March 22, 2025 • 13 mins
In this week’s episode of "The Rest of the Story" on "Hey Dancer," I delve into the captivating journey of Cynthia Rhodes, the iconic dancer and actress renowned for her roles in 1980s dance classics like "Flashdance," "Staying Alive," and "Dirty Dancing."
From her early days inspired by Shirley Temple to her standout performances alongside legends like Patrick Swayze and John Travolta, Rhodes' story is one of grit, talent, and dedication.
I’ll explore her transition from a promising gymnast to a leading figure in '80s dance cinema, highlighting her intense 11-hour rehearsal days with Swayze and her collaborations with choreographer Kenny Ortega.
Also, I’ll uncover the reasons behind her decision to step away from Hollywood at the peak of her career in her early 30s.
Join me as I uncover the lesser-known facets of Cynthia Rhodes' life and legacy, celebrating the remarkable journey of a performer who left an indelible mark on the dance world.
Make sure you watch this video on YouTube for a better appreciation of Miss Rhodes' work!
Check out my Return to Dance docuseries!
Support my Instagram — where I post daily dance inspo, insights and fun! @backtogreat
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hey dance fam, welcome to my podcast Hey dancer and my weekly series The Rest of the
(00:08):
Story, where I peel back the dance journeys that shaped the legends.
I'm your host Miller Daurey and today I'm diving into the story of someone who is arguably
the most recognizable face from 80s dance movies and then just like that vanishes at the
(00:29):
height of her career, which I will touch on a little bit at the very end and before I get
into her story, please just if you will take a moment to follow rate and review the podcast
if you're listening on Apple or other places and if you're watching like on YouTube or
Spotify, subscribe, like and comment.
(00:49):
It really, really helps me out.
It really does.
I'm a one-man team.
I write record, edit, publish, market, just all the things.
So if you just took a second or two to show the podcast some love, it means a lot to me.
Alright, let's get to it.
She's three years old in Nashville glued to the television set watching Shirley Temple
(01:11):
tap across the screen in old movie reruns that tiny curly-haired star of film who, by the
way, started dance at three herself just lights her up.
She starts dancing right then hooked on making her own moves and even though she's
so tiny, she's already dreaming of Hollywood.
(01:32):
She gets serious as she grows and by her teens, she's a gymnast too, training for the Olympics
eight hours a day.
She's flipping and twisting, pushing her body to the limit, building that grit your teachers
drill into you.
But dance, it stays with her and eventually draws her away from gymnastics and by just 16,
(01:55):
she's pro.
Being a gig at Opera Land USA, Nashville's live show theme park.
She's still in high school, juggling books and rehearsals but Opera Land is her real classroom.
Dancing and singing with dozens under bright lights, live and raw with no slip ups, she would
later say, "That was my best training ground and I really recommend that for anybody who
(02:21):
wants to get in the entertainment business as far as being a dancer or singer."
On music hall America, a 1976 to 1977 variety show, she's 20.
Dancing solo, owning hey big spender with sass and legs.
Usually she's with the crew but here she shines alone.
(02:42):
After five years at Opera Land, she's clocked pro hours with her legs screaming and her
heart pumping and dance becomes her ticket out.
In Nashville is too small for her big dreams so she heads to LA with her Baptist roots deep
praying for a break.
(03:02):
LA delivers pretty darn quick.
She's building her name, landing killer dance gigs that light up her path.
In 1980, she's in Zanadoo, a roller disco flick with Jean Kelly, nailing ensemble moves
under choreographer Kenny Ortega.
It's her first taste of Hollywood dance glory.
(03:23):
In the first year, she's rocking Totos Rosanna video in 82, moving smooth and stealing
the show in a West Side Story style street dance showdown.
That same year, she's with the tubes, this edgy San Francisco rock band tearing it up
in their Kenny Ortega charged video with that fierce drive she's been honing since Opera
(03:44):
Land.
Each booking is a win pushing her closer to the top.
And then in 1983, things really kick into gear.
She does something so insane to me.
She lands lead roles in two massive dance movies at the same freaking time, which is so unbelievably
(04:05):
rare and both happen to be for Paramount Studios.
So she auditions for the starring spot in Flash Dance but scores the role of Tina Tech, this
fierce club dancer rocking bold moves in big attitude.
And she's the only actress by the way on set who can truly dance.
