White Nights (1985 film)
Jenny Burton – “People Have Got to Move!“
Produced by Nile Rodgers
While on the Atlantic Record label, I recorded “People Have Got to Move” with Nile Rodgers for the film White Nights. The collaboration was arranged by Doug Morris, record executive, who was at that time chairman and CEO of the Universal Music Group.
Working with Nile Rodgers was a great experience. “People Have Got to Move” is featured in a dance segment with Mikhail Baryshnikov and Gregory Hines in the film. I couldn’t have been more honored. See the video below.
One of the best things about what I get to do as an artist, is who I’ve been able to do my art with!
White Nights is a 1985 American musical drama film directed by Taylor Hackford and starring Mikhail Baryshnikov, Gregory Hines, Jerzy Skolimowski, Helen Mirren and Isabella Rossellini. It was choreographed by Twyla Tharp. The title refers to the sunlit summer nights of Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg).
A little about the plot:
When his plane makes an emergency landing in Siberia, ballet dancer Nikolai Rodchenko (Mikhail Baryshnikov) is recognized as a defector and brought into custody. Returned to Leningrad and reunited with his former love, aging prima ballerina Galina Ivanova (Helen Mirren), Nikolai meets American dancer Raymond Greenwood (Gregory Hines), who defected to the Soviet Union during the Vietnam War but has secretly grown disenchanted. Together, they plot an escape to the American consulate and freedom.
Watch these two amazing artists dance, and even more spectacular, watch them dance together!
