Reflections

It was composed from feelings of lost love, with both the man and woman losing each other throughout the course of the story, and the loss of his parents. The video shows a type of dance not done between two people, but with the curves used to play the instruments that create dance’s partner, music. When analyzing the rhythms in this piece, you can look at the bigger picture – the universe – and realize that it is also rhythmic. People dancing together is only the beginning of the concept of dance.

She creates a beautiful sound, that can be remembered as haunting because of its almost perfect nature. She shows a lot of emotion in her face while she sings – expressing happiness as she reminisces on her home she will return to. The orchestra, like in ‘Somewhere in Time,’ dances with her, through their movements used to play their instruments. The clouds in the background of her video also do a kind of dance, moving slowly and gracefully through the sky, the tops curving like the dancers below. She moves her arms fluidly and gracefully along with her voice.

He pulls off this comical dance with ease – which is something that is already very difficult to do. It was an awkward and funny dance, but you can see how every move he makes is perfectly choreographed and rehearsed. When you change the song behind his dance (the September by Earth, Wind, and Fire audio dub), there is an illusion that he seems to speed up, when in reality he is dancing at the same speed as he was when the music was calmer and slower. Music can create these illusions easily by changing the apparent tempo of visual pieces of work.

Both men were perfectly in sync, as if only one person was tap dancing during the sequence. Each move was perfectly choreographed, with a flawless technique. It can be inferred that both men had lean, muscular bodies, and they were fit enough to not be out of breath by the end of the sequence. Their moves synced with the music very well, and while their feet did most of this work, their arms kept their fluidity in the curves they used to create the dance.

This song shows the power of the voice, because Pavarotti was already able to project very far compared to Stevie. He was able to project so well, that he was given a muffling microphone so that the audience would still be able to hear Stevie. Stevie was given a microphone to project his voice but even with both of those taken into consideration he was unable to project as loud as Pavarotti.

Both of them danced with each other, vocally, as well as with the conductor and the choir behind them. The incredible thing about this dance is that Pavarotti didn’t see the song before he sang it – he was able to read and perform the piece to perfection with Stevie without any mistakes and project so well too.

The group of actors performed in the movie through a play done for the movie audience. Cyd and Fred flowed well together and were able to both match the beats of the music even when they did different moves. Cyd had extremely fluid movements and she had a lot of simmering (restraint) sensuality. In that time, it was fairly taboo to be outwardly sexual, but she showed it in her movements, her flashy red dress, and the way she moves with Fred.

All of their movements were intentional – the transitions from slower to faster movements were seamless. Everyone in the scene was moving in time to the music – not one person was out of time. Every body part was isolated to match the beats of the music – the whole body is used as the instrument to convey the story through their movements. Costumes are very important because of the exposure of the female’s legs because she is curvier and more flexible.

They performed a play within the movie. Every time Vera moved her legs, her hips would sway slightly. This created a part of the curvature of her dance. Every movement she did had some sort of curve to it. She broke the fourth wall and winked and smiled to the people watching to make them feel like she was dancing for them – to make it more personal. She does a few different kinds of dances in this sequence and includes acrobatics. The dance is effortless for her and John, along with everyone else on the set, as no one is breathing hard by the end.

She was dressed in very different outfits that expressed the music through costume, but also different sides of her personality. In the dance where she put the chair between her legs, she emphasized all of her body even though it was a taboo thing to do at that time. The producers of the video tried to get that scene removed, but in the end the only thing they were able to remove it from was the final compilation scene at the end – they believed it was too scandalous for television at the time.

Her facial expressions show you the emotion she’s feeling that match the emotion of her dance and of the music. She performed a lot of dances that seemed to be inspired by ballet. This production was the first to have moving camera shots to show different angles of the dance. She also looked at the ‘camera’ a few times to connect to the audience. The dances had sexual restraint – they showed the body’s outline and her legs. Each dance creates its own atmosphere and mood.

She curves her body even as she descends on the stairs, accentuating her legs. This was done during the time of the war where men were watching a lot of television as entertainment, so it was something to appeal to them. As a part of this appeal, she breaks the fourth wall, while also showing a connection with her dancing partner, John. She smiles a lot as to make the atmosphere of the dance more cheerful.