Letting choreographer Jeffrey Horniday build wild routines around her gymnast roots with
(04:30):
back flips and wall runs that nobody else could touch.
Then she's hustling across the Paramount lot to a different studio stage, working staying
alive where she's hitting the ballet bar and nailing precise jazz moves with John Travolta.
She's tearing it up on one set with punk rock grit, then switching gears to nail ballet
(04:53):
jazz finesse on the next all in the same crazy stretch hours apart from one lot to the
other day after day.
She's 26 and owning it.
Then comes 1987.
It's the big one, dirty dancing, a movie that changes everything for her and to be honest,
(05:16):
dance fans everywhere.
She lands the role of Penny, the resorts dance instructor cast first before stars like Patrick
Swazie and Jennifer Gray and she's thrown into rehearsals with Swazie and eight main ensemble
dancers for three to four weeks before filming even kicks off.
(05:36):
After grinding every day, 11 hours straight, she says we really wanted to perfect it all
morning till night, sometimes till midnight, locking in that raw intimate vibe you feel
on screen as she and Swazie nail their partner work while the ensemble builds the backdrop.
She's back with Kenny Ortega, the choreographer she knows from Zanadoo and the tubes and he
(06:00):
is a genius at shaping routines around what each dancer brings to the table.
For her, it's her flexible back and killer legs.
He crafts moves for her that flaunt those strings, just like he pulls out every dancer's
best to make the scenes explode.
She's real about the grind too.
It's exhausting.
(06:20):
You're doing the same dance over and over again.
A brutal truth about dancing on film that hits home for anyone who has been there.
Then there's director Emil Artelino, a pro with tons of dance documentaries under his
belt, who knows how to capture it right.
She once remarked, "He knew how to shoot people dancing.
(06:41):
You saw the full body.
You saw the whole routine."
And she's thankful for that rare shot to shine on film as any dancer it would be, because
then the audience gets to see every move, the whole body, the full routine, which is honestly
uncommon.
Normally it's highly edited, super-chopped up close-ups of heads or feet or whatever
(07:04):
body part.
Anyway, this is her peak, pure dancer magic.
She's riding high after dirty dancing, but she's got bigger dreams than dance movies.
She craves a chance to dive into dramatic acting and leave the choreography behind for a bit,
maybe even for a long time.
(07:26):
You see, she's hungry to stretch those skills in a new way.
She's dipping into music too, chasing a singing career.
But acting gigs, they just don't come that easy without dance and singing, doesn't seem
to stick either.
Family starts calling louder, then something wild happens.
(07:46):
She walks away from Hollywood, in her early 30s, stepping off the screen after her last
film in 1991.
She reflects, "I love to dance, but if I never did it again, I wouldn't be sorry."
And that hits different than most I've covered on this podcast so far, who honestly live
and breathe this dance life.
(08:08):
It's in their blood, it never escapes them.
But her, she's got the gift, the grind, all that shine, yet it's not her whole soul.
Maybe in her youth it was, but all that work, those long hours were hercing and dancing
till one in the morning.
Perhaps they slowly wore down the dance park she started with.
(08:30):
You don't always have to eat, sleep, and breathe what you're good at, you know?
And she proves that.
She honored her dance life, her dance gifts, and then it was just time to move on.
Her name, Cynthia Rhodes.
And now you know the rest of the story.
All right, dance fam, there we are, another rest of the story in the books, but where did
(08:54):
she go?
Where did Cynthia go after lining up the dance world?
Well, before I dive in, a quick ask, please follow rate review if you're listening, subscribe,
like, comment if you're watching, all the things, it means a lot to me.
It really, really does.
So digging into Cynthia Rhodes for this episode was really fun because, oh my god, I grew
(09:15):
up on dirty dancing.
It was such a huge part of my childhood.
We didn't have a whole lot of movies on VHS.
But this one we had, and it was on repeat nonstop.
I don't know, I probably saw it over a hundred times growing up.
And I wasn't even a dancer yet in the sense of training.
I mean, I was always, you know, an intelligent show is moving and grooving, but I wasn't officially
(09:38):
like in classes.
And this movie was probably for me one of those, I don't know, catalysts, if you will.
Like, I need to do this someday.
And I remember watching Cynthia Rhodes and she always had this allure, that screen presence.
