Original subtitles

You must develop some sense of the other players.

I'm not into group scenes.

I'm not inviting you to an orgy.

I knew it would work.

The real me is a redhead.

Girl, let me tell you something.

You keep treating your hair like that, the real you is gonna be bald.

Everybody gets bad reviews.

You're not out of town anymore.

You're in the hot burning center of the galaxy.

I'm gonna live forever.

I'm gonna learn how to fly.

I feel it coming together.

People will see me cry.

Right here is where you start a switch.

Thank you very much, Miss Bryant.

We'll be sure to...

I have one where there are flames on my baton,

but I didn't want to set off the sprinklers.

That's very considerate of you.

Miss Bryant.

Uh-huh.

I understand that you're new to our city, but what

I don't understand, and maybe you can help me.

Uh-huh.

The purpose of our school is to prepare young people for careers as performers.

Is there a demand for professional baton twirlers that I'm unaware of?

Well, sure.

If a girl twirls really well, well, she might get asked

to be a cheerleader for a professional football team.

Thank you very much, Miss Bryant.

We'll let you know.

Thank you.

Oh.

Miss Julie Miller.

Now, get off the lines, y'all.

Miss Miller, these auditions are for new arrivals to New York City, and maybe you

could tell us a little bit about what brings you here.

My mom and dad got divorced.

Any time you're ready.

Coco!

How was summer's talk?

It was beautiful.

How was, uh, teaching summer school?

Something less than beautiful.

Did you get to perform?

Yeah, I got to perform.

Painting, scenery, and nailing furniture together, and scrounging of props.

And I got to understudy the healthiest engineer that ever joined equity.

Anyway, did you see Bruno Martelli, because his father said he was here.

He's probably in the auditorium, helping to set up lights.

Coco, sorry you didn't get to be a star.

I'm a Sherwood.

I'm already a star.

Thing is, not enough people know it yet, is all.

I decided that you and me wasted last year.

What do you think about us getting some people

together and really getting it together and going?

What, you dig that kind of music?

I like any kind of good music.

And she's good.

She's good.

What's the money for?

Cab fare.

Mother, I'm not taking a cab to school.

It's going to be hard enough to fit in without arriving like goody shoes, gut rocks.

Julie, it's been 20 years since I lived in New York.

Until I know what's happened to that neighborhood since your father and I moved away.

Well, until I know.

Mother, not a taxi.

Come on.

How about a compromise?

Okay.

What?

I'll walk you to school.

Taxi!

School of the Arts, please.

You know what happened to the United Nations last week?

Sorry, baby, I'm booked.

Hey!

Solid gold, man.

It's a cheap chain, 100 carats.

It's cheap.

Not interested.

$5 in the United States?

Come on, man, it's $5.

I don't wear chains.

It's not for you.

It's for the sweet little fox in your life.

I don't have a fox.

You would if you'd be flashing us around.

Jewish ambassador punches the Chinese ambassador.

The Chinese ambassador gets up off the floor and asks what that was for.

That was for Pearl Harbor.

Pearl Harbor is a Chinese mess.

That was a Japanese.

I'm Chinese.

Chinese, Japanese.

What's the difference?

So the next day...

I'm sorry!

You said it, baby, in line, too.

The Chinese dude punches the Jewish dude.

The Jewish dude gets up, rubs his chin and says... Buzz off, creep.

What was that for?

Hey!

The Jewish dude gets up, rubs his chin and says... What was that for?

And the Chinese guy says... Silence!

I have nothing to do with the Titanic.

And the Jewish guy... I'm not speaking until I hear silence.

The word for the day is pretentious.

One, making claims explicit or implicit to some distinction.

Importance.

Dignity or excellence.

Two, affectedly grand.

Superior, etc.

Ostentatious.

Who would like to use it in a sentence?

Mr. Garcy?

The pretentious Chinese ambassador says... Iceberg, Goldberg, what's the difference?

That's enough, Garcy.

This is no song in dance class.

It's English.

You're going to take it and all your other academic subjects...

just as seriously as you take your presumed careers.

You're going to work twice as hard as the other students in this city.

You don't get any breaks because you're talented or cute or funny.

This is still a high school.

If you don't leave my class speaking, reading and writing English properly...

you'll leave it, period.

Same goes for French and algebra and biology and physics.

Coco Hernandez?

Yes.

Use pretentious in a sentence, please.

