Jenna Ortega’s iconic dance in Wednesday has much more importance to the titular character than originally thought - here is a full breakdown of the dance. Wednesday has smashed Netflix records as of late, beating Stranger Things as Netflix’s biggest English language show, thanks in large part to Wednesday’s commitment to the cult classic. Wednesday tells a new story of the Addams Family's Wednesday, following her as a teenager who is forced to attend the boarding school Nevermore, which is filled with other outcasts with supernatural powers - like herself. Wednesday may be an entirely new story, but there are plenty of Addams Family Easter eggs from the cartoons, shows, and movies that made it a cult classic. Wednesday’s dance is a big part of this.

Wednesday’s iconic dance takes place in episode four of Wednesday, titled “Woe What a Night,” when Nevermore has its annual Rave’N Dance. Although Wednesday was originally bailing on the dance to go stake out the Hyde’s cave with Eugene (Moosa Mostafa), Thing (Victor Dorobantu) secretly sets her up to go to the dance with Tyler (Hunter Doohan), in whom Wednesday has some romantic interest. Wednesday may be attending the Rave’N Dance reluctantly, but when Tyler asks her to dance, Wednesday performs an unusually gothic dance to “Goo Goo Muck” by The Cramps, one of Wednesday season 1's many songs. The other Nevermore students are shocked at first by Wednesday’s sudden performance, but they all soon love the performance of her personality and skills.

Related: How Wednesday Broke Stranger Things’ Netflix Viewing Record (What It Means)

Who Choreographed Jenna Ortega's Dance In Wednesday?

Wednesday dancing

Jenna Ortega’s dance in Wednesday was choreographed completely by herself, using inspirations from '80s goth clubs and previous Addams Family content. Ortega says that she is not a dancer nor a choreographer, and doing the dance made her feel quite insecure (via ScreenRant). Also, in an interview with NME, Ortega reveals that she only received The Cramps' song a week before filming, so had to choreograph and perform the dance at that time, as well as unknowingly having COVID and being quite ill during filming. The results of Ortega’s choreography perfectly capture Wednesday Addams, and its eccentric nature only adds to Wednesday's individuality within Wednesday.

Jenna Ortega's Influences For Wednesday's Dance Explained

Wednesday staring up at the ceiling and dancing in Wednesday

Ortega completely transformed her life to truly become Wednesday Addams by learning the cello, fencing, and even German. Learning the dance was a key aspect in Ortega's commitment to the character. Jenna Ortega used plenty of inspiration to help her truly embody her character Wednesday while performing the dance at the Rave’N. Ortega shared that her moves were inspired by the dancing in goth clubs in the 1980s, which was very unique and expressive, similar to Wednesday’s personality. In a tweet from Jenna Ortega, she explains other influences behind Wednesday’s dance moves included “Siouxsie Sioux, Bob Fosse’s Rich Man’s Frug, Lisa Loring, Lene Lovich, Denis Lavant,” as well as the archival footage of goths dancing in clubs in the '80s. Ortega used these inspirations in Wednesday to match Wednesday’s gothic style, emphasized even more by her dress in signature black at the all-white-themed Rave’N. Ortega even used inspiration from old adaptations of The Addams Family, including Lisa Loring’s Wednesday Addams and John Astin’s Gomez from the 1964 The Addams Family sitcom.

Notable Moves In Jenna Ortega's Wednesday Dance Explained

Jenna Ortega; Lisa Lorens; Addams Family; Lurch

A number of tweets (via Variety) point out that Ortega’s move where she has her arms framing her pays homage to a move Astin did as Gomez, who is a very flamboyant character. Ortega replicates this move perfectly using the poise that Wednesday and Gomez both have as characters. Also, when Wednesday throws her arms behind her while moving across the floor is perfectly inspired by Loring’s Wednesday. Loring’s Wednesday is teaching Lurch (Ted Cassidy) how to dance and shows him the move. Despite all the praise from audiences, Ortega’s dance has been criticized by some audiences for being too weird. However, including these moves from the old The Addams Family sitcom only shows how much contemporary audiences are missing the point of the dance. By using specific moves from different versions of the character, Ortega has only emphasized Wednesday's unique physical presence that makes her so endearing. Plus, using moves from different versions of Wednesday Addams also cements her personality in Wednesday, showing that while Wednesday explores a relatively unexplored period of Wednesday’s life, her unique character traits and eccentricity remain the same.

Why Jenna Ortega's Dance In Wednesday Is So Important

Wednesday Addams at the Rave'N dance at Nevermore Academy

Ortega is being praised for many aspects of Wednesday, and her ability to embody the gothic character in itself is a big part of that, but Ortega’s dance specifically is so important to Wednesday. Firstly, it shows massive dedication to the character of Wednesday Addams from Ortega, including not blinking during filming. Adaptations of cult classics can often be slated for being unable to continue the story to a high level. However, Ortega’s dedication to understanding and becoming Wednesday, as proved by the choreography and execution of her dance, meant that Wednesday was able to successfully continue the Addams Family story. This is enforced by Ortega’s dedication to learning the cello, German, fencing, not blinking during filming, and even changing her posture in her everyday life. Jenna Ortega’s dance is the biggest show of how Ortega’s dedication allowed her to become the perfect successor for Wednesday Addams to capture the unique, and very Gothic, the personality of Wednesday.

Related: Whose Hand Is That? Wednesday’s Thing Actor Explained

Ortega’s dance was also a huge moment for her character Wednesday in the plot line of Wednesday. Wednesday, who did not want to attend the Rave’N Dance (nor attend the outcast-filled Nevermore Academy altogether), turns up unsurprisingly in all-black, making her stand out against the white-themed party. Ortega mentions she was insecure performing the dance, but the confidence in her performance perfectly captures Wednesday’s view on life. Wednesday stood out at Nevermore, but she was never vulnerable, performing the dance changes this and makes her vulnerable in front of her peers for the first time. However, in true Wednesday Addams style, she didn’t care what others thought of her and made sure people knew it. Wednesday embraced who she was, whether it was openly stating her happiness with setting piranhas on the swimming team or her skill with the cello. However, at the Rave’N, Wednesday showed who she was through dancing. Wednesday may look at certain things with disdain, including her problematic season 1 love interests, and the social setting of the Raev’N may have been one of them, but her dance shows the layers Wednesday’s character has and the important influences Ortega had when becoming the titular character in Wednesday.

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