You know, you can't take your eyes off of her, whatever she's doing, dancing or not, you
know.
(09:59):
Anyway, since I keep the rest of the story short on purpose, not full documentary style,
I'll tell you a little bit more of her arc.
She doesn't vanish right off, but before I get into the vanishing part, between flash dance
and dirty dancing, she snags runaway in 1984.
A sci-fi flick with Tom Selik.
(10:20):
And she played a cop with no dance.
It was not a dance role.
In 1987, she's in Richard Marx's "Don't Mean Nothing" video and has the lead in that video.
It's pretty much all her and him singing.
Post dirty dancing, she hangs on a bit, you know, in '91, she does curse of the crystal
(10:40):
eye, a low-key action flick, her last role at 34 years old.
Jean Kixin too, by the way, she had a whole singing career, pretty freaking cool.
First, she meets Richard Marx in 1983 on the staying alive set.
She's 26, he's 19, and she thinks that he's too young, but they click two years later.
(11:03):
By '89, she's fronting an emotion.
This 80's synth pop crew from LA, they're the ones behind that new wave hit obsession.
Big time legit back then, you know?
She steps in after Astrid Plane splits, drops room to move a top 10 jam in "My Stepmother
is an Alien," I loved that movie when I was a kid, and Mary's Marx, that January, three
(11:28):
boys follow, and she walks away, really, to raise them in Chicago full-time mom life, dance
in Hollywood, fading in the distance.
In 2002, she co-writes "Perfect Day" with Marx, a smooth jazz track for Chris Bodie, proof
her talent keeps flowing.
By 2014, after 25 years, she and Marx divorce, but Marx still calls her "the finest human
(11:55):
being," he's known.
Respect holds strong.
She's private now, you know?
No spotlight just family.
And we may have a window, you know, as to her character, her faith, her upbringing, playing
a role in why she left Hollywood.
You know, not just the struggle of the business and booking roles and all that stuff.
(12:17):
Back in 1983, Sylvester Stallone, who by the way was her director on "Stayin' Alive,"
can I be honest?
I had no idea that he directed that.
He saw her even back then, turned down "racie roles," and he said, quote, "this girl would
quit the business before doing anything to embarrass her parents."
End quote.
(12:37):
Clearly, you know, really reflecting her Baptist rooted stand that I think really held
when Hollywood pushed skin over substance.
And again, that might give us a window as to why she just, you know, walked away and raising
a family became her top priority.
And I really respect that.
She was true to herself.
(12:58):
She was true to her goals and priorities and what mattered most.
God bless her.
We should all be so grateful for the amazing dance and acting she gave us in all of those
iconic, cult favorite dance movies.
My God, what a run she had.
Okay, until next time.
[MUSIC]
(13:26):
(upbeat music)
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Hey dance fam, welcome to my podcast Hey dancer and my weekly series The Rest of the
(00:08):
Story, where I peel back the dance journeys that shaped the legends.
I'm your host Miller Daurey and today I'm diving into the story of someone who is arguably
the most recognizable face from 80s dance movies and then just like that vanishes at the
(00:29):
height of her career, which I will touch on a little bit at the very end and before I get
into her story, please just if you will take a moment to follow rate and review the podcast
if you're listening on Apple or other places and if you're watching like on YouTube or
Spotify, subscribe, like and comment.
(00:49):
It really, really helps me out.
It really does.
I'm a one-man team.
I write record, edit, publish, market, just all the things.
So if you just took a second or two to show the podcast some love, it means a lot to me.
Alright, let's get to it.
She's three years old in Nashville glued to the television set watching Shirley Temple
(01:11):
tap across the screen in old movie reruns that tiny curly-haired star of film who, by the
way, started dance at three herself just lights her up.
She starts dancing right then hooked on making her own moves and even though she's
so tiny, she's already dreaming of Hollywood.
(01:32):
She gets serious as she grows and by her teens, she's a gymnast too, training for the Olympics
eight hours a day.
She's flipping and twisting, pushing her body to the limit, building that grit your teachers
drill into you.
But dance, it stays with her and eventually draws her away from gymnastics and by just 16,
(01:55):
she's pro.
Being a gig at Opera Land USA, Nashville's live show theme park.
She's still in high school, juggling books and rehearsals but Opera Land is her real classroom.
