Ryan Gosling’s brooding persona, carefully carved in largely dialogue-free performances in Drive, Only God Forgives and The Place Beyond the Pines, exists snugly alongside his role as a tumblr-inspiring ovary-whispering ladykiller, influenced by his roles in The Notebook and Crazy, Stupid Love and his gif-ready abs.
If you’re a fan of his more meme-ready side then this past week has offered up a bounty of viral riches.
Before Gosling became an Oscar-nominated actor and before he even took his place in the Mickey Mouse Club, he was a one man rhythm machine, taking part in a 1992 showcase from Ontario’s Elite Dance Centre. A newly unearthed set of videos, brought to the web by Jane Chupick, a woman whose cousin danced at the same studio, reveal that Gosling was a fierce mover with an intense fanbase at a young age. Even Gosling agrees that he “peaked early”...
Here’s our professional* take on his skillz:
*I’ve seen half of a Step Up movie
4. Drive time
What a way to start. A dramatic entrance for Gosling and his slightly ill-fitting Danny Zuko costume sees him gyrating on top of a fake car like he’s totally not even a 12-year-old boy. We then get an overly forceful taste of his singing voice which serves as perfect distraction for his understandable difficulty in taking off his jacket without the sleeves getting bunched up at the wrists. Just to ensure he’s not upstaged, the camera pans back to reveal an average dancer age of 55.
3. Backup gangster squad
We’d take a hefty bet that Gosling’s mother or maybe even aunt was involved in the staging for the majority of these dances, since young Ryan is the epicentre of them all. Just to show how few damns are given, Gosling wears a baggy T-shirt and jeans while his dancing minions are styled up like bridesmaids at a beach wedding. But what about the moves? We get everything from the “hands tied behind the back while legs spasm all over the shop” Riverdance to a really impressive use of a pondering chin/hand combo. The confidence of it all.
2. Ryan and the real girls
Yet again annoying every other parent in the room, Ryan takes centre stage in this slightly more ambitious snippet. The jeans have been upgraded to some MC Hammer/Aladdin pants and Gosling’s moves are as varied as we’ve seen them. He does seem to have quite a soft spot for Macaulay Culkin’s hands-on-shocked-face look from Home Alone though, which, given that the film was out two years prior, does age his style somewhat.
1. Hey girls, will you dance with me?
More Hammer pants and more inappropriate woo-ing as Gosling dials it up a bit for the pinnacle of his one-man dance extravaganza. Grinding to Cathy Dennis’s Touch Me, he shows his power over women with one simple move that forces them to the floor with a nifty kick of his feet. It’s pretty much his audition for The Notebook.