Coming to school in a cab is pretentious.

That's not fair.

I come to school in a taxi every day.

That's different.

Your father drives it.

You're Miller?

Yes.

I'm Montgomery.

Here's your books.

Thanks.

Can you put them down?

I can't get this thing to work.

Let me see.

Short people understand these things better than tall people.

It comes from being at a keyhole height during the formative years.

Hey.

Thanks.

What am I going to do when you're not here to help me?

Sweetheart, no one's running Little Rico out of town.

They can stab me, shoot me, throw me in the East River.

No matter how tough it gets...

you can count on Little Rico.

How about in the morning before first spell?

I'm not sure I can make that, but, uh... seriously, if you got any questions.

Yeah, just one or two.

You see, New York City's like a lot of other cities.

This isn't unfriendly.

It's just crowded, so... everyone carries around a little piece of invisible space...

so you don't stare, you don't smile at strangers.

You don't invade someone's private space unless you're invited.

That's lesson one.

Everyone around here grows up knowing that.

So what if you didn't grow up here?

Well, someone has to help you.

That's really simple.

I could explain it to you in ten easy lessons.

That many?

Well, it's a big subject.

You got to know what to do on the streets, who to talk

to, who not to talk to, where to go, where not to go.

Okay.

Okay, what?

Okay, will you teach me?

Yeah, but... why me?

Because you're the first friendly person I met in the whole school.

You seem to know what you're talking about.

At least I can understand you.

Sort of.

Martelli, if you please, the same notes and rhythm as the rest.

I am in rhythm.

You are in your rhythm.

You will play in my rhythm and the rhythm of the class.

You must develop some sense of the other players.

I'm not into group scenes.

I'm not inviting you to an orgy.

But to play in an ensemble.

Yes, sir.

A dancer's body remembers everything.

You learn something once, and it's yours for life.

But first you have to become a dancer.

Now, you may be hot stuff up in Harlem, or you

may have the best tutu collection in the country.

It doesn't matter.

I don't have time for prima donnas.

You want to become a dancer, you're going to have to work.

Work your little tights off.

I ain't wearing no tights.

You've got big dreams.

You want fame.

Well, fame costs.

And right here is where you start paying, in sweat.

I want to see sweat.

And the better you are, the more sweat I'm going to demand.

So if you never had to fight for anything in your

life, put your gloves on and get ready for round one.

And mom and daddy's little darlings had better come out swinging.

What does that mean?

They don't take credit cards.

Okay, spread out on the floor.

We're going to repeat that modern one combination we did yesterday.

But I want you to add arms to the spiral.

Five, six, seven, and spiral, two, release, two.

Arms, spiral, two.

Contract, two, extend.

Lesson number two, how do you get around New York?

The buses are so crowded here.

I feel weird in them.

Try the subways at five o'clock.

There's weird.

Yeah, it does get kind of hectic.

Hectic?

Gets downright deadly.

Can't stand too close to the edge.

A lot of creeps get their kicks out, wasting people off the tracks.

Wasting people?

Doing away with them.

One morning I saw this woman.

Well, actually, it was half a woman.

It was really gross.

Well, it wasn't the grossest thing I ever saw.

The grossest thing I ever saw was...

You want some coffee?

No, thanks.

I don't drink coffee.

Montgomery?

No, me either.

My doctor won't let me.

Oh, you get anxiety attacks, too?

I don't know if it's anxiety attacks.

You kind of get this pukey feeling in the pittiest stomach.

And then your whole body gets all hot and prickly, and it feels like a thousand tiny

little fingers are working overtime on your skin.

Sometimes.

I feel it, too.

So do I.

Don't stare.

Remember what I said?

You got to give people their space.

Well, what about my space?

What are you talking about?

Oh!

What's going on?

Lesson four, how to waste creeps.

I said I'm sorry.

They ought to hang a danger sign around your neck.

The word for the day is deleterious.

Harmful to health, well-being, property.

Endurious.

Who can use it in a sentence?

Hernandez?

Coffee can be deleterious to some people's health.

And to other people's clothing.

All right, Coco.

That's the general idea.

Who can be more specific?

Garci?

My uncle Ramon is a real deleterious person.

That doesn't tell me what deleterious means.

I'm not finished yet.

You see, last month he hit the big number and he moved

to the country to raise chickens like he always wanted.

Only he's a city dude, see?

