Memories of the movie Shall We Dance

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This article was published 28/04/2019 (1850 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In the summer of 2003, part of Shall We Dance, a $75-million Hollywood movie production was shot in Winnipeg, including a few scenes in our Fort Garry neighborhood.

Winnipegger Barré Hall had a small role in that movie, where he got to meet director Peter Chelsom and joke around with stars Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez.

“They were really nice,” Hall remembers. “Wonderful guy, Peter Chelsom. (Jennifer Lopez was a) nice person, too. We greeted each other a few times. Richard Gere kept on bumping into me and calling me ‘Silver Fox,’ which was my name in the movie. Very nice person. I was quite impressed with him. He always made me feel comfortable.”

At the time, Hall and his wife Dawny were regulars at the Ted Motyka Dance Studio downtown, which became the movie’s headquarters for the dance scenes. When the movie called for extras and small roles, Margaret Motyka, one of the studio owners, suggested Hall.

After an audition and interview with Chelsom, Hall won the role of the dance studio owner’s boyfriend in the movie.

“It was a very small part. Right at the very end in the credits. I have a four-to-10-second scene where I am doing the foxtrot with Mitzi.”

There is also a dance scene in which you can see Hall dancing around in a white tux.

“Just look for the guy with white hair right at the end.”

The role required an afternoon of rehearsing and then his scene was filmed four times until they had a good take, which took until 3 in the morning.

Hall got into ballroom dancing in 1994, when his wife encouraged him to join her in taking lessons.

“I had little to no interest in ballroom dancing,” he says.

Once he got into it, though, he enjoyed the athletic and artistic component.

“It’s challenging and I like challenges. I am an exercise guy. At least I was when I was younger.” 

By 1997, he and Dawny were entering in competitions.

“Once you get the hang of it, it is quite a good hobby. We did competitions in the ’90s and then eased off and did general ballroom dancing.”

When younger, Hall rode his bicycle every day, sometimes up to 100 kilometres a day. When he retired, he added winter biking. Now Hall’s exercise centers around ballroom dancing, and he still takes lessons once a week at the Ted Motyka dance studio. 

Hall grew up in Fort Garry, where his father, a former air force pilot, was the area’s second doctor after the war.

“I started medical school in 1963 and then switched to law as I had more interest in business and politics than health care matters,” he says.

After he graduated with a Manitoba law degree, he moved to the U.S., where got an American law degree from Northwestern University in Chicago. When he returned to Winnipeg, he joined a firm that became Thompson, Dorfman and Sweatman, where he was a partner for 25 years. Hall retired in 2002 and spent more time enjoying his hobbies of cycling and ballroom dancing.

Helen Lepp Friesen is a community correspondent for Fort Garry. You can contact her at helenfriesen@hotmail.com