Binky isn't having much luck teaching D.W. to dance, but is it the student or the teacher who needs more practice?
Plot[]
Ms. Morgan's preschool class are on a field trip at Lakewood Elementary School, where they will be paired up with the third graders for Project Day. D.W. walks to the table that Arthur and his friends are sitting at, and she asks if she can sit with them, but Arthur refuses and says that she is supposed to sit with the other preschoolers. Arthur then overhears D.W. telling everyone that he had nightmares about his underwear, then she embarrasses him more by showing off a pair of Arthur's boxer shorts and everyone starts laughing, much to his embarrassment.
After lunch, Mr. Ratburn tells his students that they should really get to know their preschool buddies and listen to what they say as they will be presenting their projects to the entire school. Binky is paired with D.W. and Arthur and Buster are paired with the Tibbles. Binky asks D.W. what she's interested in, and she tells him she is interested in unicorns. Binky asks D.W. if she also likes professional wrestling, to which she answers that she likes ponies. Binky continues by asking her if she likes some of his favourite wrestlers, to which she responds that she loves rainbows. Binky overhears Timmy say that he likes smashing toys and asks Mr. Ratburn if he may trade partners but Mr. Ratburn shakes his head 'no'.
At the Reads' house, D.W. asks to do a play about a unicorn and a pony, but Binky refuses, stating that he'd rather get an F then do it. They see an advertisement for an Irish stepdancing show called Thunderdance on TV and decide to do a dance routine for their project. However, D.W. admits that she doesn't know how to dance but Binky promises he'll show her how. The next day, he demonstrates some ballet moves, but when D.W. tries to copy them, she ends up falling down. Outside, Molly and Rattles are walking past with Rattles' dog and see Binky dancing with D.W. through the window. Inside, Binky shows D.W a Grand Jeté. but when she tries to do it, he insists that she's doing it all wrong, and decides to end their lesson for the day.
The following morning, Binky arrives at the Reads' wearing a suit and tie and explains that it is what teachers wear. He suggests that D.W. should refer to him as "Mr. Barnes", and D.W. says to herself that she thinks he has a screw loose.
Binky then shows D.W. a video on television featuring a dancer named Gene Kelpie who is dancing with a mop. D.W. tries to copy the routine using a lamp which falls over and breaks. Binky then hands D.W. a stack of index cards with tap dance moves on them, telling her to study them for tomorrow.
The next day, Binky asks D.W. to demonstrate some of the moves but she is unable to. When he asks D.W. if she learned anything from the index cards, she irritability tells him there was no way she could have, given that she can't read. D.W. then suggests they do something different for their project as her dance lessons are not going very well, but Binky claims he is trying his best to teach her.
As Binky leaves the Reads' house, he finds Molly and Rattles waiting for him. They start to make fun of him for dancing so Binky lies to them, saying that he's teaching D.W. martial arts. Rattles then looks at the cards that Binky wrote for D.W. and believes Binky, since the name of the dance moves that he was trying to teach D.W. sound like fighting moves. He and Molly demand that Binky teach them the moves as well.
On the Lakewood Elementary School playground, Binky starts teaching Rattles and Molly some dance moves, but he points out they're doing as poorly as D.W. was earlier. Molly and Rattles claim the reason they're making mistakes is that Binky is going too quickly and using words they don't understand. Binky is surprised to hear this, as he thought everybody knew the names of the moves. Molly explains it might be easy for Binky, but it's new to her and Rattles. This causes Binky to realize that D.W. hasn't been a bad student; he's just been a lousy teacher.
From then on Binky acts more encouraging towards D.W., Molly and Rattles whenever he gives them lessons and each student starts making progress. However, on the day before Project Day, while trying to teach D.W. a pirouette, Binky gets his foot wrapped up in the Reads' living room rug and falls down. D.W. ask if he is O.K., but much to both of their sorrows, Binky finds he has twisted his ankle. D.W. worries that they will not be able to present their project now, but Binky has an idea.
The next day, everyone is presenting their projects in the auditorium. The Tibbles' performance features them as monster trucks that ram into cars, portrayed by Arthur and Buster. When it is D.W.'s turn, it is revealed that Binky has asked Molly and Rattles to dance with her.
Afterwards, Mr. Ratburn congratulates Binky and says he had no idea Rattles was so good at dancing, much to the latter's confusion. Binky gives Rattles and Molly a pair of black belts, telling them that they gave a wonderful demonstration. He then gifts D.W. his very first pair of ballet slippers D.W. thanks him, but admits they are too large for her. Binky assures her that she'll grow into them. As he leaves, D.W. tries dancing in the slippers, but loses her balance.
This is one of the very few segments where Rattles can be occasionally seen without his baseball cap.
When Buster asks why D.W. is in the Lakewood Elementary cafeteria, an exact clone of George, wearing a green shirt, can be seen eating lunch in the background.
The answer to 17 x 12, which is the problem adult Binky tries, to solve in the cold open, is 204.
Cultural references[]
Gene Kelpie is a parody of Gene Kelly, a famous dancer from Old Hollywood. He does dance with a mop in the movie Thousands Cheer.
The title of the episode is a reference to ABBA's "Dancing Queen" song and from the Broadway musical "Mamma Mia!"
Thunderdance is a parody of Riverdance, which was introduced as the interval act during the Eurovision Song Contest 1994 in Dublin, Republic of Ireland. A Thunderdance character battles the "Prince of the Dance," an allusion to Michael Flatley's Lord of the Dance, which was Riverdance's biggest rival.
Errors[]
The group of desks with three third graders (Muffy, Francine, and Maria) and only one preschooler (Amanda).In Mr. Ratburn's class after all of the third graders and preschoolers are partnered up, one group of four desks has three third graders and one preschooler. This is incorrect as each group has third graders and two preschoolers in real life.
Binky without his left eyebrow.When Binky asks D.W. if she likes Brutus the Bone Crusher, his left eyebrow is missing.
Episode connections[]
D.W. explaining about Arthur having nightmares about his underwear is a reference to "Arthur's Underwear" from Season 2. She takes out a pair of boxer shorts with rabbits on them and then the transition sequence shows two pairs of underwear sliding down: sky blue boxer shorts with rabbits (like D.W. pulled out of the bag) and white briefs with smiley faces. Arthur's first pair of underwear that was shown in the series was a pair of red Bionic Bunny underwear from "Arthur Goes to Camp" from Season 1, and then Arthur was shown to wear plain white briefs in "Arthur's Underwear."
While D.W. is learning dancing from Binky, she wears the same gymnastics suit from "D.W. Flips."
The classical music that was being played for D.W. to dance to is the same tune from "The Chips are Down" during ballet performances.
September 18, 2003[1]
December 10, 2003[2]
December 20, 2007[3]
