Choreography



CINEMATIC CONTEXTS

Some choreographed sequences involve the characters and the roles they play in the story, and others present performers whose sole function in the film is to dance. Down Argentine Way (1940), a romance with horses that takes place on a hacienda, has dances credited to Nick Castle (1910–1968) and Geneva Sawyer. At various points in the film, the characters attend fiestas that feature group "ethnic" dances and a plot-related vocal and movement specialty by Charlotte Greenwood (1893–1978), a veteran character actress known for her high kicks. The film also features spectacular duets by the tuxedo-clad Nicholas Brothers (Fayard [1914–2006] and Harold [1921–2000]), who just happen to be there, tap dancing and leaping over each other in full split. Most appearances by African American dancers (and musicians) are similarly "accidental," so that they could be deleted for distribution in southern states without marring the plot.

The MGM backstage musical Easter Parade (1948), set in pre–World War I New York, is a good example of how dance sequences could be fit into movies. Choreographed by Charles Walters (1911–1982) and with songs by Irving Berlin (1888–1989), ranging from vaudeville hits of the 1910s and 1920s to new ballads from the 1940s, the film stars Fred Astaire (1899–1987), with Ann Miller (1923–2004) and Judy Garland (1922–1969) as his partners in exhibition ballroom dancing. Astaire and Garland adopt the period style in plot-related exhibition ballroom dances that the viewer sees both in rehearsal and performance. The anachronistic "It Only Happens When I Dance with You" is pure 1940s adagio for Astaire and Miller. The film, which also features dance specialties suited to the stars, opens with a prop-manipulation solo for Astaire, this time dancing with a drum set. The onstage scenes include a special effect act for Astaire, tapping in real time in front of a chorus filmed in slow-motion, and the comic "Walk Down the Avenue" duet for Astaire and Garland dressed as tramps. Miller performs "Shaking the Blues Away," a surrealist solo in which she shows off her signature tap fouettés, surrounded by detached arms playing instruments through holes in the stage floor.

In the late 1940s and 1950s, Hollywood extended invitations to star choreographers from Broadway, such as Agnes de Mille (1905–1993) and Michael Kidd(b. 1919). De Mille's Oklahoma! finally reached the screen in 1955, with the influential dream ballet intact. Kidd restaged some of his Broadway successes, such as Guys and Dolls (1955), but also choreographed new musicals written directly for film. The Band Wagon (1953) includes a fake ballet, some overdone dances on a fragmenting set for the musical comedy of Faust , and two "improvised" dance-for-the-fun-of-it numbers. It ends in the glorious "Girl Hunt" sequence, a parody of Mike Hammer detective film noir and musical film clichésfor Fred Astaire and a slinky Cyd Charisse (b. 1921), who, as Astaire's character remarked at her entrance, "came at me in sections." The barn-raising dance in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954) was the surprise hit of the MGM compilation film That's Entertainment (1974). Kidd used social dance and stylized acrobatics with construction props to develop a set piece for the "brides" and their rival gangs of townies and frontiersmen lined up on distant sides of the sound stage. The women, lined up in the center, alternate dancing with the two sets of male partners. Kidd's grasp of the dance possibilities for the wide-screen format was so great that the sequence is used in That's Entertainment to demonstrate the necessity of letter-boxing.



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