Barry Bostwick<\/a> has a witty response at the ready anytime someone asks him if he can do the Time Warp.<\/p>\n \u201cI go, \u2018Well, is it a step to the left or is it a step to the right?\u2019 They have to say it’s to the left. I say, \u2018Because I only remember the pelvic thrust.\u2019 That to me was the most important part of that dance,\u201d says \u201cThe Rocky Horror Picture Show\u201d star about one of the soundtrack\u2019s signature songs.<\/p>\n The music of \u201cRocky Horror\u201d<\/a> for decades has entertained generations of fans, from the original 1973 stage show in England to the 1975 cult classic movie to so many revivals and midnight showings since. Everybody\u2019s got their favorite showtune, but what was supposed to just be a twist on the Twist, the buoyant and catchy \u201cTime Warp,\u201d<\/a> found a life of its own.<\/p>\n Join our Watch Party! <\/strong>Sign up to receive USA TODAY’s movie and TV recommendations right in your inbox<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Fran-N-Furter (Tim Curry, center) with his minions Columbia (Nell Campbell), Magenta (Patricia Quinn) and Riff Raff (Richard O’Brien) in “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”<\/p>\n \u201cThe genius thing was the \u2018Time Warp\u2019 told you how to do it,\u201d says Patricia Quinn, who played the servant Magenta on both stage and screen. \u201cThe only other song to do that was the ‘Hokey Pokey.’ “<\/p>\n Rehearsing for the original \u201cThe Rocky Horror Show\u201d stage show in 1973, director Jim Sharman wanted a song-and-dance number for the three servants. Riff Raff (O\u2019Brien), Magenta and Columbia (Nell Campbell) are minions of Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry), a lingerie-clad mad scientist from the planet Transsexual who creates a \u201cFrankenstein\u201d-esque muscle man named Rocky.<\/p>\n Campbell recalls Sharman asking for something like the scene in Jean-Luc Godard’s French film “Bande \u00e0 Part”<\/a>\u00a0\u201cwhere two gangsters and their moll put some money in a jukebox, and the three of them in unison dance the Madison.” (A popular 1950s line dance, the Madison is also mentioned in passing in the “Rocky Horror” movie.)<\/p>\n O\u2019Brien went home and wrote the “Time Warp” overnight. Quinn\u2019s first reaction: \u201cI looked at that and thought, \u2018Oh, God, do I have to learn all this?\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n The colorful Transylvanians do the “Time Warp” dance in “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”<\/p>\n \u201cTime Warp\u201d got a major revamp as the stage musical was turned into a film. It swapped spots and now led into Curry\u2019s big intro number \u201cSweet Transvestite.” Plus, an ensemble of more than a dozen \u201cTransylvanians,\u201d Frank-N-Furter\u2019s band of colorful acolytes played by London actors, were added to the film\u2019s rambunctious \u201cTime Warp\u201d sequence.<\/p>\n Joining original stage actors were Bostwick and Susan Sarandon, playing the innocent young couple Brad and Janet who accidentally wind up in Frank’s gothic castle, and \u201cTime Warp\u201d is the moment where their collective world is rocked.<\/p>\n Columbia (Nell Campbell) hopped off a jukebox and tap-danced into the hearts of fans in “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a little bit like \u2018The Wizard of Oz.\u2019 You were watching something very foreign but delightful because all the Transylvanians brought their own personalities to that dance,\u201d Bostwick remembers. \u201cYour eyes were always bouncing between the creativity that those very stoned people were doing that day on that set.”<\/p>\n In terms of characters, \u201cTime Warp\u201d is most significant for Columbia, who sings a bit of an origin story plus gets a glitzy intro and that nifty tap break. \u201cYou would have thought I was Fred Astaire. I went over it and over it\u201d during filming, Campbell says. She also appreciated her costume makeover, from her \u201chideous\u201d old stage getup \u2013 including pedal pushers and some sock garters \u2013 to a sequin-filled movie outfit of yellow jacket and top hat, red bow and multicolored corset and shorts.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was so fabulously sparkly,\u201d Campbell says. \u201cI don\u2019t mind pedal pushers in life but my God, when you\u2019ve got these gams, you might as well show them off.”<\/p>\n Once \u201cRocky Horror\u201d found a following as a midnight-movie phenomenon, \u201cthe \u2018Time Warp\u2019 went into discos and was taken up by the public generally,\u201d Quinn says.<\/p>\n \u201cTime Warp\u201d and its dance are now performed at everything from weddings and bar mitzvahs, not to mention various cover versions and its appearance on Halloween song compilations.<\/p>\n Everyone still \u201cgravitates\u201d toward this \u201csilly spoof\u201d off the ridiculous dances of yesteryear, says Linus O\u2019Brien, son of Richard O\u2019Brien<\/a> and director of the “Rocky Horror” documentary \u201cStrange Journey.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen my son was in elementary school, they were playing all these Halloween songs and then the \u2018Time Warp\u2019 comes on, and I turned around to another parent and said, \u2018God, why are they playing this song?\u2019 \u201d O\u2019Brien says, laughing. \u201cIt was a bit outrageous for elementary school.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/span><\/div>\n
\u2018Time Warp\u2019 came from needing a \u2018Rocky Horror\u2019 dance<\/h2>\n
With \u2018Rocky Horror\u2019 movie, the \u2018Time Warp\u2019 grows in size and scope<\/h2>\n
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Now, \u2018Time Warp\u2019 lives on as a pop-culture staple<\/h2>\n