7 Ballet Scenes That — Let’s Be Real — Are Basically Sex

Update: November 8 marks the debut of Starz's Flesh and Bone, a limited series that definitely mixes choreography with the carnal. In honor of the show's premiere, read up on some movies wherein sex and ballet are all but inseparable.

Ballet is an athletic pursuit that requires intense and sometimes brutal training. It's a beautiful display of the human body's capacity for grace. It's also sometimes a very thinly veiled metaphor for sex, especially when it comes to movies.

So, in honor of World Ballet Day, let's revisit some classic movie ballet scenes where things get hot and heavy. Okay, some really aren't so classic. Sorry, Center Stage: Turn It Up, but we can't really extol your virtues.

Still, we have Mikhail Baryshnikov looking smokin' hot in the 70s in The Turning Point, and the dance-flirting of Fame. And then, of course, there's Black Swan, which is a lot of sex mixed with a whole lot of predatory ickiness.

So peruse these scenes and let these dancers' perfect turnout turn you on.