Celebrating 30 years of Flashdance

“First, when there’s nothing but a slow glowing dream…”
It was in the early years of MTV, a revelation in music history, when Paramount Pictures released a movie called “Flashdance” on April 15, 1983.
As we all know, the movie tells the story of Alex Owens (Jennifer Beals) who works as a welder by day and dancer at night. A young girl’s dream of wanting to become a ballet dancer against all odds. Paramount Pictures did not really believe in the box office potential of the movie and albeit the mixed reviews, the film was a worldwide smash hit that became a pop culture phenomenon, grossing over $150 million and featuring an Award-winning soundtrack.
What is the secret of Flashdance, of its longevity? It’s hard to tell, nobody can foresee whether or not a storyline will touch people’s hearts as much as it did. Flashdance included the right ingredients: an encouraging tale about following one’s dreams, about love, friendship, integrity; a fairly unknown, beautiful young actress, fancy clothes and last but not least good music. In the first two weeks following the opening, the soundtrack sold 700,000 copies. Some sequences almost seemed like a gigantic videoclip, a new tool that later that year would also boost Michael Jackson’s career (Thriller). Read more >>