What does this have to do with deleterious?

His chickens all died.

I asked him why he did that.

I don't know.

Maybe I planted them too close.

What are you wearing, Leroy?

Dancing clothes.

This isn't Roseland.

This isn't dancing.

That's cute, Leroy.

You know, you're real cute.

But either you dress properly for my class or you won't be in it.

All right, class.

Everyone across the floor in groups of twos.

We're gonna repeat what we did yesterday.

Quickly.

Five, six.

Five, six.

I

just wasn't looking.

Honey, you don't have to get A about it.

A?

As in annoyed.

Oh, I'm not.

I mean, I wouldn't do something like that deliberately.

Miller, when I say extensions, I don't mean your mouth.

Five, six, seven, and step.

Extend.

That means the right shoes and the right jeans and no jewelry.

Ditch the gold chain.

No.

Flashy as out, especially gold.

I don't care.

You can take away the rest of my identity, but the gold chain is special.

It's very pretty, but... It's more than that.

Hey, you can't worry about what looks good.

In fact, the better you look, the bigger the danger.

You don't want to draw attention to yourself.

You want to dress down.

Which brings us to lesson nine, defensive fashion.

Michael Harrison winked at me.

Winks at everybody, Doris.

It's only the most popular boy in school.

With a tick.

Never noticed me before.

It's my new look.

It's a learned behavioral response.

I knew it would work.

The real me is a redhead.

Girl, let me tell you something.

You keep treating your hair like that, the real you is gonna be bald.

It's coming over here.

In person.

Hi.

A couple of us are having a party Friday.

You want to come?

Oh, I don't think so.

I think she's busy.

No.

I just, um... Well, then, what's wrong?

Nothing, really.

Look, I think you're being really smart.

You probably wouldn't like our friends anyway.

Well, I mean, I... We have to eat lunch.

Was it something we said?

I'm on a diet.

I mean, I don't eat.

I mean, I'm free on Friday.

Um, that's okay, dearie.

We really have enough people.

Come on.

You know what you need?

You need exposure.

I don't want exposure.

We could be big.

We?

Hey, I don't just dance.

I sing, too.

And we could go places.

You can go places.

I'm going to the bathroom.

That was real considerate of you, considering he's the most popular boy in school.

Doris wanted a date.

I have a boyfriend anyway.

You do?

Yes.

Back in Grand Rapids.

You never said anything.

Well, I try not to think about him too much.

You really miss him a lot, don't you?

Your sound and my voice and a couple of backup singers, maybe, and a small band.

Band?

For the money, honey, we could clean up.

There are meat spoons and tea dancers on the island.

I'm not into money.

You don't have to be, baby.

You just keep turning out your music and I'll just keep doing it.

Look, I don't turn out my music and I don't perform.

That's cool, baby.

I do.

I don't believe you.

I know.

You ain't seen or heard the best of me yet.

We're gonna handle that right here and now.

I don't work lunchrooms as a rule, but you deserve a break today.

Just wait right here.

Do you guys remember taking... Remember that?

Looks like you've got sort of a crush on that Michael Harrison guy.

Julie, maybe people in Grand Rapids get crushes.

It's not the way it is in New York City.

What do they get in New York City?

Harpies mostly.

Who's feeling your affection You ain't gonna find perfect love Till you look in

my direction Open your eyes You don't know what you've been missing Baby,

get wise You can't drive me on four sides Oh, take me, take me baby And never let me

go Shake me, if you want me You gotta let me know Take me, hold on tight Cause we're

gonna make All the love that you can't have

I've been watching you a long time I got ways to make you fly Oh, take me,

take me Oh, shake me, if you want me You gotta let me know Take me, take me baby

And hold on tight Cause we're gonna make All the love that you can't have

Oh, take me, take me baby And never let me go Shake me, if you want me You gotta let

me know Take me, take me baby And hold on tight Cause

we're gonna make All the love that you can't have

Julie, spare me.

It's defensive board, Romain.

If your father could see you, well, he can't.

Not anymore.

Honey, regardless of what happened between him and me, he's still your father.

And he expects me to raise you in a certain way.

Maintain certain standards.

But those standards don't apply anymore.

Is that what all your friends at school say?

I don't have that many friends.

Why?

Well, they set me apart.

Not all of them, but some.

My dancing was such a big deal in Grand Rapids.

But here, it's kindergarten stuff.

My music's still okay.

