Four decades after Kevin Bacon shouted “let’s dance” in “Footloose,” students at Payson High School where the movie was filmed are on an all-out mission to have the star attend their prom.
Utah's Payson High School was where Bacon's Ren McCormack shows up in the movie and tries to overturn a local ban on dancing.
The high school is set to be knocked down later this year, meaning students will be relocated to another building, per the Hill and USA Today. Students there decided that, before the high school-turned-movie set is turned to rubble, Kevin Bacon should come for one last goodbye, at prom.
Payson students set to work to get Bacon's attention about their invite, learning dance moves from Footloose and re-creating scenes from the film, then posting them on social media with the hashtag #BaconToPayson.
In a TODAY exclusive, NBC’s Kaylee Hartung reports on their viral campaign — and Bacon's live response!
Jenny Staheli, the school's student council adviser, tells Today how proud she is of what the students pulled off. "To watch them just take ownership of that and run with it has been ... it succeeded beyond my wildest dreams, honestly."