Sure, The Umbrella Academy’s Hargreeves siblings can manipulate sound, space, and time and communicate with the dead, but at the beginning of the series’ third season, they need to call on another extremely important skill: the power of dance.
After being dispersed throughout the 1960s in the second season (and evading yet another doomsday, no big deal), the Hargreeves return to the present-day only to find that their father, Sir Reginald Hargreeves, has adopted seven other exceptional children instead of them. In this timeline, the Umbrella Academy never existed — but the Sparrow Academy does.
As the two rival groups face each other for the first time, it’s clear they’re going to have to settle their problems “the old-fashioned way.” Instead of unleashing their superpowers, as we might assume, they first must channel their inner Kevin Bacons. That’s right: The Sparrows and the Umbrellas dance-battle — to Kenny Loggins’ 1984 smash hit “Footloose,” in fact. After the fantasy dance-fight sequence, they do also fight-fight, but their first face-off is pure ’80s-inspired choreography.
In this behind-the-scenes featurette, the Umbrellas and the Sparrows (including Elliot Page, Tom Hopper, Robert Sheehan and newcomers Genesis Rodriguez, Jake Epstein, Britne Oldford and Justin Cornwell) explain how the whole scene came together under the tutelage of stage choreographer John Heginbotham.
“The training was extensive,” says Oldford. “Throughout quarantine, we had rehearsals every other day, and then, when we came and did two weeks of pre-production, we were doing dance rehearsals almost every single day.”
“Dance training for ‘Footloose’ was so fun, and it felt so special learning to do it. The next thing you know, we were all just breaking it down together,” recounts Page.
For others like Sheehan, the routine was a bit less challenging: “When I was 12, I won a line dancing competition,” he told Tudum on the Umbrella Academy red carpet. “It's one of the few things I’ve won in my life! [I got to show off] my natural talents — my God-given line dancing talents. [laughs]”
“I went home one day after whipping my hair back and forth, and I was like, ‘Did that happen? Did I get paid today to dance like crazy? Am I Beyonce?’” Rodriguez told Tudum.
Of course, as with any battle, there were casualties. “I can’t listen to ‘Footloose’ anymore,” confesses Epstein.
The Umbrella Academy Season 3 is now streaming on Netflix.
