back to Glee. I hope to showcase most of the cast’s performers in this list, and today is Kevin McHale’s turn. McHale plays Artie, the wheelchair bound glee club member who longs to be a dancer. That sounds pretty cheesy, but it isn’t handled that way. He’s just another of the misfits in the “world’s worst Benetton ad” that makes up the glee club, and just as talented, charming and flawed as all the rest.
Of all the boys in the club, I think McHale has the best singing voice. He not only sounds good but he invariably offers new and interesting takes on his songs. In today’s clip, he fantasizes about finally leaving his wheelchair and realizing his dream.
We can dance if we want to
We can leave your friends behind
‘Cause your friends don’t dance and if they don’t dance
Well they’re, no friends of mine
Say, we can go where we want to
A place where they will never find
And we can act like we come from out of this world
Leave the real one far behind
And we can dance, “dansez”
We can go when we want to
Night is young and so am I
And we can dress real neat from our hats to our feet
And surprise them with a victory cry
Say, we can act if we want to
If we don’t nobody will
And you can act real rude and totally removed
And I can act like an imbecile
And say
We can dance, we can dance
Everything’s out of control
We can dance, we can dance
We’re doing it from pole to pole
We can dance, we can dance
Everybody look at your hands
We can dance, we can dance
Everybody’s taking the chance
its a Safety dance
Oh well its safe to dance
Yes it safe to dance
We can dance if we want to
We’ve got all your life and mine
As long as we abuse it, never going to lose it
Everything will work out right
I say, We can dance if we want to
We can leave your friends behind
‘Cause your friends don’t dance, and if they don’t dance
Well they’re no friends of mine
I say, we can dance, we can dance
Everything’s out of control
We can dance, we can dance
We’re doing it from pole to pole
We can dance, we can dance
Everybody look at your hands
We can dance, we can dance
Everybody’s taking the chance
Well it’s safe to dance
Yes it’s safe to dance
Meet Me In Montauk 
I suppose I’m “allowed” to say that this scene would likely fall even higher on my top ten list?
When the number first started, I was thinking of any number of those staged “spontaneous” moments that have gone viral over the past few years… the dance on the subway, the Sound of Music number in the Belgium train station, and so on. Then, a minute in, I was thinking Baz Luhrman, Moulin Rouge, and what a brilliant use of subjective realism this was. The fact that Ryan Murphy (if he’s even responsible for this particular brilliant stroke) found a way to simultaneously capture Artie’s dreams, an odd phenomenon of the digital age, and the affection of Safety Dancers everywhere, makes this one of the moments of the first season I most admire.
Oh, and it’s one of a dozen moments in Glee’s first season where I went from laughing to crying within the course of one song, so it gets extra credit for that.
That flash-mob touch came from the brilliant mind of Joss Whedon, who directed this episode.
This was one of my favorite episodes of the year, and I recall thinking Whedon deserved a lot of the credit when I first saw it.
Not to show my hand, but three of my top ten come from that episode (and one reason I have this one pretty low is that I didn’t want to group them all together). Definitely one of the best episodes of the season.
This is a great scene, I haven’t seen this episode yet, is it from the dvd not released until next week? I did see this scene because it was posted (by Amy?) on FB awhile ago. At that time, I didn’t know the show so I wasn’t familiar with the characters. And, I agree with Clay, that Mad Men is terrific. Just saying.
I hadn’t seen any of these, but apparently Glee inspired flash mobs had been popping up all over the world before Whedon directed this episode:
I chose to share the one that took place in Rome in honor of Kerrie 🙂
Another reason to move to Seattle:
Oh how I love this countdown. Truly, it makes me so happy to celebrate what I think is one of the most genius shows to ever grace a tv screen.
Like you, Clay, I resisted the hype for a good long while. I work on a college campus, so you can imagine the impact a show like this would have on my community. A clip that I suspect will appear later in the countdown is what made me finally give in and watch the show. I was able to get myself caught up online just as the first half of season1 was ending and then had to join the rest of the world in waiting for the show’s April return. It was a long, cold winter without Glee and I rewatched the last 5 episodes (all that were available on Hulu) over and over again until its return.
As Amy mentioned, this scene was one of many throughout the season where I found myself laughing and crying in equal measure as it played out. I simply CANNOT watch this clip without grinning from ear to ear and tearing up at the same time. I could watch it a million times and not get tired of it (and that’s not even because of my long appreciation for the original song and its accompanying choreography – Heather could tell you more about that…). I have no favorite character on the show because they each have something so special about them, but I agree with Clay that Artie has the strongest male voice (apart from Mr. Shu – let’s be honest) and I am always blown away when he starts singing.
The other thing I loved about this clip was that they filmed it as a true flash mob. They went to some local mall and, unbeknownst to any of the shoppers, did the routine with othe cast members and extras joining in like those flash mobs on YouTube. (Thank you, Amy, for including the Rome clip – it was the first one I ever saw and is obviously a favorite. The Seattle one is great, too, and there is another one I liked in Dublin. Apparently, they were literally done all over the world. More importantly, it inspired the students I advise to do their own here on campus during our end of the year May Days event. Check out theirs here. 🙂 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRnR29v_5LE)
So, my long comment serves to say that 1) I couldn’t be happier that this one made your top 10 (even if I would have had it a bit higher, myself), 2) I’m delighted that we both had the good sense to join this bandwagon, and 3) I am so excited to see what else will be on your list. Thanks for lettings relive these great moments.
P.S. Oh, and I just joined the Mad Men bandwagon, too. Watched all three seasons in about 2 weeks and got up to date. You’re right, it’s one of the best shows on television. 🙂
Well, clearly you do a Glee theme week, and the need for my comments (which are often the only ones for other SOTDs) rapidly diminishes:)
And then there’s Kerrie, who somehow is too busy to chime in on other SOTDs (even during a Shakira week!), yet she somehow manages to watch THREE YEARS of Madmen in 2 weeks, Hmmmm….:)
Anyway, unlike Kerrie (and perhaps the other commenters?), I have always hated this song, but the scene, and the episode from which it came, is great.
Oh, and as long as I’m being my usual contrarian self, I disagree that Artie has the best voice. That honor goes to Mr. Schuster, and then Kurt (yes, he sings in falsetto, but his voice is quite incredible)
But, so as to be a bit less contrarian, we will try to catch up on Madmen (not necessarily in 2 weeks like Kerrie:)), although the first few episodes really didn’t grab my interest.
For the record, I agree that Mr. Shu has the best voice overall, but I didn’t count him because he’s not a member of the glee club.
Hey, I have passed by the same about Glee, but now I love the episodes. And you’re right, that is a great performance! Maybe the best!
I didn’t see this episode. For a moment, I thought that he could walk…