When it came to choreographing the new touring production of Dirty Dancing, Michele Lynch had some big dancing shoes to fill. Kenny Ortega, who would go on to direct and choreograph the High School Musical franchise, had crafted the beloved dances in the original 1987 film; celebrated Australian choreographer Kate Champion adapted his work for the original stage musical, which opened Down Under to great acclaim 17 years later.
How did Lynch approach building on that work for the new production? She started with one rule: Don’t touch the lift. “Why would I change it?” she says with a laugh. “It’s the best it can be. I can’t do any better.”
That lift is not the only iconic moment Miami audiences will see when they take their seats at the Ziff Ballet Opera House for Dirty Dancing, which opens November 29. There will be salsa. There will be suggestive gyrating. And there will be absolutely no putting Baby in the corner.
“I approached it as a fan of the movie, as an audience member. I wanted to keep the iconic stuff in,” says Lynch, a veteran choreographer, who recently worked on the Little Miss Sunshine stage musical and the film adaptation of The Last Five Years, starring Anna Kendrick. “But I also approached the job how I would want someone to approach my work: with honesty and integrity.”
Although Ortega and Champion had laid the groundwork, the brand-new set and new cast—among them two Dancing with the Stars alums and an Olympic rhythmic gymnast—allowed Lynch to put her stamp on the show’s moves. “It was all story-driven,” she says. “I asked: ‘Does it work on these dancers’ bodies or doesn’t it? Is this truthful to the character or isn’t it?’” So don’t expect the show to be any “dirtier” than the film; we may live in the era of Nicki Minaj videos, but the story’s still set in 1963.
Lynch remembers the first time she watched the story of Baby, Johnny and their after-hours adventures at a Catskills resort. She was a young dancer herself and the movie tapped into that part of her that wanted to move freely—to let go. She says she sees audiences watch the show with that same feeling, salsa-ing down the aisles when it finishes. “I think everyone has a secret dancer in them. If people just took their judgment away, they’d find it.”
Mastering the Lift
Abigail Breslin will take on the role of Baby in an upcoming ABC TV production of Dirty Dancing. Here are Michele Lynch’s tips for Breslin to perfect the lift.
1. Practice in the pool (just like Baby):
“The best place to practice lifts is in the water. It takes away your fear factor.”
2. Learn to fall:
“The first thing we teach the dancers playing Baby and Johnny is to fall on all fours, and to straddle the guy so you don’t hit him.”
3. Look up:
“Put your eyes up and your body will go where your eyes go.”
Dirty Dancing is at the Adrienne Arsht Center. Nov 29–Dec 4 at various times. $29–$107.
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