The Eighties were an interesting time. The clothes alone were unexplainable. Music was changing, and so were movies. As with any trend of an era, things tend to make comebacks. Those of us who grew up in the Eighties were almost certain that certain things from our time period would be spared a revival.
We were so very wrong. Leggings were one thing that made it back. Unbelievably, the Fashion Powers That Be saw it fit to bring back a fashion style that looks good on nobody, and that only 5% of the population can wear without looking like some sort of odd-colored sausage. Shoulder pads, bangly jewelry, rubber jewelry, obnoxiously bright colors - they've all made it to the shelves and kids are buying it up like crazy. What's next? Enormous bangs?
With all the Eighties madness, one thing has returned to The World of Cool that makes a little bit more sense. Dancing. We're not talking about ballroom dancing, ballet dancing or booty dancing. We're talking about jazz-hands, fossie-fossie, break-dancing, shake-what-your-momma-gave-you dancing. The kind of dancing you see on So You Think You Can Dance and the dance people on America's Got Talent. It is highly reminiscent of the dancing craze of the Eighties - with Fame, Flashdance, Footloose, and other influential movies. And TV shows! Arguably, one of the most influential shows with dancing was Solid Gold.
The Solid Gold Dancers were the epitome of everything the Eighties loved about freestyle interpretive dance. They were flashy. They were sexy. They had amazingly big hair. Boys fantasized about them. Girls wanted to be them. Vice versa, as well. Between the years of 1980 and 1988, we learned what songs were cool while we watched the Solid Gold dancers gyrate and move to those songs. Whether they were easy to dance to or not. Ever tried to dance to the theme song of Miami Vice? It isn't easy. Regardless, these dancers were selling gold hand over fist - merchandising gold and a fortune in dancing lessons.
Who were these amazing, influential, horribly dressed dancers? Where did these treasures end up? Was there life after Solid Gold Saturday Night?
Yes, to a point, for Tony, one of the original two males in the dance troupe. He appeared on Solid Gold until 1984, and enjoyed a successful career after that. He appeared in Michael Jackson's "Beat It" and "Thriller" videos, as well as Janet Jackson's "Nasty" video, to name a few. He played the character of Al in the film adaptation of A Chorus Line. Unfortunately, he died in 1995. As a side note, Michael Jackson ended up employing a lot of Solid Gold Dancers in various projects. Captain EO, especially, was pretty heavy with Solid Gold Dancers.
Alex and Helene were also in A Chorus Line, and Helene choreographed the video for "Walk the Dinosaur" by Was (Not Was), wherein Deborah was a dancer. Another venue for the later Solid Gol Dancers was the movie Breakin'. Cooley appeared in the first one, and Lucinda played the role of "Special K" in both Breakin' and Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo. There are also some other notable dancers.
Other film gems include Paul, who was "Waponi God Woo" in Joe Versus the Volcano. Mark, who was also in the "Thriller" video is an amateur country music singer. Gigi (who was on the show in later years) is Gigi Hunter - knitwear designer to the stars. Eileen was a successful Madonna impersonator in the "Legends In Concert" series.
Other Solid Gold Dancers became more famous by association. Chelsea, who also had a prolific TV and film career, has a son with Quantum Leap dude, Scott Bakula. Janeen married Michael Damain of The Young and the Restless and "Rock On" fame and became a movie producer.
Perhaps the most famous of the Solid Gold Dancers, Darcel Wynne retired to raise her family, but has recently written a book called Darcel Sexy's Back and She's Still...Solid Gold that came out in 2008. She was the top dog on Solid Gold and actually acted as MC for a time.
So there you go - all the things you didn't know you wanted to know about the Solid Gold Dancers. There are still many websites dedicated to the dancers and the show itself, and you can find lots of clips on You Tube, if you look hard enough. And you should - it's a fascinating piece of Eighties history.
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