From the Fresh Prince to Dwts: the Complete Evolution of Alfonso Ribeiro's Carlton Dance
The stage directions inside the script for the season two episode "Will's Christmas Show" were notoriously brief. The page simply read: "Carlton dances."
Ribeiro faced an immediate creative hurdle. He was already a prodigiously skilled dancer who had starred on Broadway in The Tap Dance Kid and danced alongside Michael Jackson in a landmark 1984 Pepsi commercial. Playing a character whose movement had to reflect complete social disconnect required him to unlearn his technical rhythm. He looked across the pop-culture landscape for references of earnest, stiff-limbed enthusiasm. He settled on Courteney Cox dancing on stage with Bruce Springsteen in the 1984 video for "Dancing in the Dark," cross-referencing her arm swings with a stand-up routine by Eddie Murphy mocking suburban movement styles.
The contrast between Will Smith's effortless Philadelphia cool and Ribeiro's rigid, arms-flailing Carlton created instant physical comedy inside the Bel-Air mansion. The bit succeeded because Carlton Banks was never in on the joke. He danced with radiant, unbothered joy, completely oblivious to his cousin's bewildered stares. What network producers envisioned as a throwaway gag became an episodic staple, recurring whenever Carlton found himself isolated with an audio cassette of Tom Jones.
