<P> The song is written in the key of B major with a tempo of 149 beats per minute in common time . Springsteen's vocals span from G ♯ to G ♯ . </P> <P> In a first - for - Springsteen effort to gain dance and club play for his music, Arthur Baker created the 12 - inch "Blaster Mix" of "Dancing in the Dark", wherein he reworked the album version . The remix was released on July 2, 1984 . The result generated a lot of media buzz for Springsteen, as well as actual club play; the remix went to #7 on the Billboard Hot Dance Music / Club Play chart, and had the most sales of any 12 - inch single in the United States in 1984 . </P> <P> Directed by Brian De Palma, the video was shot at the Saint Paul Civic Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on June 28 and 29, 1984 . The first night was a pure video shot, the second was on the opening date of the Born in the U.S.A. Tour . Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band performed the song twice during that show to allow Brian De Palma to get all the footage he needed . The video is a straight performance video, with Springsteen not playing a guitar, allowing him to invite a young woman from the audience, performed by Courteney Cox, to dance along with him on the stage at the end . Although De Palma had told him that it was she whom he was supposed to select, Springsteen thought she was just a pre-selected fan attending and did not know until afterward that she was a professional actress, brought in from New York City, who had already played in As the World Turns . In September 1985, the video won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Stage Performance and was nominated for Best Overall Performance . </P> <P> On the 2009 Working on a Dream Tour, the song appeared intermittently during the encores . However, Springsteen for the first time played a number of music festivals during the routing, and "Dancing in the Dark" closed all of them: Pinkpop Festival, Bonnaroo Music Festival, Glastonbury Festival, and Hard Rock Calling . When played live in recent years, the song features a harder, guitar - driven sound, with the distinctive synthesizer riff being supplied by Soozie Tyrell's violin . </P>

Where was dancing in the dark video filmed