BY GABY BARBER ’23
On Friday, April 24, Lionsgate Movies streamed “Dirty Dancing” (1987) on YouTube as part of a fundraising effort for the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation. The foundation, according to its description on YouTube, “is dedicated to helping workers throughout the motion picture industry and is currently providing financial assistance to theater employees furloughed by the COVID-19 crisis.” To help raise these funds, Lionsgate is streaming movies on YouTube, a series of showings hosted by Jamie Lee Curtis which they are calling “Lionsgate LIVE! A Night At The Movies.” The viewings are free, with the option to donate to the fundraiser. As of 4 p.m. on April 27, Lionsgate Live has raised $41,779 for the Will Rogers Institute.
The stream included fun facts about the movie along the bottom of the screen, such as how “in the intro to the most famous dance scene, Swayze and Jennifer Grey were preparing for the scene when they crawled across the floor to each other, but because cameras were rolling and the director loved the moment, it ended up being included in the film, becoming one of its classic moments.”
The movie was introduced by Jennifer Grey, who stars as the main character, Baby. Grey shared some of her memorabilia from the movie during the intermission with the audience, including the striped shirt worn during the scene in which Baby dumps water on Robby, the pink dress Baby wears while dancing with Johnny at the Shelldrake and her original script, adorned with call sheets and personal notes. The viewing also featured commentary from choreographer Kenny Ortega and behind-the-scenes dance rehearsal footage.
I first watched “Dirty Dancing” on a plane ride home from California, about a month before I visited Mount Holyoke for the first time. I absolutely loved the movie and since then it has become one of my favorites. I decided to watch the stream not just because it’s one of my favorite films, but also because it reminds me of Mount Holyoke’s first-year orientation. Watching “Dirty Dancing” brought me back to the sense of community that overtook Chapin Auditorium that night, caused by the other classes screaming lines from the balcony as my bewildered first-year classmates and I watched. Though I was sitting alone in my bedroom during the livestream, I felt closer to my campus community than I had in a while.
While “Dirty Dancing” is not free to watch on YouTube, the extra content that accompanied the livestream is still available for viewing. If you’re bored and looking for something interesting to watch, I’d consider viewing the commentaries, extra footage and introduction, all conveniently compiled into one video: “Dirty Dancing (1987) - Lionsgate LIVE! A Night at the Movies” on the Lionsgate Movies channel. The next movies that will be streamed are “La La Land” on Friday, May 1 at 9 p.m. EST and “John Wick” on Friday, May 8 at 9 p.m. EST.
Donations to the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation are also still being accepted. The livestreams are a creative and engaging way to raise funds for movie theater employees facing hardships during the COVID-19 pandemic.