Mariposa Papillon

How could I NOT like Staying Alive when it was released in 1983? I was an older teen, my Walkman was another appendage, I was in love with The Idea of romance and oh, how I loved to dance! That summer I was wiggling down Manhattan sidewalks to Lionel Richie's "All Night Long," dirty-dancin' on club floors to Prince & The Revolution's "Little Red Corvette" (the LP 1999 had come out in 1982), tossing my imaginary fedora to my basement floor upon the intro to MJJ's "Billie Jean" and, of course, wearing asymmetrical, cold-shoulder sweatshirts in every color of the rainbow. And that was all before I saw Staying Alive that autumn. I'd just seen Flashdance in the summer (for you millennials, that was my one-shoulder-bearing sweatshirt reference -- and I used to wear my hair like the Jennifer Beals character, too). I had gone to the movies no fewer than eight times to see Flashdance -- and this was in a time of the double feature, so I saw Flashdance almost a dozen times. I blew all my part-time salary between LPs and movies. So, when I finally saw Staying Alive, I was blown away! I already was practically living in Danskin. Long before jeggings and Spanx: teens, girls and women were walking around in ballet-style tights without the feet, leg warmers, Spandex, and the like. Those of us who also loved Prince and, after 1982, Madonna too, cautiously would wear certain lingerie on the outside, for the world to see. Because I already adored John Travolta from "Welcome Back, Kotter" and then in his breakthrough film role in Saturday Night Fever, and because I adored and tried to imitate the sexy moves of modern dancer Cynthia Rhodes from Flashdance (and would dig her again with the phenomenal Patrick Swayze [R.I.P.] in 1987's Dirty Dancing), I A.T.E. up Staying Alive. Yeah, I totally bought the cheesy dialogue, as it wasn't far from what I used to hear when on subway cars and in delis from chatty dancers and actresses in Manhattan. I went to high school in Hell's Kitchen but was living in a NYC suburb, so, as other reviewers have posted here, I too had Big Dreams of being a dancer in Manhattan. I totally was caught up in Tony Manero having to choose between the sweet, loyal chick (Cynthia Rhodes) and the icy, chic, world-savvy woman (Finola Hughes). I hadn't had my first boyfriend experience yet (I was too busy dancing and working), but I dreamed to be the woman that had a little of both of Tony's love interests. I wanted to have a hunky boyfriend to date in ways that today's teens probably think of as corny. Back then, it wasn't called "hanging out" and there was no social media; people had to pick up the phone, and sometimes it was a pay phone. You had to carry around dimes. Dimes were serious coin then. But -- and remember as you read this that I was eighteen -- I also dreamed to acquire the sophistication of the Finola Hughes character (not to mention to be able to fake her very real English accent), to travel to dance capitals and fashion capitals of the world, and to be able to seduce a reasonably older man *in the dance world*. lol ... I hadn't even had a glass of wine at that point. The cards that Life would deal me in the ensuing years made me the Cynthia Rhodes character, just nowhere near as pretty. I thought Finola Hughes was gorgeous -- not pretty, her look was an uncommon type in the U.S. But both ladies were beautiful, and I loved both of their accents and, definitely, both of their dancing acumen. "Staying Alive"--in all contexts--endures.