The Star2 website has published an article about Karen Getz, who was the "dance captain" while
Dirty Dancing was filmed.
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| Karen Getz, the dance captain during the filming of "Dirty Dancing" |
The article includes the
following passages:
.... Getz, 54, a lifelong dancer, served as the film’s dance captain in addition to playing a dirty dancer, and helped choreographer Kenny Ortega build the movie’s dance scenes. ...
The New York City native, fresh out of Binghamton University, auditioned for Dirty Dancing by “really sexually” manoeuvring with a partner for Ortega and late director Emile Ardolino. She received a callback and was offered her first professional film job. She was one of eight original dirty dancers on the production and, as dance captain, handled keeping extras on beat and doing the right dance moves.
The dances themselves, Getz says, were expertly choreographed by Ortega and his assistant Miranda Garrison (Vivian Pressman, the “bungalow bunny,” in the movie). That includes the famous “lift” scene ...
Each scene was expertly crafted, including the party scene in which Getz gets some screen time. Though the dancing looks wild and primal, Getz says, the scene took several weeks of work in order to get it just right.
Getz wasn’t fazed by Swayze. They went fishing and watched movies together during breaks in filming. The pair were also jokingly competitive, with Swayze calling the film “The Karen Getz Show” ...
“He was in no way threatened at all,” Getz says. “He was the sweetest, nicest, most delightful person, and an amazing, loving human being. I just didn’t know who he was when we got to the movie.” ....
She says she still gets a couple of letters a month from around the world regarding the film, including notes from a man in Australia who is using it to help PTSD patients. Another woman who corresponds with Getz is recovering from lung cancer and watches Dirty Dancing to lift her spirits. ...
“I did not expect it to become even remotely successful,” Getz says. ....
Dirty Dancing did lead to a career for Getz, who lived and worked in Los Angeles for about a decade after the film’s release. ...
There's more in
the entire article.
Karen Getz jumped out at you in the "Dirty Dancing" dance scenes. So much that I had to look her up. Incidentally, my martial arts instructor overcame third degree lung cancer by having all his pressure points stimulated while living on a diet of dandelion juice. Best of Luck.
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