Juul Haalmeyer - The Juul Haalmeyer Dancers

The Juul Haalmeyer Dancers

The Juul Haalmeyer Dancers were a woefully inept troupe of variety show dancers on the television sketch comedy show SCTV. They premiered on series 4, cycle 1, episode 8, titled Bouncin' Back to You with The Tubes.

Catherine O'Hara wanted bad dancers for the Bouncin' Back to You segment with Lola Heatherton. O'Hara auditioned professional dancers, but they couldn't dance poorly, so she asked the show's costume desgner, Juul Haalmeyer, to put something together with whoever was available. O'Hara named the dance group The Juul Haalmeyer Dancers because it sounded similar to the June Taylor Dancers.

The dance group changed with each episode they appeared on, with Haalmeyer being the only constant. The dancers were made up of the show's cast members who weren't busy elsewhere, the show's writers, and miscellaneous crew members who were available.

All the dancers were dressed identically, with Haalmeyer creating the costumes. The choreography and dance routines were kept simple and jointly developed by the dancers. The signature exit move — fingers pointing down while backing up — was developed by Eugene Levy.

The character of "Juul Haalmeyer" was allowed to develop over the course of several episodes and was seen on occasion without the dance troupe. In his final appearance, he and SCTV character Lola Heatherton revealed that they were in a relationship.