With leg warmers, Air Jordan’s and parachute pants — this year’s youth musical plans to dish out ’80s style.

Though most of the actors in 24th Annual Summer Teen Musical hadn’t seen the film Footloose, they’re excited about reliving their parent’s glory days.

“Once I heard the music and read the script, I was really into it,” said lead actor Sabrina Roberts, a 16-year-old from Tahoma High School.

Thirteen-year-old Danisha Carter, accepting her first major role as the character Rusty, chose Footloose for the sake of her mother’s nostalgia, she said.

“The characters of the girls are just kind of crazy,” she added.

For some actors, it’s about being someone else for a change, said Nick Watson, a recent Tahoma graduate. “It’s escaping life.”

Drawing most of its teen actors from the South end, the Renton program teaches youth how to better act and dance, said director Vincent Orduna.

“He’s really challenged me,” Watson said, who learned how to not overact and to always face the crowd.

Roberts also learned how to get inside her character, she said. “He’s shown me a different way to approach things.”

The youths are handling rehearsals of the dance-heavy show well, Orduna said. “We have some really phenomenally talented kids this year, it’s going to be a lot of fun.”

A surprising 19 boys tried out for the 15 male-role positions, he said. “I blame High School Musical, but for whatever reason we got a lot of boys.”

There were 69 youth who tried out and a total of 34 were casted.

Though many look back on ’80s fashion in horror of the excessive use of shoulder pads and hair spray, the young actors dawn their costumes with excitement.

“I like how they just throw whatever they liked together and make it look good,” Roberts said.

Carter likes to dress in ’80s style during school spirit weeks, she said. “It’s different and weird.”

Footloose tells the story of Ren, a youth from Chicago, who moves to a small town where the local government banned dancing and rock music.

Ren and his classmates try to figure out a way to have dancing at their prom, but first they must face Minister Shaw Moore, who blames the death of child on the influence of rock music.

“It’s just a dance-heavy show,” Orduna said. “I think it’s a lot of fun, because they’res a lot of ’80s music.”

Renton Reporter staff writer Celeste Gracey can be reached at 425-255-3484, ext. 5052.