Watch Jenna Ortega Get Down in the Haunting ‘Wednesday’

Watch Jenna Ortega Get Down in the Haunting ‘Wednesday’ Dance Scene
Wednesday Addams is known for a lot of things — a taste for vengeance, deadpan humor, a love of the macabre and… dancing. You might not expect that last thing to join the list, but the Addams Family’s resident “storm cloud” has a long history of breaking it down on the dance floor, dating all the way back to her appearance in the original 1964 television series. Jenna Ortega’s iteration of the iconic character in Wednesday is no exception. In Episode 4, “Woe What a Night,” Wednesday puts on her little black dress and heads to Nevermore Academy’s annual Rave’N dance, where her unpredictable dance moves take center stage.
The magic of Wednesday is that you never quite know what she’ll say or do next. Ortega wasn’t quite sure at first how Wednesday would do in this particular setting, but she quickly figured it out and even choreographed the entire dance routine herself. “We talked about having it choreographed,” co-creator Miles Millar tells Tudum. “And then Jenna was like, ‘No, no, no. I got it in my head.’”
For inspiration, Ortega turned to the first Wednesday, played in the original sitcom by Lisa Loring. “She does this side shuffle with her hands and with her feet,” she says. “I think I did that at a certain part of the dance, as an homage to her.” In a tweet, Ortega also paid homage to a few other inspirations, including Holy Motors star Denis Lavant and Bob Fosse’s choreography for “The Rich Man’s Frug” from Sweet Charity.

The scene came as a surprise, even for Ortega’s co-stars. “In the script it was just ‘Wednesday dances and then Tyler kind of copies it,’” says Hunter Doohan, who plays Wednesday’s dance partner Tyler. “I kept asking what it was going to be and then Jenna showed up and just did that.” So, yes: Doohan’s reaction on the dance floor was fully organic, encouraged by Wednesday director Tim Burton. “I remember [saying], ‘Tim, all I can do is stand here, kind of gawking in amazement,’” Doohan says. “And he was like, ‘No, no, no. A lot of guys will relate to that.’”
Playing Wednesday, meanwhile, was relatable to Ortega in a different way. “It was a very freeing, gratifying experience, because you don’t have to care,” she tells us. “She sticks to her guns, and she’s not out to please anybody. Which, as someone who used to be an immense people pleaser, I really respect.”

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