09/09/2021 7:01
Clarín.com
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Updated 09/09/2021 7:01 AM
Flashdance
was released 38 years ago and became a film that marked the memory of the spectators of the
eighties
, among other things, for the power of its music and for the choreography and dance that accompanied the story of a young dancer played by
Jennifer Beals
.
The film not only ventured into and exploited an aesthetic of the time, it also elevated
Beals who would end up being a world-famous star
because in the scenes he shone thanks to a soundtrack that was a total success.
In fact
Flashdance ... What a Feeling,
the song by Irene Cara,
took the Oscar for best original song.
Flashdance
was also a box office success and became
the third highest-
grossing
film in the United States in 1983
, despite criticism from the specialized press of those years
calling it a mediocre production.
Jennifer Beal in Flashdance.
Photo / Archive
The film, directed by Adrian Lyne, who in 1986 would be in charge of
Nine and a Half Weeks,
told the story of a young woman who worked hard during the day in a metallurgical factory while,
at night, she trained hard to fulfill her dream: become a famous dancer.
Flashdance
as a story of overcoming
The success of the film could be explained, in part, because it represented to a certain extent the drive of a youth that, during the hard years of the eighties, with the political and cultural conservatism framework of both Margaret Tacher, in England, and Ronald Reagan, in the United States, sought
escape routes for his energy of freedom.
Flashdance
starred Alexandra “Alex” Owens,
an 18-year-old
factory worker
who dreamed of becoming a professional dancer
and basically seeking a better future doing what she enjoyed the most: dancing.
Flashdance
was
even
promoted in 1983 as a film about "
a girl, a dream and a single chance
" in reference to the test that had to pass to enter an academy.
One of the legends surrounding the film tells that Jennifer Beals
waited on the street all night to audition for her role
.
And that it was not chosen by the production because several of its members
declared themselves unable to make a decision between Beals
and someone who would become a big star years later, Demi Moore.
Jennifer Beals.
He succeeded with the film, but he never danced in the most complex scenes.
Photo / file
Finally, at the audition,
Beals
was selected,
who remained in the memory of thousands of spectators as the sensual and extraordinary dancer
who broke her in
Flashdance
.
But it was not so, since
Beals had stuntmen for the most complicated dance scenes of the entire film
.
And besides, they were not all women since she
was
also
replaced, in some places, by a man born and raised in the Bronx
.
Jennifer Beals' doubles in Flashdance
In one of the passages of the film, with the theme "Maniac" in the background,
Jennifer Beals
trains at home thoroughly.
In a moment it spins at high speed with extraordinary balance.
However, the scene was not performed by Beals but by the great French dancer
Marine Jahan who took her place in the most technically complex scenes.
Despite her great dexterity,
Marine Jahan did
not even feature in the film's credits
.
In fact, over the years, the producers of
Flashdance
hid in their decision not to include the Frenchwoman because
Paramount Pictures
cut her credits.
Jennifer Beals even had a male double in Flashdance
In the final scene of the film, precisely during the moment in which the protagonist manages to captivate the judges with the mythical theme,
What a feeling, Beals
was dubbed by the dancer Richard Colón
, who was also known as "Crazy Legs" in the Bronx for their Breakdancing routines.
For 90 seconds,
Colón participated in the scene that was kept in the memory of several generations.
At the time,
the dancer who replaced Beals was only 16 years old
, all of them living in the heart of the Bronx.
Richard Colón
also participated in another scene of the film where he added a
Breakdance
movement
that the French Marine Jahan did not perform.
Although throughout the film
Beals received contributions from choreographers and dancers
, in the end of
Flashdance he
did practically nothing.
There, Jahan performed much of the choreography, while gymnast Sharon Shapiro was in charge of several cartwheels.
Colón's contribution was added to them.
Richard Columbus.
At 16 the Breakdance dancer was in the final scene of Flashdance.
In a recent interview, the dancer joked about this involvement, saying that he was "
the first person in the hip-hop scene to dress as a transvestite
and I had to deal with it for years."
The return of Flashdance as a series
The Hollywood Reporter
magazine
announced that Lynda Obst, one of the film's producers in 1983, will be involved in this new series.
Jennifer Beals.
A recent portrait from his official Instagram account.
The new television look at "Flashdance" will be based on a young black woman whose life revolves around her dreams of succeeding in ballet
and her much more prosaic reality of working in a strip club.
Tracy McMillan
, who has worked on series such as
Good Girls Revolt
, will be in charge of writing the script for this new project on
Flashdance.
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