The film begins with a close-up of the inscription above the stage in the ballroom of the Blackpool Tower: "Bid me discourse, I will enchant thine ear", from the poem Venus and Adonis by William Shakespeare. As the camera pans around the ballroom giving a view of the dancers, a voice-over explains that in Japan, ballroom dancing is treated with suspicion. Shohei Sugiyama is a successful salaryman, with a house in the suburbs, a devoted wife, Masako, and a teenage daughter, Chikage. He works as an accountant for a firm in Tokyo. Despite these external signs of success, however, Shohei begins to feel as if his life has lost direction and meaning and falls into depression. One night, while coming home on the Seibu Ikebukuro Line, he spots a beautiful woman with a melancholy expression looking out from a window in a dance studio. This is Mai Kishikawa, a well-known figure on the Western ballroom dance circuit. Shohei becomes infatuated with her and decides to take lessons in order to get to know her better. Shohei's life changes once his classes begin. Rather than Mai, his teacher is Tamako Tamura, who becomes an important mentor to him. He meets his classmates: Tōkichi Hattori who joined to impress his wife, and Masahiro Tanaka who joined to lose weight. He also meets Toyoko Takahashi, another student. He further discovers that one of his colleagues from work Tomio Aoki is a regular at the dance studio. Tomio, who is balding and mocked at work for his rigid ways, is revealed to be leading a secret life as a long-haired ballroom dancer. Though distant from her, the classes increase his infatuation for Mai. His secret thus becomes twofold: not only must he hide the lessons from his wife, he must also hide them from his friends and colleagues as it is considered embarrassing according to traditional Japanese customs to participate in Western ballroom dance. Later, after being rebuffed by Mai, Shohei discovers to his surprise that his passion for ballroom dance outweighs his infatuation with her. Indeed, dancing, rather than Mai, gives Shohei the meaning in life that he was looking for. Masako, noticing his odd behavior, thinks that he is having an affair, prompting her to hire a private detective to follow him. Meanwhile, along with his classmates, Shohei enters an amateur competition, only to find out that his wife, having finally learned the truth from the detective is in the audience. Surprised by this, he stumbles and nearly knocks his dance partner to the floor. Though he is able to catch her, he accidentally rips the skirt of her dress off. Both leave the contest. Later, they learn that Tomio won the contest. When Tomio is ridiculed at work after his colleagues read of his success in the newspaper, Shohei stands up and tells them not to make fun of something they don't understand. At home, Shohei's wife tries to understand her husband's new passion by asking him to teach her to dance as well. He is invited to a farewell party for Mai, who is leaving for Blackpool. At the party, Mai joins him to dance, asking him "Shall we dance?"
Shall We Dance? was released on January 27, 1996 in Japan where it was distributed by Toho. It was released in the United States by Miramax. The Miramax version was cut to 118 minutes and released on July 4, 1997.
Reception
Box office
In Japan, it earned a distribution income of in 1996, making it the second top-grossing Japanese film of the year, after Godzilla vs. Destoroyah. Shall We Dance? grossed a total Japanese box office revenue of . The film performed strongly in American theaters, earning during its US release. Outside of the United States, the film grossed $33,287,618 internationally in other territories, for a worldwide total of.
Critical response
Shall We Dance? received a 91% rating from Rotten Tomatoes. Roger Ebert gave it 3.5 out of 4 stars, stating in the Chicago Sun Times that Shall We Dance? is "one of the more completely entertaining movies I've seen in a while—a well-crafted character study that, like a Hollywood movie with a skillful script, manipulates us but makes us like it." Critic Paul Tatara noted that "It isn't really fair to suggest that the movie's main subject is dance, though. As much as anything else, it's about the healing powers of simple self-expression."
Shall We Dance? was remade by Miramax in 2004 as Shall We Dance?The American version stars Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez in the Yakusho and Kusakari roles respectively. The American remake itself inspired another foreign remake. In 2006, an Egyptian film titled Let's Dance was released, starring Yousra in Richard Gere's role.
