There’s a scene near the end of Bridgerton’s second season when — spoiler alert — Anthony Bridgerton and Kate Sharma meet on the dance floor and finally let their big, beautiful, almost unbearable feelings for each other surface. “Just keep looking at me. No one else matters,” Anthony tells Kate. And indeed, dear reader, they cannot take their eyes off each other.
It’s in danceable moments like this that the main characters of Netflix’s wildly successful adaptation of the Regency romance fall in love and find their way to happiness. The man who designed the steps and guided the actors through them is Jack Murphy, a London-based choreographer and movement director who has worked on all three seasons of Bridgerton — including the highly anticipated Season 3, which premieres in two parts on May 16 and June 13, as well as “Queen Charlotte. History of Bridgerton”.
Murphy cites Anthony and Kate’s final dance as one of the most memorable he’s worked on so far (along with Daphne Bridgerton and the Duke of Hastings’ firework dance at the start of Season 1; and the moment in “Queen Charlotte” when Brimsley and Reynolds, two men dancing together on a hilltop, away from the prying eyes of society).
But don’t ask Murphy to pick his favorite. “Every dance is special because they are my babies,” he says. And that includes a few things he can’t wait to see and share in the upcoming season.
My parents met at a dance hall. From a very early age, I knew about coming together through dance under extraordinary circumstances. I was born in London to Irish parents. They are a mixed marriage, Protestant and Catholic. My father joined the Royal Air Force and was stationed in Northern Ireland. He took all the men to a dance hall and met my mother. So my connection to dance started with my parents. It’s always been in my blood.
The first time I went dancing was when I was 16. It was one of the most extraordinary moments of my life. I fell in love with being able to be free in my body in front of all these other people who wanted to be free in their bodies.
By the time I was interviewed for Bridgerton, I had already spent 30 years on the job— the first five years I worked as an actor, and then I retrained as a director and choreographer specifically for working with actors. My first job as an assistant was on Colin Firth’s Pride and Prejudice for the BBC.
I had an outstanding interview, chaired by: [“Bridgerton” executive producer] Betsy Beers, that included the invitation and me [director] Julie Ann Robinson on the floor to dance to explain quadrille. She said, “How would you learn it?” And I said, “Well, the easiest way is to get up and do it.”
When I work with actors, I don’t talk about jetés. To be romantic and open about it, you have to be fantastically brave. I prefer to take people to a place where they have to be very brave through terminology they are used to rather than terminology that scares them. I would ask them what they would like to non-verbally convey to the audience. I encourage them to stay rooted in history.
The dance there is to show the etiquette, the rituals to belong. If you watch the Bridgerton choreography, everyone is doing the same thing at the same time, so you get a great sense of belonging.
I won’t let the actors move for the sake of movement. They must come out of intention. “I want to woo you. I want to direct you. I want to seduce you. I want to impress you.”
There’s something you’re going to see in Season 3, in Episode 4, that’s extraordinary. The writers gave us this wonderful gift. You will see some of the storytelling in the dance, which is not social, but very much a show dance.
We are not just brains, we are bodies. We need to touch. And that’s why I think “Bridgerton” appeals to so many people, because there are very few social dances now. I believe fans see these people being easy on each other through movement. They have experience that we don’t have. You can’t get this in an app.
This is the greatest gift of my career. There will be no more Bridgerton for me. I know this is my legacy.