Learned a few fun facts from the new Swedish TV show Retro. You know the famous dance scene from the movie Flashdance (1983)? Some of the dancing is done by Crazy Legs (Richard Colón) from the American b-boying crew and hip hop group Rock Steady Crew, the group behind the hit single (Hey You) The Rock Steady Crew (video). The day before the shooting of the scene he tried to learn the actors Jennifer Beals and her body double, the French actress and dancer Marine Jahan, how to perform the dance, but after failing numerously times they showed up the next day all bruised up:
But it was Beals's final scene wherein she got the most help. Jahan performed most of it, but certain moves required specialized expertise. Gymnast Sharon Shapiro performed the flips, and one certain breakdance move was done by a male breakdancer -- Colón himself. "Being the first person in hip-hop to dress in drag -- I had to deal with that for years," the 47-year-old joked.
The producers of the film didn't plan to put Colón in the pivotal scene but were forced to out of necessity. No one could learn his backspin move, he recalled. He remembered Jahan and Shapiro showing up with bruises on their hips after many failed attempts to follow his breakdance coaching.
It happened:
When Colón was finally approached to dress and dance as Beals's character, he said with a laugh, "I just rubbed my fingers together because of that money," explaining that it was a lot to ask of a Puerto Rican teen from the Bronx to shave his legs, underarms, and mustache. "Especially the mustache because … I was a young kid and I'm finally getting my little machismo thing going on. And now, I have to shave my mustache off."
Here´s the whole dance scene. Skip to 3:43 to see Crazy Legs:
You can see more of the Rock Steady Crew in the grafitti documentary Style Wars from 1983 (video).
Featured image: Rock Steady Crew performs in Flashdance (video).
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