Lydia (
Debbie Allen ) was a student in
Fame (1980), not a teacher as is commonly thought. She was an older student who was just supposed to be helping with the auditions. There were a couple of deleted scenes which show her facing off against Coco, who was supposed to be a peer and a rival of hers. When the producers asked Debbie Allen to come back to do this show, it was two years later, and she was obviously no longer a high school student at that point. Because of that, and because the editing of the original movie wound up making her look like a teacher anyway, they changed Lydia from a student to a dance teacher for this show.