Dancing and singing with dozens under bright lights, live and raw with no slip ups, she would
later say, "That was my best training ground and I really recommend that for anybody who
(02:21):
wants to get in the entertainment business as far as being a dancer or singer."
On music hall America, a 1976 to 1977 variety show, she's 20.
Dancing solo, owning hey big spender with sass and legs.
Usually she's with the crew but here she shines alone.
(02:42):
After five years at Opera Land, she's clocked pro hours with her legs screaming and her
heart pumping and dance becomes her ticket out.
In Nashville is too small for her big dreams so she heads to LA with her Baptist roots deep
praying for a break.
(03:02):
LA delivers pretty darn quick.
She's building her name, landing killer dance gigs that light up her path.
In 1980, she's in Zanadoo, a roller disco flick with Jean Kelly, nailing ensemble moves
under choreographer Kenny Ortega.
It's her first taste of Hollywood dance glory.
(03:23):
In the first year, she's rocking Totos Rosanna video in 82, moving smooth and stealing
the show in a West Side Story style street dance showdown.
That same year, she's with the tubes, this edgy San Francisco rock band tearing it up
in their Kenny Ortega charged video with that fierce drive she's been honing since Opera
(03:44):
Land.
Each booking is a win pushing her closer to the top.
And then in 1983, things really kick into gear.
She does something so insane to me.
She lands lead roles in two massive dance movies at the same freaking time, which is so unbelievably
(04:05):
rare and both happen to be for Paramount Studios.
So she auditions for the starring spot in Flash Dance but scores the role of Tina Tech, this
fierce club dancer rocking bold moves in big attitude.
And she's the only actress by the way on set who can truly dance.
Letting choreographer Jeffrey Horniday build wild routines around her gymnast roots with
(04:30):
back flips and wall runs that nobody else could touch.
Then she's hustling across the Paramount lot to a different studio stage, working staying
alive where she's hitting the ballet bar and nailing precise jazz moves with John Travolta.
She's tearing it up on one set with punk rock grit, then switching gears to nail ballet
(04:53):
jazz finesse on the next all in the same crazy stretch hours apart from one lot to the
other day after day.
She's 26 and owning it.
Then comes 1987.
It's the big one, dirty dancing, a movie that changes everything for her and to be honest,
(05:16):
dance fans everywhere.
She lands the role of Penny, the resorts dance instructor cast first before stars like Patrick
Swazie and Jennifer Gray and she's thrown into rehearsals with Swazie and eight main ensemble
dancers for three to four weeks before filming even kicks off.
(05:36):
After grinding every day, 11 hours straight, she says we really wanted to perfect it all
morning till night, sometimes till midnight, locking in that raw intimate vibe you feel
on screen as she and Swazie nail their partner work while the ensemble builds the backdrop.
She's back with Kenny Ortega, the choreographer she knows from Zanadoo and the tubes and he
(06:00):
is a genius at shaping routines around what each dancer brings to the table.
For her, it's her flexible back and killer legs.
He crafts moves for her that flaunt those strings, just like he pulls out every dancer's
best to make the scenes explode.
She's real about the grind too.
It's exhausting.
(06:20):
You're doing the same dance over and over again.
A brutal truth about dancing on film that hits home for anyone who has been there.
Then there's director Emil Artelino, a pro with tons of dance documentaries under his
belt, who knows how to capture it right.
She once remarked, "He knew how to shoot people dancing.
(06:41):
You saw the full body.
You saw the whole routine."
And she's thankful for that rare shot to shine on film as any dancer it would be, because
then the audience gets to see every move, the whole body, the full routine, which is honestly
uncommon.
Normally it's highly edited, super-chopped up close-ups of heads or feet or whatever
(07:04):
body part.
Anyway, this is her peak, pure dancer magic.
She's riding high after dirty dancing, but she's got bigger dreams than dance movies.
She craves a chance to dive into dramatic acting and leave the choreography behind for a bit,
maybe even for a long time.
(07:26):
You see, she's hungry to stretch those skills in a new way.
She's dipping into music too, chasing a singing career.
But acting gigs, they just don't come that easy without dance and singing, doesn't seem
to stick either.
Family starts calling louder, then something wild happens.
(07:46):
She walks away from Hollywood, in her early 30s, stepping off the screen after her last
film in 1991.
She reflects, "I love to dance, but if I never did it again, I wouldn't be sorry."
