Dirty Dance Academy

Horrible dialogue and a bunch of cliches make up "Mirrors" (1985) starring Marguerite Hickey, Tim Daly, Shanna Reed and a supporting cast of old vets.

Here's the weird part. I enjoyed it.

Hickey (from my home town) is a beautiful, fresh-faced teen ballet dancer. She takes the opportunity to move to New York City, leaving behind her boyfriend, baby-faced Tim Daly.

Here I pause. Were any of us really that young? Hickey had that glow you lose after 25, and Daly is just a kid, as is Shanna Reed.

That's what makes it fun. The writer, James Lipton, had a wonderful sense of what it's like to be young and in New York for the first time: the crazy living situations, the humor, the excitement, and the comradery, as well as chorus auditions and rehearsals. All very accurate.

The dance numbers, choreographed by the Broadway choreographer Gracielle Danielle, are fantastic.

I watched this because I am a fan of the late Tony Hamilton, who left us too soon. He was originally a ballet dancer before modeling and turning to acting. Unhappily, I'm not sure he really danced in this - though I hope it was him in the long shot of the pas de deux.

He plays Gino, the playboy dancer. One of the most gorgeous men who ever lived.

One small correction- straight people never referred to their dates as "tricks."

Predictable story, but a chance to see Keenan Wynn, Signe Hasso, and Patricia Morison and for some of us, nice memories.