Claire Danes Recalls ‘Improvising’ the Happy Dance Scene in My So-Called Life: ‘It’s Just What Came Out of Me’ (Exclusive)

Although only 19 episodes My so-called life aired before its cancellation, the show was full of memorable moments.

During a recent interview with PEOPLE discussing the show’s 30th anniversary, Claire Danes recalls several scenes, crediting creator Winnie Holzman for her remarkable ability to create a rich world of authentic teenage characters.

One scene that stands out to Danes was from episode 7, titled “Why Jordan Can’t Read.” After Angela Chase (Danes) and Jordan Catalano (Jared Leto) kissed in his car, she watched him drive away. Angela, lost in thought, palms on her lips, slowly walked down the sidewalk to her house, but as she did so, Angela unexpectedly did a happy dance—a brief moment that is sweet, touching, and symbolic of the unadulterated joy teenagers experience with young love.

The Danes, it turned out, improvised moves. “I remember the happy dance very, very well, because it wasn’t written like that,” says the actress. “But I started out as a dancer, and I worked with this woman, Ellen Robbins, for years, from about 4 to 14, when I moved to LA and My so-called life.”

Claire Danes, Wilson Cruz & ‘My So-Called Life’ Cast Have Virtual ‘Belated’ Reunion

Claire Danes and Jared Leto in ‘My So-Called Life’.

ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

“She was a great teacher, I loved improvising and I was just rocking,” she says of the scene, adding, “But that’s why I did it, because it was my experience and my training. It was loose and it was very honest, and that’s what what came out of me [the producers] he trusted me in that way, that I could choose that way.”

Another climax occurs in episode 17, “Betrayal.” After Rayanne (AJ Langer) slept with Jordan, she and Angela shared a heartbreaking moment rehearsing a scene from the 1938 play. Our City Thornton Wilder. As Rayanne performed on stage at Liberty High School, her lines in the scene — “Take me back,” she begged — stirred emotions in her and Angela, who realized their friendship was now broken by Rayanne’s actions.

“It was so clever, and so was the premise,” says Danes. “A play within a play, Hamlet the storytelling style that Winnie achieves there that they communicate with each other tacitly through that other story. It’s a really imaginative way for them to communicate with each other indirectly and for us to understand where they are with each other and their relationship at that moment. And it’s also completely believable. Every high school puts on a play every year, well [it’s] very grounded in reality and also a skillful way to get into their relationship, into their friendship.”

Danes is also particularly fond of episode 15, titled “So-Called Angels,” which centers on Rickie (Wilson Cruz) experiencing homelessness during the holidays.

“I have such a deep affection for Wilson and such a deep respect. He’s a really brave, smart, scary, lovable and hilarious guy,” says Danes. “I think it was a great experience, because it reflected so much of a deeply personal, intimate reality for him, in the same way that Angela also felt like a direct parallel for me.”

Claire Danes says Jared Leto was ‘brotherly’ to her My So-Called Life: ‘It was really sweet’ (exclusive)

AJ Langer, Claire Danes and Wilson Cruz on ‘My So-Called Life’.

ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

“There’s never been a gay Latina character on the television screen, but there haven’t been that many girls with rich inner lives on the screen either,” she continues. “There weren’t very many, not with that level of dimensionality and complexity. Kudos to Winnie, but of course also to Wilson for sharing it with the world. That’s a big vulnerability.”

Danes, who won a Golden Globe for her role in 1995, says she hears from moms her age who watch the series with their teenage daughters, and says many gay men also share what she My so-called life growing up meant to them.

“There are actually a lot of gay men who have said they first saw each other at Rickie’s,” she says. “I’d say that’s the most consistent and moving feedback I’ve gotten from people. I am very touched.”

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Now, when Danes reflects on the show’s legacy, he recalls the quote: “It’s not who does it first, it’s who does it second.’ I think My so-called life he was the first and I think that’s why he had such a limited lifespan. It was so new that I don’t think people immediately knew how to register it.”

“[The characters] they were all really specific, vivid, authentic characters that now feel iconic,” she continues. “I think it was so surprising to really get into the inner world of a teenage girl who was so honest and so curious and thoughtful and sensitive. … We didn’t spend that much time with the girls, really intimate time in their company seeing the world through their lenses.”

All 19 episodes My so-called life are available to stream on Hulu.

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Source: HIS Education