Here’s the Dirty Dancing Video

Here’s The Dirty Dancing Video

I’ve been waiting 32 years to post this video!!!  For my 45th Annual Birthday Scare my husband and I learned the final dance from the movie “Dirty Dancing” – you know, the one with “The Lift” where Patrick Swayze lifts Jennifer Grey over his head and she let’s go of all her fear to look like a ballerina.  It was the only girl-power movie from the 80’s ever came to being a “Rocky” for any teenage girl who ever felt awkward.  Honestly, this movie had me at “I carried a watermelon.”

Even though I wanted to do this lift since I was 13 with a bad Jersey perm and braces, it just never worked out for me because A) I can’t dance and B) I didn’t know any Patrick Swayze-type guys willing to take ballroom dancing lessons with me.

Enter my husband, Henri.  He also did not want to take ballroom dancing classes, and he definitely did not want to deadlift his 125 pound wife over his head while someone videoed the damn thing.  But this year I had a secret weapon:  Not only was it my 45th birthday (which is, like halfway to 90) it is also another pretty big milestone.

Today, May 15th, is our 15th anniversary.  Like most couples, we’ve had our ups and downs, but doing this little dance project of mine was really good for us, because it allowed us to connect as people, not as busy parents or frazzled business partners.  It was great having a mission with a deadline (it had to be done before my birthday on February 2nd). 

The Lift

The key benefits to having a deadline:

  • You know the practices will not last forever
  • You can’t keep putting rehearsals off
  • When it’s done you get a huge feeling of accomplishment

Doing a lift requires a lot of trust; trust that he will be able to lift you and not drop you and, well yeah, that’s pretty much it.  Don’t drop me!

But as it turns out I ended dropping myself.  After practicing the lift I totally tripped over my own feet and twisted my ankle two weeks before the film date.  I guess a normal person would have called it a day or postponed the dance to a later date, but I was a woman on a mission and I wasn’t going to let a little thing like a major injury get in my way! 

Once the kids get out of school I’ll have more time to create a bloopers video:  I’m no Jennifer Grey.  But we had the time of our lives (had to get that in here) and I owe it all to Henri who totally stepped up and made my quirky little teen-girl fan fantasy come true.  If that isn’t love, I don’t know what is.

Here’s the final video:

Special thanks to Raymond White at Lone Star Dance Studio for teaching us the choreography, Taylor Prinsen Photography, and the videographer Adeline Rock.

Copyright Information: This video is a fan video for entertainment purposes only.  We don’t own any of the copyright music.

“(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life”, a 1987 song composed by Franke Previte, John DeNicola, and Donald Markowitz, recorded by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes, and used as the theme song for the 1987 fim Dirty Dancing.

Kenny Ortega was the Dirty Dancing choreographer.

“The Time (Dirty Bit) (Radio Edit)” Artist: The Black Eyed Peas, The Beginning, Interscope 2010, Producers: will.i.am, DJ Ammo

Live your life to the fullest!

Lisa 🙂