On Sunday, May 30, Friends star Courteney Cox delighted fans by sharing a video on Instagram of her recreating the iconic New Year’s Eve dance routine from the hit show with singer Ed Sheeran, instead of her original partner David Schwimmer. The caption read, “Just some routine dancing with a friend, #ReRoutine.”
The dance number, which featured Ross and Monica performing a synchronized dance routine, was first seen in a season 6 episode in 1999. Many fans were hoping to see the dance recreated during the recent Friends reunion, but it didn’t happen. However, director Ben Winston did try to persuade the cast to perform it.
“They just couldn’t remember it. I don’t think they wanted to dance in front of that studio. They’re like, ‘Don’t make us dance in front of a crowd of people,'” Winston said on the Friday, May 28, episode of The Hollywood Reporter’s “TV’s Top 5” podcast. “It’s one thing doing it when you’re playing Ross and Monica. It’s another thing when everybody’s sitting there, like, staring.”
Winston continued to talk about the reunion, saying, “Both of them were like, ‘Oh, please don’t make us do that.’ You’ve got to pick what you want to push. There were certain things I really cared for, like the table read or the quiz. … I also couldn’t work out where it would have worked. I’m not sure it would have landed 20 years later. But it was definitely on my list of ideas that I pitched.”
Cox and Ed Sheeran have been friends for years, and Sheeran even introduced Cox to her current fiancé, Johnny McDaid. In a 2014 interview with Daily Mail, Sheeran said, “I think I did the ‘Courteney meet Johnny, Johnny meet Courteney’ thing. But Sacha Baron Cohen did the matchmaking. It’s just two people who fell in love and I hope they’re really happy.”
