Directed by: Emile Ardolino
Written by: Eleanor Bergstein
Starring: Jennifer Grey, Patrick Swayze, Jerry Orbach
Runtime: 100 minutes
Summary: A teenage girl learns about love, adult responsibility, stepping outside her comfort zone and how to do The Dirty Boogie!
DIRTY DANCING is a classic, however, I don’t actually love the movie. DIRTY DANCING is fun filled with great performances, however, I find the narration (especially in the first act) to be a bit slow.
I am partial to it because it represents this idea of forbidden love; opposites attracting while staying true to their core identities.
The film takes place at a family resort, somewhere in upstate New York. The people who stay there are presumably wealthy types. The staff who serves them are lower class. Here’s a classic plot scenario that’s been done in so many films before (rich girl falls in love with poor boy).
The staff at this resort range in terms of responsibilities. There’s the wait staff, the cleaning staff and the dance staff. Johnny (Patrick Swayze) is by far the best looking dancer; he’s a total bad ass and would regularly not fall for a girl like Baby (Jennifer Grey). Baby is an intellect; she’s sheltered; she comes from a wealthy family. Baby is a guest of this fancy resort.
So here we go… Baby (Jennifer Grey) falls in love with Johnny (Patrick Swayze). Their love and their chemistry is certainly not instant. It slowly evolves. Their eventual caring for one another is what triggers my soul each time I watch DIRTY DANCING. They’re both so different, however, their love sanctions them to find a common ground.
At first, Johnny barely pays attention to Baby, he does not even notice that she’s there.
A situation soon arises. Johnny’s best friend Penny gets pregnant. Penny decides she does not want to keep the baby and needs to get an abortion. The only time the doctor can see Penny is on a night where she and Johnny are meant to do a number at a near by hotel. To help save the day, Baby offers to fill in for her. Johnny and Baby partake in the dance number together. Johnny not only has to teach Baby the entire routine, but the basics of dancing. It’s clear that Baby is attracted to him, however, it’s not yet clear if Johnny’s feeling reciprocate.
This entire sequence resonates emotionally for me. I think about myself in this kind of setting and I don’t mean having to fill in to do a dance number. Let me elaborate. Have you ever liked someone; had a crush on an individual and had to engage in activity that shows your vulnerabilities and weaknesses? That’s so fucking scary! Thoughts immediately run through my mind like like does he think I’m weird, he must hate me, etc…
As they get to know one another, there’s this energy that opposites really do attract. Baby does not change her values and nor does he.
At first, Baby’s actions cause Johnny to belittle her. For example, every time there’s a crisis he says that she runs to her “daddy” to ask for help. He doesn’t understand why she wants to change the world. In Johnny’s eyes, Baby is naïve. Johnny comes from a different background and has been exposed to different things. Once Johnny gest to know her, these characteristics that once bothered him, now endear him. Johnny in turn, is arrogant and egotistical; Baby grounds him.
The next defining moment I want to touch upon is when Baby confesses her feelings to Johnny.
After their dance number, Penny is in horrible medical trouble. Baby, of course, runs and asks her daddy for help since he’s a doctor. Baby’s father shuns Johnny. He believes Johnny is the reason Penny is knocked up. Baby then goes to Johnny’s cabin.
She enters and it’s awkward; they make small talk. Their body language is timid.
She apologizes for the way her father treated him. She continues talking. Johnny says to Baby, “the reason people treat me like I am nothing is because I am nothing”. Baby says, “That’s not true, it doesn’t have to be that way”. Johnny realizes he’s never met anyone like Baby – someone who wants to change the world and who isn’t afraid.
Baby responds “I am scared of walking out of this room and never feeling the rest of my whole life the way I feel when I’m with you.” There’s a pause. The music plays. She asks him to dance. They dance and their love is in full bloom.
Baby, while maintaining her true self, values and beliefs wins over the guy who has such a hard exterior. He adores her principles and it makes him love her more.
anyone to really love me for who I am. There’s this guy in my yoga class who I have a total crush on. I so badly want to be confident and bold and go up to him and say hello. I suppose it’s human nature to be shy, however, I truly believe a guy like him would never fall for someone like me.
Baby and Johnny defy those very odds I am so afraid of. I desperately want to be vulnerable around someone; to be my best self and my worse self.
I realize DIRTY DANCING glorifies this idea, however, this hurdle remains very real to me.
Can anyone relate?
Yoga Pose: Heart Chakra, High Lunge with Shoulder Opener, Wild Thing