If you loved “Footloose” in all its ’80s glory, you now can relive it in Modesto

The 1980s called and they want you to get “Footloose” again — you know, cut loose, kick off your Sunday shoes. Go ahead and add a pair of neon jeans and some shoulder pads.

The call comes via YES Company, the Stanislaus County youth entertainment troupe, which brings the sounds and steps from the ’80s-era hit film to the Gallo Center for the Arts with a musical stage rendition. The spirited production runs July 21-30 in the art center’s Mary Stuart Rogers Theater.

YES founding artistic director Melanee Wyatt said the production stays true to the 1984 teen-rebellion movie, which starred Kevin Bacon as Ren, a teenage Chicago transplant to a small Midwestern town that has deemed dancing and rock ’n’ roll illegal — a law he sets out to change.

The production’s music and dance moves stay era-specific, as do the clothes and hair styles. And while it’s all practically ancient history for the seventh- through 12th-graders that make up the cast and crew, they still are all in for the production.

“The kids are thoroughly enjoying the music of the show,” Wyatt said, “not only singing the ’80s songs but dancing to them as well.”

The troupe received some impressive help with that dancing: Modesto native Mic Thompson, a professional choreographer who’s worked with stars, including Michael Jackson, came home to choreograph the YES production after being contacted by Wyatt, who he said he’s known since his Beyer High School days.

“It was awesome,” Thompson said about his time with the YES troupe. “They were really fun, they worked really hard ... very determined to get the (choreography) down.

Wyatt sought out Thompson after seeing him give his time at guest workshops with YES Company in the past, coupled with the fact that he was a young dancer in 1980s himself.

“He is energetic and gives his heart and soul to his work,” Wyatt said of Thompson.

The Las Vegas-based Thompson worked in Modesto with the troupe three days on “Footloose,” for which he created new choreography that he described as “funky and definitely high energy.”

Wyatt said he choreographed the steps for the show’s well-known music numbers, like “Let’s Hear It For the Boy,” “Still Rockin’,” “I Need a Hero” and “Footloose.”

Thompson often returns to the Modesto area to offer workshops and help other local troupes. He said he plans to return to Modesto for one of the shows at the Gallo Center to see the YES crew perform.

The YES Company cast and crew comes from middle and high schools throughout Stanislaus County. In addition, this production includes three college-age company alum. Helping fill out roles that span different ages, a couple of YES grads are in the cast as dancers, as are a few members of the county’s YES Kidettes and YES Kids troupes that are geared to grades 2 through 5.

This marks the second “Footloose” foray for the troupe, with the first back in 2002. It’s also the 26th year for YES Company itself, which is run through the Stanislaus County Office of Education and brings together area students to learn about the performing arts and put on an annual summer production.

“YES Company has been in existence long enough that some of the early participants have children now and they are bringing them to YES Kidettes and YES Kids,” Wyatt said, who added that the program is going strong, but continues to need community financial support from anyone willing to donate.

The program is “so much more than ‘just putting on a show,’ ” she said. “The student participants unite and through the experience of theater they acquire skills that they will use in their personal relationships and the working world such as discipline, commitment, responsibility, self-esteem and teamwork.”

This group is getting that 1980s history lesson, too.

“As difficult as it may be for some us to realize, the young 2017 cast and crew members look at “Footloose” as a period piece,” Wyatt said. “It puts it all in perspective as the majority of these young people were born in the 2000s!”

This story was originally published July 20, 2017 at 5:13 PM with the headline "If you loved “Footloose” in all its ’80s glory, you now can relive it in Modesto."