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Dance Inspirations of the Week: Old Hollywood

I grew up on a steady diet of old musicals and wanted nothing more than to be a song and dance...er, woman. I pretty much loved any movie with dancing, and they were pretty much the only live action movies I watched as a kid. Now that I’m an adult, I’m finding that the performers/performances that have stuck with me have a bit more to do with their stories than what was captured on the big screen.

#1: Rita Hayworth. Half-Hispanic bombshell Margarita Cansino was discovered through dancing, principally Spanish classical/flamenco. Like many ethnic actors of her time, she hid her ethnicity by changing her name and undergoing hairline electrolysis - but her dancing betrayed her ethnic dance training. She’s best known for her roles in dramas such as Gilda, but she got her start in musicals with Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire. I love this duet with Fred Astaire from You’ll Never Get Rich (1941), where you get to see her big huge flamenco turns and footwork.

#2: Leslie Caron. Yet another star that became known a bit more for her acting than her dancing, Caron was a classically trained ballerina that was also discovered through her dancing. Her performances in films like Gigi and Lilli earned her the nickname “ugly duckling” in China, but in her first role in An American in Paris (1951), her dancing and physical skills really shine.

#3: Ann Miller. A rapid-fire tapper whose legs were insured for $1 million, Ann Miller never really attained top billing as an actress. In an interview a few years before her death in 2004, she expressed some regret over never getting credit for her skills as an actress as a singer even though she was well-known as a “hoofer.” I’ve always loved her performance in Kiss Me Kate (1953), where her comic timing and strong vocals shine almost as bright as her dancing. And you know the parts where you’re screaming at the screen because you want to see what her feet are doing? This movie was originally in 3D (you know, with the red and blue glasses and everything), and chock-full of gimmicks as a result.

#4: Bob Fosse. So, everyone knows who Bob Fosse is. Ann Miller often told a story of how she saw Fosse and Carol Haney messing around with a “brand-new” dance style on the set of Kiss Me Kate, and how she grabbed choreographer Hermes Pan and a producer or something and told them they needed to see what they were doing. Thus, this AMAZING scene ended up on screen, and Fosse was catapulted to dance stardom possibly as a result. Pre-teen me would rewind this scene over and over again - just look at it! Sexy, raw, engaged, and some how still not really that dated.

#5: Donald O’Connor. If you had asked pre-teen me to pick my ideal husband, I probably would have picked Donald O’Connor. I just found him so charming, elegant, funny, and not as intimidating as most leading men - which is probably why he never really became one. :( Even in Call Me Madam (1953) where he was ostensibly the male lead, he was still playing second fiddle to Ethel Merman.