I am a GenX’er on the younger side. This means that when Dirty Dancing came out in 1987, I was a tad too young to be allowed to go to the movies with friends (without adults) but old enough to suffer the FOMO around it. The drama. I don’t even remember how many months I had to wait until it came out on VHS and how many more until the entire neighborhood had already watched it and the damn worn-out copy was available at last. A friend rented it (we didn’t have a player at home; yes, my childhood was horrible), and we watched it along with half the kids in the building one beautiful Saturday morning. And it was memorable.

You could say Dirty Dancing has its flaws. Dang, you could certainly say the movie is so cliche and cheesy that you could make three fondues out of it, and all that melted cheese together wouldn’t be as stinky-smelling as the acting. The truth is that, with all its flaws, Dirty Dancing is a beautiful part of my coming-of-age years, and to this date, it still stands as a captivating tale of love and personal growth, with outstanding dancing and amazeballs songs. In a world packed with patronizing Dirty Dancing reviews, please choose to read this one: Dirty Dancing Is an Underrated Feminist Masterpiece.

All right, yes. Dirty Dancing and Project Management. Let’s get to it.

Creative and brave problem-solving

What if I told you that what we have in Dirty Dancing is a driven project manager who presents a compelling case to her sponsor to secure some budget, then goes back to the team to figure out how to reach the next milestone successfully, and then she learns everything she needs to learn so that the team delivers, and when things get really ugly (as they do in every single project on earth) she doesn’t hesitate to put herself on the line and give terrible news to the sponsor so that he helps fix the problem?

Yeah, my friends. Baby does all that. The first challenge the movie shows us is Penny needing an abortion and the money to pay for it, so Baby gets the money from her father. The second problem they face is that the abortion will happen the same day Penny and Johnny have an important gig, so the team gets creative and replaces Penny with Baby. Baby then needs to learn to dance, and she needs to do it ASAP because there is a hard deadline there. Finally, the guy performing the abortion almost kills Penny, so Baby goes again to her father, knowing perfectly well she will be in colossal trouble for it.

Before we move on, please allow me: the movie is set in 1963. It kills me to know that many rights we’ve acquired since then are being questioned, attacked, and trashed. No person with a uterus should be forced to put their body at risk because of what they want or don’t want to do with that uterus. Not in 1963, not in 2023.

Let’s continue.

Teamwork and Collaboration

So, Baby and Johnny have to learn to dance together, which requires teamwork and collaboration. Dancing takes work. It requires skills, practice, and coordination, not only between your left foot and your right arm but also (and especially) between you and your partner. When done right, it seems effortless, especially from the outside, but in fact, it requires a tremendous amount of competence. When done wrong, every mistake is a struggle, and you can even get physically hurt.

I feel the same when working with teams. I wrote about the Tuckman model for teams a while ago to show the extensive effort that team maturity (a team in the performing phase) entails. When you see a team performing, you can bet they didn’t get there automagically. They most probably have badly stormed AF before. And you know what it is that teams have when they perform beautifully? It is something that Baby and Johnny also have when they dance at the very end of the movie. Yeah, you got it: they communicate well and trust each other.

Mentorship and Skill Development

A vital element of the plot is that Baby, who is presented as clumsy, needs to learn to dance. And she does. Similarly, as a project manager, you will need to constantly learn new skills, not only management skills but also skills related to the technology and tools your team uses. The cool project manager knows learning new skills is as fun as dancing. The fantastic project manager knows they can learn anything they put their minds to, even dancing. The sensible project manager knows they will make a shit ton of mistakes in the process.

Let’s talk mentorship now. We know that Johnny, an experienced dancer, teaches Baby, the novice. Similarly, in project management, experienced team members mentor and train newcomers. Passing on knowledge and skills is critical to team success.

Johnny also opens the door to a world Baby was totally unaware of before. Mentorship is not only about teaching skills but also about inspiring and opening minds. Having a seasoned and dedicated mentor is one of the best things that can happen to you professionally. Similarly, I will consider my career successful if I ever get to be an impactful mentor to someone else.

Put a little bit of your heart on it

I mentioned before that what makes the last dance awesome for Baby and Johnny (as opposed to the gig at the neighbor hotel mid-movie) is that they communicate well and trust each other. Well, there’s also something else.

The title of the movie is Dirty Dancing, remember? During the last dance, they play it dirty, spice it up, break some rules, and make stuff up. Isn’t the result outstanding? So, when we do our thing, we follow all the processes and take all the proper steps. Nothing prevents us from being creative, introducing changes, and trying things. Just don’t call it “dirty management” 🙂.

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