The Ultimate Guide to Napoleon Dynamite's Dance: Song Origin, Heder's Exhaustion, and Trivia
By James H. Sterling
Director Jared Hess first met Jon Heder while both were students at Brigham Young University. The duo produced a nine-minute black-and-white short film titled Peluca in 2002, which introduced the prototype for the Napoleon character under the name Seth. Hess knew from personal conversations that Heder possessed an uninhibited, idiosyncratic way of moving to music, often dancing spontaneously in dorm rooms or at house parties.
When Hess expanded the concept into a feature script alongside co-writer Jerusha Hess, the climactic assembly routine existed only as a vague placeholder. The script gave no step-by-step instructions. It simply instructed Napoleon to take the stage and perform a routine to rescue Pedro Sánchez's bid for school office after Pedro froze during his speech. Hess banked entirely on Heder's physical bravery.
The production arrived at Preston High School in the summer of 2003 operating on a razor-thin budget of roughly $400,000. Filming the assembly required gathering dozens of local extras who sat in uncomfortable wooden auditorium chairs for hours. Hess had no money for a professional choreographer, nor did Heder want one. They agreed that any polished, rehearsed routine would shatter the awkward authenticity of the character. Napoleon had to dance like an isolated teenager who practiced alone in his carpeted bedroom with rented instructional tapes.
James Sterling reports on renewable energy developments, climate policy, ecological conservation, and green tech innovations around the globe.