But I'm barely in their league sometimes.

I hate to sound like a shrink, but it's a learning experience for both of us.

I mean, you're trying to fit into your new school,

and I'm trying to wedge my way into the job market.

But, Mom, I'm trying to fit in with a preppy wardrobe.

Look, either I look right or I look like a nerd, and I get treated like one.

Want some advice?

Don't answer, because you're gonna get it anyway.

Life is not an either-or.

I used to think either I make my marriage work or my life is ruined.

It's not true.

We both used to think either Julie gets an academic education or a musical one.

It's not true either.

And the school you're going to proves it.

Well, maybe I'm just not tough enough.

Oh, honey, you'd be surprised at just how tough you can be if you have to.

Voice of experience talking now.

So, where in that chain Lester gave you?

Sweetheart, Lester is back in Grand Rapids.

Maybe a part of me is, too.

I work so hard

to...

The senior class will sponsor a mixer next Wednesday

for the benefit of the incoming freshman class.

All new students are invited to attend and get acquainted.

There will be a band and entertainment,

Mr. Johnson, would you mind taking off your hat, please?

Thank you.

Will you please stop being funny?

I wasn't being funny.

Violins are on the way out.

It's the truth.

You don't need strings today.

Did you hear this, Mrs. Tarseff?

I heard.

Orchesters need strings.

Orchestras are an endangered species.

Really, you can do it all on one instrument.

If you've got a keyboard and some oscillators and the right combination of

waveforms, you wouldn't need to make all these dinosaur tracks.

Dinosaur tracks?

Mozart made dinosaur tracks?

You should make such dinosaur tracks.

He wouldn't orchestrate today.

He'd overdub.

He wouldn't need all this bowing stuff and this figure bass business.

I mean, it was probably necessary in prehistoric days.

It was necessary in Leipzig.

It was necessary in Dresden.

It was necessary in the good old days.

Yes, the good old days.

Look, is this a school or a museum?

I mean, can't we bury the dead?

I've buried mine, Mr. Martelli.

And I've taught music to other bright young men

with big, brave mouths and superior visions.

The music survived.

Okay, class, a couple from the beginning.

The end.

I'm a working man.

Well, how about that?

How about you hasten up this conversation because I got business associates waiting?

I'm waiting, too, for your homework.

Romeo and Juliet?

Remember?

I forgot it.

Four days in a row?

I told you I'd done it and I forgot it.

You got ears and you can save us both some breath.

My hearing is fine.

It's your homework that's missing.

And the quality of the few pages I have is

unsatisfactory if you want to stay in school.

Ain't nobody making me walk unless I wanna.

I will, Mr. Johnson.

And I won't waste any time.

Yeah?

You been down on me from day one.

You should have been out there testifying to all

that new life I donated to your tired little school.

I am down, as you say, on your big open mouth, your little closed mind,

your rude manners and your fourth-grade reading level.

Yeah, it's not my reading level you're working.

It's racial discrimination.

Discrimination?

Well, how about that?

Five whole syllables.

There's hope for you yet.

If I find your missing English assignments on my desk tomorrow morning.

And if you don't?

You'll be dancing right out of this school.

You better have more than your mouth ready when you go making my flight patterns.

Four days' worth.

I never said I was staying, but I hate making my flight patterns.

I hate making bigots happy.

Dear Lester, things are very difficult for me.

The kids here don't accept me no matter what I do.

They look at me as if I just dropped in from outer space or something.

Maybe I don't belong here.

Maybe I don't belong in New York.

I miss you desperately when I think of last year by the lake and how you put this

chain around my neck and how I vowed I'd never take

it off until the day I saw your precious face again.

Singing hey, fly away You know what I'd like I'd like to write a symphony To play

my life in every key In harmony Take you away Where we could spend some time alone

Build a house and call it home Won't be my home I'm tangled up

in all the lies Of all the folks I know I'd like to just let go

You know what I'd like I'd like the crazy days

to end To close my eyes and count to ten Oh,

speak again, bright angel, for thou art as glorious

to this night as is a winged messenger of heaven.

As is a winged messenger of heaven, unto the white upturned wondering eyes of

mortals that fall back to gaze on him when he bestrides the

lazy, pacing clouds and sails upon the bosom of the air.

Thank you, Montgomery.

That was very nice.

Garcy?

I forgot my book.

Borrow Julie's.