This dance was done in the 1950s, set in the year 1928, where the first movies with talking people began to come out. It begins with a voice diction teacher that was teaching Gene and Donald how to talk for a movie production, but they were making fun of him behind his back. This sequence was a comedic form of dance. The men’s arms are curved throughout the dance, and they are not in sync with each other but are still in sync with the music.

The teacher is also a part of the dance – though it seems unwilling. His legs move in sync with his two students and the beat of the music. Their faces are charismatic throughout the whole dance – they are smiling and having fun being mischievous. By the end of the dance, neither man is out of breath.

This video featured some camera angles to make it more interesting. Both of their moves play off of each other – flowing together perfectly. They also dance with all of the props in the room – the curtains and the paintings – and use all of the space in the shots. The music in the background is accompanied by their tap dancing, which is all perfectly in sync and doesn’t sound off-tempo. This dance especially showed that dances have a beginning, middle, and an end – it tells a story, sometimes having foreshadowing where the beginning of the dance circles back for the end.

This was called flash dancing – which included different styles of dance: tap dancing, ballet, and gymnastics. In the video, they are performing for a movie audience. Both brothers move in time with each other and with the music. When they do the splits, they are in time to the music, which is very difficult to do – and it was like they were a part of the orchestra with their tap dancing. They always curved their movements, like when they got up from their splits. They would mirror each other, and they were perfectly balanced during all of these parts. With their jumping splits, they would land on the beats of the music – which would have taken months of rehearsing.

The other audience members that were eating also moved in time with the brothers and the music. Both brothers frequently landed on one foot with no problems. Their arms moved with grace – not straight and jerky. The floor is polished and slippery – they have a lot of control over their bodies to dance without falling. When they go down into the splits, the music slides with them. You can feel their energy as they perform, and the transitions were very smooth, and by the end of the performance they were not breathing hard.

This is set in the 1800s, when a family of woodsmen go to town to trade, smelling bad and looking dirty. The oldest brother finds a wife and brings her home to his brothers, who she cleans up and makes them look and smell nice. When the boys clean up, they all go to town to find themselves wives, but they encounter some city boys who also want to impress the girls. The sequence that follows was the longest in history, and one of the major dance battle sequences. The dance incorporated gymnastics into a routine that was based in more common forms of dance, including ballet. The dance tells a funny story about how the brothers get their wives.

They dressed in all of the colours in the rainbow, while the city boys were all in grey. As the atmosphere gets more competitive, the tempo of the music increases. Throughout the dance, the woodsmen consistently do impressive tricks using props and their gymnastics, while the city boys do more generic moves and eventually try to take some of the woodsmen’s moves to impress the girls. The women in the sequence danced for the entirety of the number, while the men switched off to dance with them.

When the men were doing gymnastics on the balance beams, you could see that they bend a lot and were not very stable, which shows how much coordination and technique they had to be able to dance without fumbling on the boards. The girls were wearing pastel versions of the colours of the woodmen’s shirts, which foreshadowed who would get the girls. Their dresses also went up in circles when they spun, signifying more of the curves present in the dance. There is one dancer that exits the scene with his partner early on, because he couldn’t do what the other brothers were doing, and then reenters the scene minutes later like he had been there all along. A lot of the girls’ moves came from ballet.

Karen Carpenter was a singer and she died of anorexia – which was seldom recognized in that time. Her brother, Richard, sang with her and also wrote many books throughout his lifetime. They won many awards for their music, which also had the curves of a dance. The way Richard danced in the video was fluent and curved, as was his sister’s swaying of her head and the curve of her lips as she sang. I recommended this song to my parents, because they like a lot of music similar to this.

This was the first dance to be done on roller skates (1930s), and it was done to perfection. This pair had danced together for years prior to this performance, so they were used to each other and were able to connect with each other more during the dance. Neither of them had any experience skating before this dance, which was surprising considering the things they could do while wearing the skates. During the dance, they displayed their level of control over their bodies by tap dancing and intentionally stumbling (adding to the comical atmosphere of the dance) while still looking graceful and fluid in their dance.

