Dirty Dancing

Summer of 1963. John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr., are still alive and the Beatles have not yet changed the world. Teenage "Baby" comes to spend the summer vacation with her Jewish family in the Catskills. While she is working on her dance skills, romance buds between her and her Goyishe dance instructor, Johnny... While we were busy wearing down the "rewind" button on our VCR's to watch Patrick Swayze's dreamy body in the famous lift scene, we may have missed the film's deep Jewish roots and its portrayal of the changes that American Jewry was undergoing in this period. This renewed viewing of Dirty Dancing more than 30 years after it was first released allows us to see Baby and Johnny's story from a new and different perspective. But primarily we will enjoy this feast for the eyes and ears, with its unforgettable soundtrack and dance scenes.