The Location
Kenny Ortega was chosen by screenwriter Eleanor Bergstein to do the choreography for the film. Ortega was trained by Gene Kelly and he was eager to start on the project. However when it came to choosing a location, they struggled to find anything in the Catskills that was suitable. Therefore they chose two locations, ake Lure, North Carolina and the Mountain Lake Hotel near Pembroke, Virginia. The crew were very careful in the editing as they needed to make it look as though all the shooting took place in the same area.
The Location
The Script
Originally Bergstein wrote the script for It’s My Turn, the 1980 Michael Douglas film. However the producers removed an erotic dancing scene from the script. As a result, she then wrote a new story, focused primarily on dancing. Four years later, she pitches the idea to MGM and Dirty Dancing comes to life. The plot was changed to match Bergstein’s own personal life, if you recall. By November 1985, the script was done! However management changes at MGM put the script in limbo.
The Script