And that hits different than most I've covered on this podcast so far, who honestly live
and breathe this dance life.
(08:08):
It's in their blood, it never escapes them.
But her, she's got the gift, the grind, all that shine, yet it's not her whole soul.
Maybe in her youth it was, but all that work, those long hours were hercing and dancing
till one in the morning.
Perhaps they slowly wore down the dance park she started with.
(08:30):
You don't always have to eat, sleep, and breathe what you're good at, you know?
And she proves that.
She honored her dance life, her dance gifts, and then it was just time to move on.
Her name, Cynthia Rhodes.
And now you know the rest of the story.
All right, dance fam, there we are, another rest of the story in the books, but where did
(08:54):
she go?
Where did Cynthia go after lining up the dance world?
Well, before I dive in, a quick ask, please follow rate review if you're listening, subscribe,
like, comment if you're watching, all the things, it means a lot to me.
It really, really does.
So digging into Cynthia Rhodes for this episode was really fun because, oh my god, I grew
(09:15):
up on dirty dancing.
It was such a huge part of my childhood.
We didn't have a whole lot of movies on VHS.
But this one we had, and it was on repeat nonstop.
I don't know, I probably saw it over a hundred times growing up.
And I wasn't even a dancer yet in the sense of training.
I mean, I was always, you know, an intelligent show is moving and grooving, but I wasn't officially
(09:38):
like in classes.
And this movie was probably for me one of those, I don't know, catalysts, if you will.
Like, I need to do this someday.
And I remember watching Cynthia Rhodes and she always had this allure, that screen presence.
You know, you can't take your eyes off of her, whatever she's doing, dancing or not, you
know.
(09:59):
Anyway, since I keep the rest of the story short on purpose, not full documentary style,
I'll tell you a little bit more of her arc.
She doesn't vanish right off, but before I get into the vanishing part, between flash dance
and dirty dancing, she snags runaway in 1984.
A sci-fi flick with Tom Selik.
(10:20):
And she played a cop with no dance.
It was not a dance role.
In 1987, she's in Richard Marx's "Don't Mean Nothing" video and has the lead in that video.
It's pretty much all her and him singing.
Post dirty dancing, she hangs on a bit, you know, in '91, she does curse of the crystal
(10:40):
eye, a low-key action flick, her last role at 34 years old.
Jean Kixin too, by the way, she had a whole singing career, pretty freaking cool.
First, she meets Richard Marx in 1983 on the staying alive set.
She's 26, he's 19, and she thinks that he's too young, but they click two years later.
(11:03):
By '89, she's fronting an emotion.
This 80's synth pop crew from LA, they're the ones behind that new wave hit obsession.
Big time legit back then, you know?
She steps in after Astrid Plane splits, drops room to move a top 10 jam in "My Stepmother
is an Alien," I loved that movie when I was a kid, and Mary's Marx, that January, three
(11:28):
boys follow, and she walks away, really, to raise them in Chicago full-time mom life, dance
in Hollywood, fading in the distance.
In 2002, she co-writes "Perfect Day" with Marx, a smooth jazz track for Chris Bodie, proof
her talent keeps flowing.
By 2014, after 25 years, she and Marx divorce, but Marx still calls her "the finest human
(11:55):
being," he's known.
Respect holds strong.
She's private now, you know?
No spotlight just family.
And we may have a window, you know, as to her character, her faith, her upbringing, playing
a role in why she left Hollywood.
You know, not just the struggle of the business and booking roles and all that stuff.
(12:17):
Back in 1983, Sylvester Stallone, who by the way was her director on "Stayin' Alive,"
can I be honest?
I had no idea that he directed that.
He saw her even back then, turned down "racie roles," and he said, quote, "this girl would
quit the business before doing anything to embarrass her parents."
End quote.
(12:37):
Clearly, you know, really reflecting her Baptist rooted stand that I think really held
when Hollywood pushed skin over substance.
And again, that might give us a window as to why she just, you know, walked away and raising
a family became her top priority.
And I really respect that.
She was true to herself.
(12:58):
She was true to her goals and priorities and what mattered most.
God bless her.
We should all be so grateful for the amazing dance and acting she gave us in all of those
iconic, cult favorite dance movies.
My God, what a run she had.
Okay, until next time.
[MUSIC]
(13:26):
(upbeat music)
[MUSIC PLAYING]
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