Their dancing throughout the sequence is perfectly in sync with each other and with the music, as if they were all one unit. They mix the roller skating with their tap dancing which adds to the musical part of the video. Along with this, while they sat, they also did a dance with each other – going back and forth, moving fluidly, while they argued over their likes and dislikes. When they skate in a circle with each other, they are aligned perfectly and one right after the other, which is hard to do when you’re moving on wheels. Then at the end, they both fall at the same time when they hit the grass, which they perfected on the 150^th take of the scene. Note: Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor, Fred Astaire, and Ginger Rogers were the only people to ever do dances on roller skates.

This sequence was a play that was done within the movie. Mitzi is not as versed in dance as the other women we have looked at – she cannot do ballet; however, she can do many other kinds of dance. In the play, Gene meets Mitzi in a bar when he is there with his biker gang, and they dance together. When Mitzi pushes Gene over the table and he falls, he does it with purpose and grace and it is all in time with the music. When Mitzi and Gene begin their dance sequence, the music becomes smoother and more romantic than it was when they were separated. Her legs do a lot of curved movements, which are especially noticeable when she moves in circles around the chair. As well as that, her dress spins out into a circle every time she spins. Throughout the whole sequence, it was like they were both floating – dancing so smoothly and so gracefully. It seems that dancing and sliding on a table would be very difficult, but it is so well rehearsed.

Mitzi, in the beginning of the scene, was wearing a white bow around her waist, and Gene was wearing a green biker jacket. Gene takes his off and then takes off Mitzi’s white ribbon, leaving both of them in plain black. With both of them in the same colour, while they dance it gives them the effect of blending together as one fluid unit. By the jukebox in the beginning of the sequence, Mitzi puts a coin in and then sways her hips while the men watch her, which was a common way for a girl to get a man’s attention in that time. When she is standing at the jukebox, all of them men turn to look at her at the same time in a circular motion. Every movement was timed strategically with the music, even when she closes the cash register, it is on a beat.

They look into the camera as well, breaking the fourth wall to connect with the audience, and as the dance progresses you can see her transition from being upset to very happy dancing with Gene. Gene actually choreographed this dance, and it was played during WWII for the soldier's entertainment - when it was said there was a decline in morality in America (the 40s and 50s). Mitzi, through a lot of the dance, was showing off her legs for that same factor of entertainment. As her and Gene dance together, you can feel their connection growing, but also notice their restraint – when Gene holds Mitzi’s handkerchief just out of reach. As with a lot of other dances around this time, they used all of the props that were available to them in the room and used the space in the shots well to convey their story. This took one take to film perfectly.

This story was based on a correspondent covering the queen, who was forbidden to see her even though they both had strong feelings for each other. They mix a lot of genres in this dance – showcasing their skills in the foxtrot, waltz, tango, Charleston, tap, and ballet. Through the progression of these dances there is a seamless transition as they use the space on the set to deliver all of them in a special way. They dance up the stairs and on the gravelly floor – which was the reason for Vera not wearing heels – as well as on barrels. They use the props to their advantage throughout the sequence without any accidental fumbling.

Because of the situation they were in, it was set in a dark underground place, also done to perfection in one take. The queen’s modest looking dress still came up to spin in a circle despite looking very heavy especially toward the beginning. The dance was playful, like a chase or pursuit, while they tried to build on their romantic relationship.

As they connect more and more, they smile a lot and even look at the camera (audience) twice in a row to make the connection with the audience as well. Their feet are always in sync and with the music as well, and their arms are always curved and moving in a graceful motion. Even their eyes danced when they were moving closer to the camera. All of the shots were carefully balanced, almost geometrically. Vera was in red, to showcase her royalty, and Donald wore a drab grey, which showed that he was a commoner. When they changed the style of dance each time, the music changed with them to suit the dance – ballet with more classical music, and the tap dancing with a higher tempo music.

The context of this song, contrary to the title’s modern meaning, is about a man who falls in love with a woman almost the instant they meet. When his wife dies, he never remarries – singing about how he will remain in love with her until the day he dies. Andy’s eyes dance a lot around the audience, and his facial expressions showed his happiness and bliss when he thought and sang about the woman that he loved. As he sang, his head danced in curves along with his lips and when he walked he swayed ever so slightly, which put more curves into his art. He has a very wide vocal range and is able to sing at varying volumes without losing the quality of his voice.

