Patrick Swayze: Born To Dance, Died Too Soon

Written by Greg VictorcloseAuthor: Greg Victor Name: Greg Victor
Email: Greg@parcbench.com
Site:
About: Greg Victor (Parcbench Culture Editor) is a historian, pop culture critic, and theatrical dramaturg and has stage managed theatrical productions on Broadway and on tour, including Billy Joel's "Movin' Out", Monty Python's "Spamalot" and more.See Authors Posts (98) on September 16, 2009

Patrick Swayze was born to dance. Moving across the stage or the screen came as naturally to him as being one of Hollywood’s down-to-earth nice guys. But dancing just came naturally to Patrick. You see, his mom owned a dance studio in Houston, where he grew up learning that hard work paid off. He danced his way into the heart of a fifteen-year-old fellow dance student named Lisa Niemi. They would enjoy a marriage of over 30 years, where love would survive fame. How often does that happen?

He danced his way to New York City where you could have seen him play Danny Zuko in the original Broadway production of “Grease.” For some performers, this achievement would have been enough. But for Patrick it was just the beginning of a satisfying and unpredictable career.

Next came a few movies and some television work. Then came the movie. It was that once in a career role, where he danced his way into the hearts of movie-goers around the world as Johnny Castle in the smash hit “Dirty Dancing” (1987). Patrick Swayze liked to do it all. When the “Dirty Dancing” soundtrack came out, Swayze even had a top ten single with the song “She’s Like the Wind.” He received a Golden Globe nomination, and just as importantly, the box office clout which enabled a dancer to take a lead role in a non-musical movie. This, of course, was the box office mega-hit “Ghost” (1990), and the role was Sam Wheat. Now that Patrick is gone, how bittersweet will it be to watch this film again someday?

In 2003, he returned to Broadway as the song-and-dance slippery lawyer Billy Flynn in the long-running hit “Chicago.”

In 2008, Patrick was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He faced the music and danced. Through the battle with the disease he continued to work on projects (including an autobiography still to be published) and went about his life full of optimism.

Once upon a time, a little boy entered his mother’s dance studio, took hold of the practice barre and stood tall. On the dance floor he unleashed a rare combination of Texas masculinity and Broadway grace. The natural gift landed him on the cover of People magazine as the “Sexiest Man Alive” 1991. He may not have wanted to be remembered as the dancing, action-thriller, romantic hunk many thought of him as, but if you decide to rent some of his lesser known films you will see that there was much more that he was capable of playing. From “The Outsiders” to “Red Dawn” to “Road House” to “Donnie Darko,” his film appearances were constantly revealing more of a man who clearly understood himself and his own diverse abilities.

He followed in the distant footprints of Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly, and brought the power and artistry of the American male dancer to new generations. Sure there were other great male dancers in the 20th century (such as Nureyev and Baryshnikov), but Patrick’s only true contemporary was John Travolta. But Swayze’s movie dancing followed on the heels of Travolta, almost as if he were playing catch-up. Together these two men progressed the notion that an American man could just as naturally kick up a leg to music as he could to kick a football.

Patrick Swayze was born to dance. And how he did. From the first job he had playing Prince Charming in a “Disney on Ice” show, to the last time he held his love Lisa in his steady arms as they glided across the floor.

In a recent interview Patrick told Barbara Walters, “If I leave this Earth, I want to leave this Earth knowing I’ve tried to give something back and tried to do something worthwhile with myself…My work is my legacy.” But how could something that he made look so easy have been work? After all, that is what mastering the dance is all about. And so, Patrick, in reverence, we all now bow to you.