And how you put this chain around my neck, and how I vowed I'd never take it off

until the day I saw your precious face again.

I miss you more than words alone can say, dear Lester.

There is not a night when you are not in Julie Miller's dreams.

That's enough, Garcy.

A person's privacy ought to be respected.

You've got the look of tension headache number nine.

It's name, it's Garcy.

What'd he do?

It's like they say in the playground in the third grade, man.

He ought to pick on someone his own size.

All right, look, that's just Garcy.

You know the way he is.

He'll do anything to make a joke.

Does he tell Leroy a funny joke about eating watermelons on the levee?

How about a joke for Sharofsky on stingy Jews?

Maybe a bit on Italian gangsters for me.

Who are you so bent for?

I'm bent about people picking on minorities.

And in this school, in this city, she is in the minority.

All the talk we do about talent being the one thing we care about...

Oh, man, that's not it.

The one thing we care about is laughs and feeling superior.

I just thought we were better than that.

That's all.

Good afternoon.

Anything I can help you with today?

Yeah, tights.

Certainly.

For yourself?

Yeah.

What size?

I don't know.

Medium, I'd say.

Yeah, right, medium.

Colored?

I imagine you'd prefer black, don't you?

Yeah, black tights.

That's it, man, right there.

Oh, dance belt?

Say what?

Do you have a dance belt?

Most tights I see don't need no belt.

Young man, we're not talking about that kind of belt.

You see, most tights are, well, tight.

You ain't talking to no fool, turkey.

Well, I know that.

Tights are tight.

I know that.

Young man, you'll need what you would call a jock.

Oh, why didn't you say that?

Now, let's see what we have for you.

How are these?

Nah, not the kid.

Nah, that's all right.

No way.

Bring no tights on, tight tights.

Don't tell me you forgot them.

That was last week's excuse.

No, I didn't forget them.

You see, I washed them, right?

And they shrunk up.

Then when I put them on, they were so tight,

they cut off my circulation and I couldn't walk.

That's awful, Leroy.

I tell you what, you bring them in to me tomorrow morning,

and I'll trade you for a pair that fits you, okay?

Okay.

And take off the earrings, Phoenicia.

But these aren't earrings, exactly.

But what are they exactly?

They're religious objects.

Tribal warriors in Africa wear them to ward off evil spirits.

Well, when your troupe performs in Togo land, you can wear all of your earrings,

my dear girl.

You can stick an elephant tusks through your nose if you want to, but in my class,

between the hours of 2 and 3 p.m., we are not praying, we are dancing.

Without jewelry.

Off with the necklace, Miller.

No.

I mean, it's not a necklace.

It's not just... Oh, no, no, don't tell me.

I know.

Another religious object.

You don't understand.

I promised that I wouldn't take it off...

Dear Lester, I remember that precious day when your precious fingers put this

precious chain around my precious neck and I promised myself... Stop it!

Stop looking at me!

Stop it!

You're a moon child, aren't you?

I beg your pardon?

What's your birthday?

July 13th.

I thought so.

That's why you're into big emotional scenes.

I am not into big emotional scenes.

Rest, girl.

If you gave me half a chance... Hey, nobody gives you anything, baby.

You make your own chances.

Come on, Coco.

Constant ridicule doesn't help.

Forget it.

Everybody gets bad reviews.

You're not out of town anymore.

You're in the hot, burning center of the galaxy.

You ought to thank her.

Thank her?

People around here want to get looked at and she gave you a spotlight.

I don't want that spot.

Then what are you doing here?

I don't know.

Yeah.

Well, I do.

You're good.

You're not as good as me.

But then you don't have my experience or my planets.

A friend of my sister sees she tells fortunes and stuff.

And she says I have the sun and the moon in my hand.

All I have to do is wait for opportunity to knock.

Why are you telling me this?

Because in this school, you gotta be tough.

You can't cry over an unkind word.

You gotta work harder.

Prove them wrong.

Or you can quit.

But you won't.

Not if you really belong here.

If you're a professional.

You look beautiful, sweetheart.

Thanks, Mom.

Have a good day.

Thanks.

Silence!

Do I hear silence?

The word for the day is metamorphosis.

One, a change of form, shape, structure or substance.

Transformation.

Two, a marked or complete change of character, appearance or condition.

Who would like to use it in a sentence?

Mr. Martelli?

I never met a morphosis I didn't like.