Film dance scenes that stole the present
Oscar front-runner “La La Land” starts off with a bang, or should we say a burst – of jumps and pirouettes, not to mention bikes hurtling over the roofs of cars. It’s not easy to stage a successful dance scene for the cameras – especially at a motorway junction – but if such a scene works, it can be memorable.Yes it was heavenLOG SPINNING AND ARM WRESTLINGDANCING IN THE RAINMAMBO IN THE GYMTHE MAGIC OF MIKHAILSTEP IN TIMETRAVOLTA TRIFECTAYOU KNOW THAT LIFTA storm of dancing
A secret, says the choreographer of “La La Land”, Mandy Moore, is not to compete with the camera, but to find a way to dance with it, so to speak. “When done right, it’s that perfect marriage between the movement of the camera in conjunction and working with the movement of the dancer,” she says.
Dancing on a stage is three-dimensional; You lose a whole dimension on a screen. But what you can do is use the camera to convey emotions in a dancer in ways that you cannot on stage. “You can see how dance changes the person – that’s a key,” says Wendy Perron, former editor-in-chief of Dance Magazine and author of “Through the Eyes of a Dancer.”
Because everyone has their favorite dance moments in movies, and because the Oscars are coming, and because this stuff is just fun to remember (all available online), here are a few scenes where the cameras helped create dance magic:
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“I’m in heaven”, Fred Astaire sings to Ginger Rogers and drums Irving Berlin’s “Cheek to Cheek” in the film “Top Hat” from 1935. And so are we. “Fred is so cool and she’s so shy,” notes Moore, adding that the scene is so successful because it tells a story through movement. “They’re almost a little bit icy when they start out and then just as beautiful as they open up through the performance, and they’re just so free and beautiful when they dance together,” she says. Check out those passed out hurricanes towards the end.
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There is real gymnastics in Michael Kidd’s fast-paced choreography from the 1954 film “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers”. The big dance in the barn – with guys fighting for the girls – is a show stopper. Moore loves that this dance story is told without text. “These days we’re so used to being spoon-fed what we’re supposed to feel,” she says. Check out this guy on the spinning log, not to mention what can best be described as a balance beam routine that includes arm wrestling.
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Of course Kelly’s rain-soaked virtuoso performance in the title song of “Singin ‘in the Rain” (1952) is a miracle – especially when you consider that, according to the film story, he had a bad cold and a fever. Then there’s Donald O’Connor’s athletics – including somersaults to climb the wall – in Make ‘Em Laugh. But let’s look at the late Debbie Reynolds, who had no dance training at age 19 and somehow held her own, knocking with Kelly and O’Connor on the joyous “good morning” – which she believed made her feet bleed.
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There is no debate about the brilliance of Jerome Robbins’ choreography for “West Side Story” (1961). But which dance scene is rated the best? For Moore, it’s this opening with the jets and sharks and those snapping fingers. “You just take this snap and a little jump and everyone knows right away that it’s ‘West Side Story’,” she says. For Perron, it’s the mambo dance in the gym that Maria (Natalie Wood) and Tony (Richard Beymer) fall in love with. Especially that cinematic moment “when everyone else blurs and Tony and Maria come into focus and it’s just an amazing falling in love moment. The music slows down and it’s inevitable that they’ll come together and ignore the whole world.” . “
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You can deny the overall quality of the 1985 White Nights, but there is one thing you cannot deny: the dancing skills of Mikhail Baryshnikov and Gregory Hines. The two who both play defectors (it’s complicated) have silly dialogues but compelling dancing, together and separately. And if you only have two minutes, look for “Baryshnikov” and “11 pirouettes”. For 11 rubles he does a really single pirouette with 11 turns – perfect. In street clothes.
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They’re making a high profile sequel to “Mary Poppins,” but for many it will be difficult to reconcile some of the memories of the 1964 original, like Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke who featured in “Step in Time” – this joyous one Chimney – dancing sweep scene on the rooftops of London. “It takes the dirty, sooty experience of working on chimneys, and it makes it magical,” says Perron.
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You have to give it to John Travolta, who has provided more than his share of lasting dance memories. First there was “Saturday Night Fever” (1977), where the actor became famous on screen as Tony Manero, King of Disco and Champion of the Strut. Just a year later, he tore up the gym floor in “Grease” with Olivia Newton-John. And in 1994 there was this understated – but unforgettable – twist competition with Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction.
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Nobody lets baby off a list. Before Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling made “La La Land”, they made “Crazy, Stupid, Love” (2011), in which they recreated the famous “Dirty Dancing” lift made famous in 1987 by Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Gray A. Enough said.
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If you watch a dance clip let it be this: the Nicholas Brothers, Fayard and Harold, in their performance in “Stormy Weather” (1943), which must be seen to be believed. It’s not just that the brothers, who have overcome racial hurdles to make a name for themselves for their amazing talent, tap and twirl and jump tables; They also jump in movements that appear to be terribly painful. In the end they jump over each other via a staircase and land in crevices every time. And then they get up and smile. “You can’t be stopped,” says Perron. “And they make it so fun.”