Oh what a feeling. You know the feeling. The feeling when you go into a dance audition, attempt a flip, and land directly on your head sustaining a massive concussion while embarrassing yourself? That feeling. Anyhoo, I don’t remember anything. Do you remember what happened in Flashdance?
Pop Quiz Hot Shot!
1) Oh snap we got a meetcute y’all. How do our two love birds meet?
2) So what’s the story? Why does our hero want to be a dancer and why is she a welder?
3) We also have a bit of an odd interlude involving the cook in the bar she dances in, and her good friend who is a waitress. They both have big dreams. What are their two big desires?
4) Why does Alex smash up Nick’s house?
5) And how does Alex get that big audition?
Bonus Question: So … let’s go for a classic. How long does the relationship last?
Answers
1) Well she was doing her big dance where she pours water all over herself. And naturally he was being a normal human and watching his employee dance half naked in a bar after hours. NBD. Love at first sight naturally.
2) She wants to be a welder because … something something something she knows a woman who once took her to the ballet and from that point forward Alex wanted to be a dancer. She’s a welder because she needs to eat brother.
3) Well, the woman wants to be a figure skater, although she also kind of wants to be a dancer (and then eventually a stripper / drug addict … but Alex fixes that right up). Unfortunately, we have to witness that dream being thoroughly shattered midway through the film. The cook wants to be a comedian and when he gets some big big laughs at his debut at the bar, he decides to try and make it happen in LA … it doesn’t work it.
4) She goes to see the ballet again with her old lady friend, and when she is leaving she sees Nick with another woman. Da da da!!!! Well, don’t worry, it turns out it was just his ex-wife, phew.
5) Remember that ex-wife? Well he was on the Arts Council of Pittsburgh with her and so he still has a lot of good friends there. And so he pulls a few strings and gets her an audition. Et voila, out happy ending is sealed.
Bonus Answer: Four months tops. Initially Nick is all happy that she’s in the dance school. But little does he know how much work dancing really is. Also, Alex? She’s a dancing savant for a reason. She can’t stop dancing. She moves into his house … fucking dancing 24/7. After a while Nick is thinking “wait … do we have a Red Shoes situation here? Is Alex cursed?” Nope, she just loves dancing. All her friends are like “Stop dancing, for goodness sake. Don’t you see how much your dancing hurts us. Not the quality, the quantity. You are dancing all the time! During conversations I’ll look over and you’re dancing in my face!” Nick is distraught. Desperate he finds solace in his ex-wife’s arms. Alex catched him in bed with her. And do you know what she does? Nothing. She dances. She can’t stop dancing. Doctors study her, she’s a medical marvel. She wins multiple dance-a-thons at the peak of their popularity. She becomes the head of the Arts Council and the lead in the Pittsburgh performance of Swan Lake. She takes one look at Torvill and Dean and she’s a better ice dancer than both of them. It breaks Jeanie’s heart. She EGOTs at the age of 25, all for special categories in all four awards ceremonies: Best Dance. Forty years later she dies. Not from dancing, she’s struck by lighting at Dance Manor, the mansion she builds from her dancing money. Thousands come to her funeral to celebrate the myriad of ways she changed dance, and our hearts, forever.
It’s made into a TV movie called Flashdance 2: Never Stop Dancing Literally: The Alex Owens Story. It wins five Emmys. One of those Emmys? Best Dance.
Bad Movie Twins 