The touching and feel-good movie of "Dirty Dancing" was filmed chiefly at the Mountain Lake Resort near Roanoke, Virginia. This webpage will bring the reader some photos of this resort today, along with some stories of the filming of "Dirty Dancing". Please check the links at the bottom of the page for several websites detailing the story, cast and crew. Special thanks to the following members of SwayzeMania, who attended a special SwayzeUnion in July 2001 at the Mountain Lake Resort and provided much of the inspiration and material for this page: Rene, Carli, Jessica, Sharon, and Ro! Thanks also to Frances, for her scene contributions!

Basically, the Mountain Lake Resort was used for filming anything in the Houseman cabin, the gazebo, the outside of the lodge, the grounds of the resort, the lake, the kitchen, and the dining room, including:

The opening scene when the Houseman family arrive at Kellerman's (SwayzeMania members tried to find the exact spot where the long view camera shot was taken, but there are now trees grown up that block the view.)
The Houseman cabin and all the scenes shot inside the cabin. The cabin today is pictured below.
All of the activities on the lawn with either the lake or the lodge in the background.
The first time we see Johnny Castle is in the dining room that we ate in.
All of the dining room scenes were shot at Mountain Lake.

This standup is from the little store at the resort. The gals from SwayzeMania convinced the owner to let them "borrow" Patrick for a day. Yes, they were definitely the talk of the resort during their visit!
The first dance in the gazebo when Penny is teaching everyone and Baby ends up with Mrs. Schumacher.
All the outdoor dance scenes in the gazebo, some of which were from the angle of the boat dock.
The kitchen scene where Penny is crying and Baby sees her and later Johnny and Billy come to get her.
The 1957 Chevy car scenes.
The lift scenes in the water (unverified - may have been filmed at Lake Lure).
The scene where Baby and Johnny are walking and they stoop down quickly to prevent Baby's father from seeing them.

"I don't think you ever had any intention of telling him - ever".
The scene in the gazebo between Baby and her father. This was one of the times that the leaves were spray painted green.

Most of the remainder of the filming was done in North Carolina at a place called Lake Lure. These scenes would include:

Staff quarters sequences.
Ballroom scenes such as the initial Mambo between Penny and Johnny, and the final dance between Johnny and Baby (it is unverified if some of the ballroom sequences also occurred at Mountain Lake).
Johnny's cabin.
The practice dance shots of Johnny and Baby, including the "Love is Strange" Lake Lure apparently had a type of dance studio.

This is Room 232, otherwise known as the room where Patrick slept during the filming at the resort. Though the resort has gone through remodeling and revision, this is still "the" room!

There is a terrific company selling Kellerman's t-shirts, and soon they will have a "Nobody Puts Baby in a Corner" tshirt as well. These shirts are very well done (this webmaster is the proud owner of one), and they come highly recommended. These tshirts look just like those in the images below:

"I Carried a Watermelon"

A True Story from the year 2000

As told by Rene, SwayzeMania's Own Kinkybrat

I went to the grocery store and bought a huge watermelon and as I was taking it out of the cart...that line hit me...and I started laughing and almost dropped it....and the checkout girl looked at me so funny and I said....I carried a watermelon!!! She said "Dirty Dancing!" I really cracked up then....and when I brought it into the house.....I went into Dave and said.......I carried a watermelon!!! And he started cracking up, too!!! So...I was Baby....if only for a minute or two!!!! Just was the WRONG MINUTES!!! LOL!

Dirty Dancing
Moments to Remember!

Lovingly referred to as the "ga-gung" scene, these photos show the closeness and tenderness growing between "Johnny" and "Baby". The following is submitted by Frances, another member of SwayzeMania:

"Once you catch your breath and recover from the excrutiating sensuality of even thinking about feeling Patrick's heartbeat, you are ready to recognize that there are lots of other things going on in this short scene. Most obvious is that another level of Johnny's complex personality is revealed. Dancing moves Johnny's heart, not just his talented, sexy body. He is both more thoughtful and more insightful than it appeared when he burst through the doors of the staff quarters and danced not only with Penny and Baby, but seemingly with the whole room. He is also more emotional and more feeling than he has seemed. But this scene is also the first tangible indication of the intimacy that is developing between Baby and Johnny. What could be more intimate than sharing someone's heartbeat? And when that heartbeat is Johnny Castle's ... well ... maybe you don't even care what else is going on in the scene!"

Cynthia Rhodes does a fabulous job as "Penny" and is wonderful to watch in "Dirty Dancing". Cynthia made a few other films, but married musician/singer Richard Marx in 1989 and eventually retired to raise their 3 children. Learn more about Cynthia at the Cynthia Rhodes: Actress, Dancer, & Singer website.

The "giggle" scene is priceless, mainly because it is so very real. Long before this webmaster was a fan of Patrick Swayze, I recall seeing an interview on "Entertainment Tonight" that showed excerpts from the "giggle" scene, revealing that actress Jennifer Grey really was laughing, and Patrick really was frustrated with her because her laughter prevented getting the shot as planned. In the end, with cameras rolling the entire time, the "giggle" scene is one of the most endearing scenes in "Dirty Dancing".

SwayzeMania's Frances notes the following insights as she describes the scene: "Jennifer's arm goes up in the air and Patrick's hand comes down along her side.and she starts to giggle! Then he rolls his eyes, clearly angry, and throws her arm up in the air again, and again, she giggles. According to Choreographer Kenny Ortega, Jennifer was really giggling ---- and Patrick was really angry. He'd throw her arm up in the air and bring his hand down along her side again and she'd giggle.

Director Emile Ardolino kept telling them to stay with it, but if you look closely you can see Patrick look off toward the side at someone, obviously disgusted! Jennifer was exhausted, and Patrick wanted to finish the shoot and get off the oppressively hot set. Jennifer has said that sometimes when you are really, really tired, wonderful things happen because you can't control things or try to make a scene perfect, the way you think it ought to be, and certainly that happened in this scene. Patrick's anger and disgust become Johnny's, and Jennifer's exhausted giggling becomes Baby's, making the movie stronger because of it.

Patrick has said of all of the dance rehearsal scenes that he really was teaching Jennifer to dance. He really did get frustrated with her when she'd be silly at the time he wanted her to be serious and learn something, but the camera was rolling all the time this was happening, so the result in the movie is what Patrick calls a "slice of life" -- a very realistic series of scenes, and a real treat for Swayze fans!"