How the massive ‘In the Heights’ dance scenes help tell the movie musical’s story
To make “In the Heights” soar, choreographer Christopher Scott wanted the sprawling dance sequences in the movie musical to stay in perfect lockstep with the plot.
Authenticity was key in telling the story about a vibrant, predominantly Latino neighborhood in Manhattan’s Washington Heights.
When Scott and his team held auditions for dancers in New York and Los Angeles, they quickly noticed a difference between the tryouts.
“You could see it,” Scott told the Daily News. “LA was very sharp, clean, professional, precise, and then in New York there’s a rawness. You can’t teach that to somebody. That’s because it comes from the city. ... It was very clear, like, ‘No, it’s not about anything else except for getting the people that live in New York.’ There’s a difference, and you have to get those people.
“You have to show them doing what they do, because this is their movie.”
Directed by Jon M. Chu, “In the Heights” premieres Wednesday at the Tribeca Film Festival before its Thursday release in theaters and on HBO Max.
The makers of the movie, which is adapted from Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tony-winning musical, paid close attention to the details and nuances of Washington Heights in order to bring the story to life.
The choreography was no exception, with Scott and his colleagues incorporating dance styles that originated in New York — including litefeet, flexing and breaking — to capture the culture of the community.
Song-and-dance numbers were blown up to epic proportions. The upbeat “96,000,” a song fantasizing about a winning lottery ticket, featured 90 dancers at Highbridge Pool in Washington Heights. The movie’s high-energy opening song, which introduces viewers to many of the characters, showcases 75 dancers.
There’s so much detail in that opening number, and detail takes time,” Scott said. “You can’t rush through that stuff. It was a lot of (time) in the studio, just focusing on how somebody passes something to somebody, or how they slap the newspaper on the shoulder with the music.
“Making sure you’re enhancing the lyrics and not stepping on them, because that’s a big thing, especially with a Lin-Manuel Miranda musical,” Scott explained. “You have to kind of train your ear to digest all that information that comes, and if you step on that, you’ll miss it as an audience.”
Anthony Ramos, Melissa Barrera, Leslie Grace and Corey Hawkins star in the movie as residents of the neighborhood, all chasing their own big dreams.
Another cast member is Noah Catala, who originally joined the film as a dancer before landing the role of a street artist known as Graffiti Pete.
“As we were going through the days and the rehearsals and stuff, I’m learning more and more, and I’m like, this is actually something that is very big, that’s really happening right now,” Catala recalled to The News.
“It’s in New York. It’s with me. It’s with my family. It’s with everybody that I know, so it was actually way bigger than I expected it to be, and it’s just great to see it come out the way it did.”
Catala, who grew up in East Harlem, had friends and family in Washington Heights and spent a lot of time in the neighborhood at the center of the movie.
“It’s a whole lot of different cultures,” Catala said. “Different types of food, different types of places. ... It’s like a whole different world, a whole different atmosphere.”
Scott described Catala as “the real deal,” and also praised the way the main cast members picked up the complicated dances.
“There was not one dance double in this film dancing for one of those actors,” Scott said. “They did every single step, and I’m so proud of them.”
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