On January 20, 2006—20 years ago today—High School Musical premiered on the Disney Channel. What started as a lighthearted made-for-TV teen movie soon became a worldwide phenomenon. For dancers especially, it was a turning point: The film’s approachable, high-octane choreography shaped an entire generation of talent and introduced countless fans to commercial and theater dance. Two sequels followed in 2007 and 2008, with the final installment, High School Musical 3: Senior Year, premiering in movie theaters. To this day, few youth-oriented movie-musical franchises have reached the same level of slam-dunk success.

To celebrate HSM’s 20th anniversary, Dance Spirit is speaking with some of the movies’ most integral dance figures for a monthly Q&A series. Today, we’re kicking things off with HSM associate choreographer Chucky Klapow.

Stay tuned for more, and go, Wildcats!

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In 2005, Charles “Chucky” Klapow was directing the WNBA Los Angeles Sparks dance team when he got a call from choreography agent Julie McDonald. Klapow, who’d assisted Marguerite Derricks when he was a teenager and performed alongside Paula Abdul and Celine Dion, suddenly had the opportunity to work with another one of his idols: Kenny Ortega.

“Kenny was looking for a young choreographer, and someone preferably who knew how to do stuff with a basketball,” Klapow tells Dance Spirit. “I knew how to dribble. I knew how to shoot. So Julie linked me up with Kenny.”

It was, as they say, the start of something new. Once on board (first as an assistant, then as an associate choreographer), Klapow collaborated with Ortega and commercial choreographer Bonnie Story to create High School Musical’s iconic numbers. He also danced alongside the actors in each of the films, instantly recognizable by his high-voltage energy and pitch-black shag haircut.

How has it already been 20 years since HSM premiered?

I don’t know where the time went! Twenty years is a long time, but it really feels like yesterday. A lot of us are still close after all these years. Most of the time when you do a gig in L.A., you make friends on the project, but then go your own ways. This was different.

A still from “Get’cha Head in the Game” from High School Musical, with Chucky Klapow on the far left. Photo by Fred Hayes, courtesy Disney.

What do you remember about first getting involved?

The very first day I was set to meet Kenny was the final audition for the main actors. They’d already gone through the singing and acting cuts, but they hadn’t done a proper dance audition. Lucas [Grabeel], Ashley [Tisdale], everyone was there that day. They hadn’t gotten their parts yet. At the end of that cut, the casting directors weren’t sure about Zac Efron. But Kenny was putting his foot down, adamant that Zac was our guy. That’s Kenny’s gift. He knows how to find a superstar.

Next thing you know, I’m going to Utah to audition the dancers, and Kenny says, “Hey, why don’t you dance in it? You still look young enough.” I was like “This is amazing,” you know?

What was the creation timeline like for the first film?

We only had 10 days to choreograph and rehearse every single number. Then we had about 21 days to shoot the whole movie.

It was an unknown Disney Channel original film. It was super-low-budget, and we had no time, so Bonnie, Kenny, and I would meet early in the morning to choreograph for two or three hours together and plan what we were going to do that day. The actors would come in before lunch, and we’d work with them for an hour or two. The dancers would come in from 2 to 6 pm for dance rehearsals and basketball practice. Then we’d throw the actors in again when they were available.

How did you develop the movement?

Our process was always that Bonnie and I would start choreographing, and Kenny would come in later and adjust. Everything with Kenny and Bonnie is about storytelling. The very first day of rehearsals, we worked on “Get’cha Head in the Game” and started with the dance break. At first, I was just throwing out steps because the beat and energy were so cool. But Bonnie said, “Chucky, when Kenny walks in the room he’s gonna ask what that means.” So she took my motion and groove and changed the arms to tell more of a story.

It was seriously an even team effort. No one person was doing any more than the other, which is rare and refreshing. I learned the art of choreography from the best mentors in the world.

Ten days is not a lot of time. How did you get all the numbers so clean?

During days where they weren’t shooting the dancers, we would all meet up at the school’s basketball court and do cleanup rehearsals. Kenny would be on set somewhere directing while Bonnie and I drilled the dances over and over.

A still from “Stick to the Status Quo” from High School Musical, with Chucky Klapow right of center. Photo by Fred Hayes, courtesy Disney.

What was it like working with actors who hadn’t had much dance experience?

The cool thing about the way Kenny approaches choreography is that the movement goes with the lyrics. If the actors know their lines, it all happens naturally. It drives the story along, and the audience connects more with it subliminally. I think that’s why the dances were so popular.

Kenny doesn’t always cast the best dancers in the world. He casts personalities. If someone’s   messing up a bit, but they have such a joyful spirit and something that’s magnetic, Kenny would kick me under the table during the audition and say, “Hey, Chuck, you can work with them, right?”

Do you have any favorite memories from those years?

Hanging out with Lucas and Monique [Coleman]. Some of the actors were 16, but Lucas, Monique, and I were in our 20s. We’d just chill in one of our hotel rooms in Salt Lake City after rehearsals, drinking wine.

Nobody was super-famous yet. Everyone was grounded and down-to-earth, and just excited to have a job and hang out with cool people. It was such a great energy. I think that comes through in the films.

What about a favorite dance number from the franchise?

The dancing and the music got better with each movie. I think the first one is the best film, just as a film. But dance-wise, I think the third movie was the most intricate and exciting. I’m so proud of “A Night to Remember,” the prom number.

I really like “What Time Is It?” [from HSM 2]—the way it goes from place to place, and the energy is so electric. And I think [HSM’s] “Stick to the Status Quo” is really fun. There’s so much action. That number specifically taught me how to tell a story through movement.

Oh, and the last number in HSM 3—the graduation scene. I love that one. We took the elements from the other movies and paid tribute to everything that came before it. We wanted it to feel like “We’re All in This Together,” but on a bigger level. It turned out so, so well.

How did you grow the complexity of the choreography across the films?

In the first movie, we had to work with the actors first before bringing in the dancers. As soon as we started rehearsing the second film, we threw them into the fire and said, “Learn this together.” We were able to do that because between the first two movies, we did the concert tour, which had a ton of dancing. We performed together every night for months. The actors all developed their skills and were ready for more difficulty. Then we went on tour in South America after the second movie. Zac did Hairspray. By the third film, he was looking like some of the principal dancers.

It was fun to put more technique into the choreography. There are a lot of jobs where you never use any of the technique you’ve been training in your whole life. We had strong dancers, so we could take advantage of their ability and find moments where it made sense to use it. I mean, we had Britt Stewart, Haylee Roderick, Allison Holker. We all started on HSM.

On set at High School Musical. Photo by Fred Hayes, courtesy Disney.

How would you describe the impact of HSM?

Before High School Musical, there weren’t many boys at dance conventions. I remember a significant shift after that first movie. People would say that Lucas and Corbin inspired young guys to go out and take dance classes. That was really, really cool to see, and they would all tell me they’d watched HSM and it made them want to dance. It makes me so happy to think about how it inspired so many people at that young age.

Are there any other reflections you’d like to share as we celebrate this anniversary?

I hope the films continue to inspire people. I hope that the kids who grew up with them now show their kids, and I hope it resonates. They’re not your typical Disney movie; they’re based on normal people. Normal kids doing normal kid things. I have a feeling that it’s gonna endure for a long, long time. Yeah. I pinch myself thinking about the fact that I was part of it.