High School Musical premiered on the Disney Channel 20 years ago, on January 20, 2006. To celebrate, Dance Spirit has spoken with some of the films’ key dance figures to examine HSM’s impact on dance and pop culture at large. Our final series installment is a Q&A with Kenny Ortega, who directed the movies and collaborated with co-choreographers Bonnie Story and Chucky Klapow on the Wildcats’ enduring dances.
By 2005, Kenny Ortega had been working in television for quite some time. But the director and choreographer, whose resumé includes gangbuster films like Dirty Dancing (1987) and Newsies (1992), missed making movies. “I reached out to my agent at the time and asked if we could find something for a cable channel—a little movie I could use as a calling card,” Ortega tells Dance Spirit during a Zoom meeting. That “little movie” turned out to be Disney Channel’s High School Musical, a 2006 smash followed by two sequels, international concert tours, and even a 2019 spinoff TV series.
Ortega pets his new Yorkie puppy, Archibald, as he shakes his head, smiling. “Here we are, 20 years later, still talking about it.”
How did you know High School Musical was the right comeback film for you?
When I read the script, I saw myself in it. There was a big story there—a lot of people’s story. (I used to be a Troy Bolton in a way. I was devoted to both athletics and the arts. I had coaches telling me, “You can’t do both. You’ve got to choose.”)
When we sat down with Disney to review the script, they asked, “Kenny, if you could do anything with this at all, what would you want to do?” The script didn’t have any music. So I said, ‘Why don’t we turn it into a musical?”
Kenny Ortega on set filming High School Musical. Photo by Fred Hayes, courtesy Disney.
What do you remember from being on set?
The very first day of rehearsals, we were putting together some choreography for the finale, and I’d forgotten to look up at the clock—I’d been working the kids for about two hours without a break! They were all dripping with sweat. I said, “I am so sorry, everybody, I won’t do this ever again. Take a break!” And as I walked away, Zac (Efron) chased me down and said, “You don’t need to apologize to us. We want to work!” He gave me permission to raise the bar on myself.
I was never inconsiderate of the kids, or of their health. But I realized that I had real partners in the cast. (I never want to be the only voice in the room—I tell that to every person who asks what I’m looking for in a dancer.) We were always chasing the clock, always chasing the dollar, shooting too much. But somehow we ended up with this phenomenon on our hands.
Zac Efron and Kenny Ortega on the set of High School Musical. Photo by Fred Hayes, courtesy Disney.
Do you have any favorite dance moments from the HSM franchise?
I love the prom scene that we did in High School Musical 3, and the graduation sequence. At the end, when they come running forward, the curtain drops, and they hit that same iconic jump pose from the first movie…Yeah.
Zac in “Scream,” with the rotating hallway. Ashley (Tisdale French), Lucas (Grabeel), and the ensemble in “I Want It All.” They knocked it out. And (HSM’s) “Get’cha Head in the Game”? I mean, it’s classic. Most of those boys were basketball players from the high school we were filming at. Very few were actual dancers. But the kids taught each other dancing and basketball, and by the time that number got filmed, you couldn’t tell who was who. (The next year, that basketball team went further than they ever had in the playoffs, and their coach said to me, “It’s because of the dancing!”)
How would you describe your choreographic process?
I think my love of dance shows itself throughout all the movies. I had golden collaborators in Bonnie and Chucky, and in the cast.
My focus is always the story first. Many years ago, when I was working with Gene Kelly, he asked me, “What’s the raison d’être for this piece?” I hadn’t thought about that. He said, “When projects are being put in front of you, look deeply into them. Make sure that there’s a reason that lives at the center, and that it is great enough so that when you’re so exhausted, and your body doesn’t feel like it can get out of bed in the morning, that raison d’être gets you back up on your feet.” Now, with every project I do, I always want to make sure that there are themes that live under the dialogue and dancing.
Photo by Fred Hayes, courtesy Disney.
How do you view HSM’s legacy?
When they asked me to do High School Musical 2, I had an agent that said, “Why? You don’t need to do that now.” And it was like, “I will do this for the rest of my life.” Every time I’ve worked with these kids, I’ve come out the other side having been somewhere I’d never been before. Isn’t there value in that? I’m so grateful to every single one of those kids, who are now all grown up.
So yes, it impacted my life, and every life that was a part of it. On every corner of the planet, someone walks up to me and thanks me. And I say, “We made these movies for you, so thank you! You are the raison d’être.” HSM enabled the young people who watched it to have the courage to believe in themselves and to trust their feelings. And to go for it. To me, there’s no greater trophy, no treasure more meaningful, than that.
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