When documentary filmmaker Dori Berinstein arrived to shoot the auditions for the New Jersey Nets' first over-60 dance team, she could hardly believe her luck.
Not only would these amateur dancers -- some of them in their 80s -- perform for tens of thousands of rowdy NBA fans, but the NETSationals were to be a hip-hop dance team. This geriatric squad would be rump-shaking to the music of Jay-Z, Fat Joe and Ludacris.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Friday, August 21, 2009 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 4 National Desk 1 inches; 55 words Type of Material: Correction
'Gotta Dance': An article in Thursday's Calendar section about filmmaker Dori Berinstein's documentary "Gotta Dance" said that one of the participants is named Betty but that she created an alter-ego called Betsy. In fact, it was the other way around: The dancer's real name is Betsy, but she went by Betty for her screen persona.
"I couldn't have been more thrilled about that," Berinstein said, chuckling.
"Gotta Dance," which opens Friday in L.A., chronicles the 13-member team through its grueling workouts and the surprising popularity of its first season, winter 2006-07. It was a hit on the film festival circuit last year, coming on the heels of Fox Searchlight's similarly charming "senior citizens-sing-rock-music" documentary, "Young@Heart."
But Berinstein, a Tony-winning Broadway producer who brought "Legally Blonde" and "Thoroughly Modern Millie" to the stage, saw life in this story beyond the screen. If all goes as planned, Berinstein will be announcing an all-star "Gotta Dance" Broadway show by year's end.
" 'Gotta Dance' really came out of my passion for theater in particular, because on Broadway you're surrounded by extraordinary people in their 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s, on stage and behind the curtain, who have never stopped working," she said. "I've seen so many other professions where that's not the way it is. I wanted so much to tell a story on film that basically said, 'You should never stop chasing your dreams. No matter what your age is.' "
Berinstein herself was a bit of a late bloomer. The Brentwood native started her professional life as an investment banker and then built a career in film and theater from the ground up. Berinstein spent years as a studio head for Vestron Pictures, helping shepherd "Dirty Dancing" to the screen in 1987 and then later immersed herself in Broadway. There she produced 11 Broadway shows, earning three Tony awards, for "Thoroughly Modern Millie" (best musical), "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (best revival of a play) and "Fool Moon" (best special event). She didn't pick up a camera until she was 40.
"I just wasn't equipped to do it before then," she said. "It was a question of being able to have the confidence that I could make a movie. But it was just like everything came together and I felt like I could do it."
