Young Boy And Girl Take Stage For Incredible 'Footloose' Performance Which Leaves Judges' Heads Whirling

Jan 08, 2021

In 2017, Paige Glenn, then 8 years old, and Artyon Celestine, then 9 years old, had the judges of "America’s Got Talent " floored with their killer dance routine to "Footloose." The young dancers perfectly showcased a tremendous amount of talent and ability despite their young age and definitely proved that dancing has no age requirement.

Glenn and Celestine first met at a dance class in California and had instant chemistry when it came to dance.

The pair’s journey first started on "AGT" when they auditioned for the show with a performance to "Barbie Girl." Although they did not impress Simon Cowell with their performance, the rest of the judges were thoroughly entertained, and they were sent to the Judge Cuts.

For their second performance, Glenn and Celestine chose a classic, "I’ve Had the Time of my Life," which ended up getting them a standing ovation from Heidi Klum, Mel B, and guest judge Seal.

The pair then returned the next episode with a killer dancing number to "Footloose."

The video starts with an homage to the movie from 1984, showing Glenn and Celestine in a class setting. The regular lesson is interrupted when an older man, presumably the principal, announces via loudspeaker that there is a new rule: "No dancing. Anywhere." The camera cuts to Glenn's horrified face shortly before she turns around to stare at Celestine, who seems just as shocked as her.

When class ends, everybody hurries off home. We can see Celestine almost dancing in the halls, only to stop abruptly when one of the teachers glares at him. Glenn runs out of the building and down the streets while the music already starts playing in the background. The whole setup will bring to mind "Footloose" to anybody who has watched the original film. The little video introduction to their on-show performance ends with Artyon saying, "They told us we couldn't dance" and Paige answering with "Let's see them try and stop it."

After this cute homage, Glenn began the actual performance on the judge’s table. Smiling brightly at the camera, she started off with a few simple dance moves, much to the delight of the judges behind her. Celestine, meanwhile, made his grand entrance on the stage, starting his dance in the midst of several backup dancers.

"Footloose" came out in 1984 and tells the story of a teenager trying to get a ban on dancing appealed in the small town he just moved to. Nowadays, it is considered a classic and iconic dance movie; one of the great hits of the '80s. Even younger people will at least have heard of it or may even have seen it. "Footloose" received very mixed reviews at the time of its release, with many critics writing scathing comments.

Rober Ebert, a great film critic of the U.S., published his review in the Chicago Sun-Times and stated that:

"'Footloose' is a seriously confused movie that tries to do three things, and does all of them badly. It wants to tell the story of a conflict in a town, it wants to introduce some flashy teenage characters, and part of the time it wants to be a music video. It's possible that no movie with this many agendas can be good; maybe somebody should have decided, early on, exactly what the movie was supposed to be about. [...] If the movie had only relaxed and allowed itself to admit how silly the situation is, it could have been more fun. [...] As for the music video scenes: On three different occasions, the movie switches gears and goes into prepackaged MTV-type production numbers, with the fancy photography and the flashy quick cuts. These scenes may play well on TV, but they break what little reality the story has, and expose 'Footloose' as a collection of unrelated ingredients that someone thought would be exploitable."

Other prominent critics of the time, such as Dave Denby of New York Magazine went even further in their condemnation:

"'Footloose' may be a hit, but it's trash - high powered fodder for the teen market... The only person to come out of the film better off is the smooth-cheeked, pug-nosed Bacon, who gives a cocky but likeable Mr. Cool performance."

Despite all problems with the movie's plot, however, most critics agreed that it had a wonderful soundtrack. Its titular theme song, written by Kenny Loggins, conquered the charts worldwide. In the U.S., it reached place number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and also got top place in corresponding charts in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and South Africa. 

What many people don't know is the fact that the movie takes its inspiration — at least for the underlying ban on dancing — from real life.  Elmore City in Oklahoma is the actual inspiration for the movie's plot. The small town with a population of fewer than 1,000 people was originally founded back in 1898. Ever since its founding, dancing had been banned completely in the small rural town. This ban's reasoning was similar to the movie plot: it was feared that dancing would lead to alcohol consumption and sex. As a result of this, the Elmore City high school had never had a prom until 1980, when the senior class petitioned to be allowed to have one. In a very tense school board session, the school board president finally broke the tie the board members found themselves in when he voted in favor of the students. The decision even reached the national news at the time. And in this way, Elmore City became the inspiration for an iconic movie.

Artyon and Paige's 'Footloose' performance many years later was full of energy and cheek, which had the audience roaring as they watched. 

Complete with jumps, kicks, and multiple twists, the two dancing prodigies impressed everyone in the room with their upbeat routine that fits the spirit behind the movie perfectly. Despite this, unfortunately, they did not gain enough votes to move on to the semi-finals. That did not stop Mel B and Klum from once again giving them a standing ovation though!

You can watch their full 'Footloose' performance in the video below.

What did you think of Artyon Celestine and Paige Glenn's performance? Let us know in the comments and make sure you pass this along to your friends and family!