SPOTLIGHT MARY MURPHY’S
FAVORITE DANCE FLICKS
Flashdance – “I definitely fell in love with Flashdance. I was one of those people that was sportin’ the clothes (laughs) and the whole business.”
Photography by Sergio Fernandez “It changed my entire life when I walked into the Wal-
Footloose – “That was one of my favorite movies; I think I could relate to it because it was kind of like where I
grew up. I would have probably been arrested if I was caught doing it (laughs)!”
dorf Astoria and saw all of the couples dancing around on the floor with the fabulous costumes,” she stated. “For whatever reason, it’s still crazy to me, because up until that point the only thing I cared to be in were a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. It was almost like Divine Interven- tion, if you will, that I be there at that moment—it hit me on a cellular level, like a lightning bolt, that I wanted to be a ballroom dancer.” Fast forward to earlier this year and Murphy returned
to New York City to make her Broadway debut in Burn The Floor, which has been called “Ballroom Reinvented” and prominently features 21 dancers partaking in 10 dance styles that range from the smolder of the Paso Doble to the grace of the Viennese Waltz. “I don’t even know if I can put it into words,” she said of
Stomp The Yard – “Believe it or not, I love this movie, and I just saw it again the other day. I I love watching step-dancing.”
the experience. “The day they (the producers) called me, I literally almost fell off my chair! And when they asked, ‘Do you want to be on Broadway?’ I was like, ‘Oh boy,’ and all sorts of things ran through my head, my age, I was just in a wheelchair because I had acute tendonitis, I’ve got a tumor in my right foot, I have a rotator cuff tear. And all of these things were going ‘bam, bam, bam’ in my head, and the next thing out of my mouth was, ‘Yes I will!’ (laughs).” “I knew this was a not-to-be-missed opportunity, and
Hairspray - “John Travolta dancing at the end, kicking it up, I thought that was the greatest. I’m a huge
Christopher Walken fan, and when the two of them were dancing together, it was hysterical to me.”
So You Think You Can Dance gave that to me,” Murphy explained. “I don’t think the producers of Burn The Floor would have called me had they not seen me dance on the finale. Actually, the opening and closing night were two of the best moments and most fulfilling of my life and my dance career. I gave the cast as much energy as they gave me to make sure Mama Mary got through it all (laughs).” Speaking of the cast, Mary’s engagement with the
national touring company does include SYTYCD winners and finalists joining her on-stage, which Murphy cited as
a “wonderful” experience. “It’s really kind of cool for all of us So You Think You Can
Dance dancers to be together,” she said. Murphy, who resides in the Scripps Ranch commu-
nity of San Diego and also owns the Champion Ballroom Academy in Hillcrest, is more nerve-wracked about her native soil performance than her turn on The Great White Way. “To come back to my hometown of San Diego at this
point in my career and dance; trust me, I’ll be more ner- vous than I was on Broadway!” She exclaimed. But the 52-year-old needn’t worry, as is evidenced by
the fact that she is willing to spread her wings into new endeavors, and that dance competition shows have endeared themselves into TV viewers’ hearts. “I can say that I’m ecstatic that it actually has,” she re- sponded. “There was a dance era with movies with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, and then it kind of just died and had a baby surge with the disco days. Then it was gone for a very long time. I think what’s so great about ballroom dancing is it is so visual.” On the subject of being visual, fans of SYTYCD
definitely saw that Murphy was noticeably absent as a permanent judge during the show’s seventh season, while she did appear as a guest judge and performed on the aforementioned finale. Naturally, Murphy had to be asked if she would be
returning for the eighth season. “Well, I certainly hope so,” she professed. “It seems that
is going to be happening. Right now, Nigel’s (Lythgoe) main thing is to pick judges for American Idol, but things are encouraging in the air, so I hope to be back full-time.”
In the meantime, you can catch Murphy and the rest of the Burn The Floor cast by logging onto
BroadwaySD.com to purchase tickets. For those readers unable to attend her San Diego performances, Burn the Floor will be coming to The Pantages Theatre in late April, 2011.
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RAGE monthly | OCTOBER 2010
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