By Elsa Kirkegaard and Grace Nelson
Video: Gene Kelly and Jerry Mouse dancing in the hit musical Anchors Aweigh (1945)
Gene Kelly brought dance into the film industry and made it more commercially acceptable
Experimented with depth/angle in camera movement using space to create an "in-person" effect in film.
He also used special effects combined with live action which broaden the possibilities for dance in films.
Video: Gene Kelly showing that dancers are athletes by turning sports movements into dance. (Go to 8:05 - 8:23)
Kelly encouraged the idea that dance is for everybody by comparing it to sports; by likening dance to sports, he helped Americans to stop "othering" dance.
Gene Kelly performed a tap dance with sports legend Sugar Ray Robinson, showing that dance is also masculine. This helped to destigmatize the idea of male dancers.
Gene Kelly choreographed and directed several films throughout his career that brought dance and musicality into the spotlight and helped promote the idea that dance is for everyone.
References
“Anchors Aweigh.” Gene Kelly & Jerry Mouse - “The Worry Song” (1945), YouTube, 8 July 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZKNX1iKaMY. Accessed 12 Dec. 2023.
Dancing, A Man's Game. 1958. Performance by Gene Kelly, Omnibus, 2020. YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmII7--KRM0.
“Gene Kelly.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., 4 Dec. 2023, www.britannica.com/biography/Gene-Kelly.
“Gene Kelly.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 21 Nov. 2023, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Kelly.
Guernier, Matthew. “SHATTERING STEREOTYPES THROUGH SONG & DANCE: HOW GENE KELLY DEMOCRATIZED DANCE AND PAVED THE WAY FOR THE AMERICAN MALE DANCER.” University of Florida, 2021.