August 23 is the birthday of the great dancer/choreographer, Gene Kelly. His screen persona in the MGM musicals showed everyday people just how much fun it would be to dance in the street.
In opening scene from On the Town (1949), Kelly, Frank Sinatra & Jules Munshin share the sights and sounds of New York, but the dance is contained, mainly repetitive hand jestures.
Kelly's first wife, dancer Betsy Blair said of Kelly truck-driver style, "A sailor suit or his white socks and loafers, or the T-shirts on his muscular torso, gave everyone the feeling that he was a regular guy, and perhaps they too could express love and joy by dancing in the street or stomping through puddles...he democratized the dance in movies."
In American in Paris (1951), Kelly teaches the Parisian children how to speak English and how to dance by singing an American song, I Got Rhythm, by using his whole body to become a soldier, Hop-a-Long Cassidy, Charlie Chaplin, or even an aeroplane.
S'wonderful Jerry Mulligan (Gene Kelly) & Henri (Georges Guetary) unbeknownst to each other, are in love with the same girl. Their feelings of love can't be contained in the cafe, and their dance spills out into the street.
This dance number from the 1955 musical, It's Always Fair Weather, 1955, is known as "The Binge."
Three Army buddies - Michael Kid, Dan Dailey and Gene Kelly - have a little too much to drink and they take to the streets for a dance. They go in, out and though the windows of a taxi cab, dance a raucous hoedown with trash can lids in a alley, before ending up right back where they started.
When he sings I Like Myself, rollerskates are a perfect match with the quickened heartbeat of love.
Come rain or come shine, Gene Kelly is always Singing in The Rain (1952).
The next time that you see people dancing in the street in a commercial, a music video or a flash mob, be sure to do a little jig of thanks for Gene Kelly.
No comments:
Post a Comment