Fun tidbit: a friend of mine was a writer for this episode and was extremely frustrated with how it turned out. It just so happens that this was one of the last episodes the writers worked on before the strike. Since it was deemed “far enough” along in the writing process by the producers, they went ahead and animated it without any rewrites. Needless to say, my writer friend was furious, as the rewriting process only helps to strengthen their work. He claimed that with a few rewrites it would have been up there with the classic Simpson’s episodes. Either way, I thought it still rocked!

He also said they were considering using Baryshnikov as the teacher, but decided to go with a more “Fosse”-esque presence.

Two other dance-related episodes spring to mind: the one where Lisa joins the tap dance troupe only to be exposed as a fraud for wearing robotic shoes (tappa-tappa-tappa). And of course the classic where Bart impresses the school with his ballet stylings, but later outs himself and becomes the subject of ridicule. (+2 pts for use of a Tab cola)