A Naive Teen Becomes Schooled in Dance and Romance in Dirty Dancing

A couple months ago, I watched the remake of Footloose, which inspired in me the desire to see the original movie, along with Dirty Dancing. While I still have yet to witness Kevin Bacon tripping the light fantastic, I can now check Dirty Dancing off my list of must-see movies.

As I started to watch this the other day, I was surprised at the setting. Considering that this is a quintessential 80s movie, I assumed it took place in that decade, but it’s actually set in the 1963, which upped the appeal for me. The soundtrack is filled with familiar oldies, and the naivety of the main character reflects a more innocent time, though some of the circumstances she encounters remain prickly to this day.

That main character is Baby, portrayed by Jennifer Grey with timidity that blossoms into self-assurance. Baby is a sheltered rich girl who worships her father, a genteel doctor played by Jerry Orbach. Unlike her vapid sister Lisa (Jane Brucker), Baby is a globally-minded intellectual, and her dreams include getting an Ivy League education and joining the Peace Corps. However, when her family takes a long vacation at a picturesque resort in the Catskills, her focus shifts as she becomes entranced with a tough-talking dance instructor named Johnny (Patrick Swayze).

This is a coming-of-age story, and it’s hard to say who is more surprised at the metamorphosis Baby undergoes, her father or Baby herself. Far from a natural dancer, she initially stands in awe of Johnny and his dance partner, Penny (Cynthia Rhodes), whose skill on the dance floor masks an otherwise troubled life. While Penny is initially snide and dismissive toward this visitor, a grudging respect develops as Penny is forced to forgo her role and Johnny trains Baby as his replacement partner for a big upcoming performance. As in Karate Kid, Rocky and many other movies about novices training for an important event, we see Baby’s clumsiness gradually give way to grace, with plenty of amusing missteps.

As much as the story is about Baby gaining the ability to dance a complex routine, it’s equally about her walking the tightrope between childhood and adulthood and redefining her father’s role in her life. A terrible tension develops between them as she deceives him and he struggles with her romantic involvement with a man well into adulthood. Orbach does a masterful job of conveying the pain of this adjustment in a way that allows us to sympathize with father and daughter alike.

Of course, a lot of the movie’s popularity lies in the visual spectacle of dance in its various forms, the more intimate the better. Swayze and Grey have excellent chemistry, with him taking the lead but her confidence growing with each subsequent practice until they’re finally ready to strut their stuff before a slack-jawed audience. It’s a sweet but steamy tale of romance born of a shared passion. However, even if you take that out of the equation, it carries the encouraging message that no matter how hopeless you think you are, if you work at something hard enough, you’ll probably be surprised at how much you can accomplish.