With a marching band, balloon arch and an excited student body, East High School welcomed back “High School Musical” director Kenny Ortega on Wednesday afternoon. The following day, before a dramatically different audience, Ortega was greeted by booming applause at Silicon Slopes’ annual Summit.
“This is my dancing cane. I’m still dancing.” the 75-year-old director joked, lifting his cane as he took the stage in East High’s auditorium.
Memories flooded Ortega from the moment he arrived at the front of the school, he told East High students. It has been more than two decades since Ortega directed the first “High School Musical” at the Salt Lake City high school, where he later returned to complete the franchise.
Ortega returned to East High to mark the recent 20-year anniversary of “High School Musical,” and to offer drama students direction and pointers for their upcoming stage production based on the film.
Leading students through rehearsals of “Stick to the Status Quo,” “Start of Something New” and other musical numbers was especially meaningful for Ortega.
“None of these folks here today — in terms of the student body — were alive when we were here," he told the Deseret News. “To see that they’re here and that they’re carrying the torch, it’s monumental. It fills my heart with such happiness and gratitude.”
During both his visits to East High and the summit, Ortega reflected on his other career triumphs beyond “High School Musical” — from “Dirty Dancing” and “Hocus Pocus” to “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” and notably, directing and choreographing the Emmy-winning opening and closing ceremonies of the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.
Before his work on the 2002 Winter Olympics, Ortega had not spent much time in Utah — but directing the opening and closing ceremonies introduced him to the state’s deep talent pool, which he still admires today.
Reflecting on his time directing the ceremonies, Ortega said, “The talent and the hearts that live in this place, the investment that people were willing to make, the time they were willing to take out of their lives to support our ceremonies, the compassion, the energy.”
“There’s just great schools here, and there’s great enjoyment here of the arts,” he continued. “Music and dance seems to be alive here in this beautiful, mountainous region.”
‘A life-changing event’
While preparing to direct and choreograph the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympic ceremonies, Ortega got a call from Michael Jackson.
Ortega served as Jackson’s creative partner and stage director for 25 years, and the pop star wanted Ortega as the director of his upcoming “world tour.
“This is awkward timing,” Ortega recalled telling Jackson. “I’m getting ready to do the Olympics for the first time in my life.”
“And Michael said, ‘That’s OK. You can do both,’” Ortega said. “And that’s what happened.”
Ortega was given the tremendous undertaking of conceiving, directing and choreographing the massive, televised Olympic ceremonies. More than 10,000 local performers volunteered to be involved.
“We found 8,000 people that performed in my opening and closing Olympic ceremonies,” Ortega said. “8,000 Utahns performed unbelievable skating, dancing, anything you can imagine, aerial work. They were all here. It’s an extraordinary community with such talent and incredible educators.”
Just as the production was crossing the final hurdles, the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, threw the country into “complete dizziness” and at a loss “for words and direction,” Ortega said.
In the wake of the tragedy, President George W. Bush and Mitt Romney, who served as the president of the 2002 Salt Lake Olympic Organizing Committee, came together and decided not to cancel the Olympics. They saw The Games as an opportunity to demonstrate American strength and show the world the nation would not easily be shaken.
Ortega held a meeting with all 10,000 Utah volunteers. Every volunteer was given the opportunity to withdraw if they felt unsafe or worried for their families, including the many children participating in the ceremonies.
Not a single volunteer walked away.
“We put on a show for the world that was filled with heart and soul and remembrance and will live in my heart and in the treasures of my memories forever,” Ortega said.
The ceremonies included a 9/11 tribute featuring New York City police and firefighters, giant puppets of native Utah animals, performances by The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, a Western-style pioneer hoedown and over 100 drummers from Utah’s five Native American tribes.
For Ortega, the Salt Lake City Olympics were a “life changing event.”
“It was one of the most beautiful experiences of my entire life and career, and I will remember it fondly for the rest of my days here on this earth,” Ortega said. “It was magical.”
Kenny’s advice for East High students
During his visit to East High School, Ortega took a moment to answer questions from a packed auditorium of students as he shared lessons from his five-decade career.
When students sought guidance on how to pursue careers in music, entertainment and the arts during difficult periods of life, Ortega encouraged them to take full advantage of the learning and growth opportunities already at their fingertips.
“You have more than we’ve ever had to grab from now than we’ve ever had,” Ortega said. “Don’t be lazy. You’re in one of the most fantastic communities right here, right now, and there are doors open to invite you in to study and to learn whatever it is that you’re looking for.”
The director also reminded students that Salt Lake has incredible acting and dance teachers as well as great vocal instructors.
He went on to reflect on the challenges of his own upbringing, and shared how overcoming obstacles, hard work and passion helped him reach the heights of his career.
“We were born in a shack. We call them Casitas, but we were born in a little wooden shack,” Ortega said of himself and his sister Debra, who was in the crowd.
“Now I’m an Emmy Award winning, Director’s Guild Award winning, (I have a) star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and I’m a legend at the Walt Disney Company. And I grew up in a shack,” he said. “So don’t let anything in your life convince you that you are not capable and deserving of owning your dreams.”