This dance is about a drunken man who is very upset about a girl, and he takes his anger out at the bar. The bar surface is very slippery, as he displays many times throughout his dance by sliding across it (potentially displaying his skill and control), as well as the floor, and he is still able to tap flawlessly and with so much control. He adds a comedic effect to his dance by stumbling during his dance, but all of his stumbles still look very controlled and rehearsed. When he is dancing on the bar and gets close to the stacked glasses, the music makes an almost alarm-like sound as if he was going to fall on them. The sound doesn’t happen as loud when he intentionally throws things at the glasses to break them.

Throughout his dance, it was almost like he was split in half – his top half was a careless drunken man and his bottom half was a controlled, skilled tap dancer. Michael Jackson once said that he could never be as fast as his “father,” Fred. It has been said that Fred is the fastest man when it comes to tap dancing – his feet move so fast and without fault. When Fred sat at the bar, he swayed to the beat of the music, and when he was throwing things at the glasses in the bar they would always hit on the beat. This is the first dance we have seen from Fred that he has expressed any real form of unhappiness and anger – and he is able to very accurately depict someone who is drunk (especially for someone who had never actually taken a drink before). In the dance he focused a lot more on the movement of his arms than in previous dances we have seen, which was especially noticeable when he looked in the mirror and moved his arms around.

Leslie plays an orphan in France (where she is actually from), living in a very poor orphanage. She is the oldest girl there, so she helps the headmaster to teach the younger girls. Fred Astaire plays a millionaire, on a business trip in France, who’s car breaks down right in front of the orphanage, so he goes inside to make a call. When he is in there, he notices Leslie, and asks the headmaster about her. She explains to him that Leslie does not really have a life to go to after the orphanage, she has spent all of her time there helping. Fred offers to pay for everything for her to go to America and start a life – go to college and experience new things. The headmaster accepts, and Fred proceeds to talk to some of the French people about arranging for her to move. He asks of everyone that Leslie never knows who he is – he will be her benefactor from afar.

When he is done and on his way out, she spots him by his car, but only sees his shadow. When she sees his shadow, and later when she learns of what he has done for her, she gives him the nickname Daddy Long Legs (because of how his shadow made him seem stretched out). Leslie spends most of her life searching for him – she goes to college and writes him letters all the time about how thankful she is for what he has done for her and how much she wants to meet him. He ignores all of her letters, but his secretary reads all of them and is touched by how much she is pouring her heart out to Astaire. Eventually, he goes to see one of her dance performances and she dances with him as well – when this happens, she discovers that he is the benefactor and that she also really likes him.

The dance takes place in a dream – she hears his voice and walks toward a door that opens up to a bar full of sailors. In her dream, she is a sultry young dancer, instead of just a regular college student, and she is trying her hardest to get his attention. Immediately you see her bright orange sparkly costume and notice that she has one of her dresses straps down on her arm instead of up like the other one. This can be seen as somewhat of a tease to Fred – where the subtle sexuality comes in. As she dances, you can see her movements are like that of a praying mantis – she caresses her leg with her other leg and moves toward him almost like an animal. Any time she gets near him, her hands are held out toward him as if she is begging for him to notice her.

The music playing in the background from the jukebox is also very mood-setting and sensual. When she asks the man by the jukebox for a coin, and when she puts it into the machine, it is on beat with the music. When she notices the two women sitting with Fred eyeing him, she gets defensive and does the praying mantis movement again. Her dress, her heels, and the way she was dancing all highlighted her legs and what they were doing at every point in the dance. Leslie danced very close to the ground which helped to create the sultry atmosphere she was trying to show. In the room, she is dancing with all of the men and they practically fall right at her feet – everyone except for Fred. It is almost like she is dancing with all of the men to make him jealous of them so he would give her all of his attention. At the end of the dance, as she moves toward him, he turns around and then when he looks back at her he is a completely different man, and the two women, along with Fred, had all disappeared.

Ginger plays a dance instructor, who gets fired because of her refusal to teach Fred how to dance when he notices her and goes in to talk to her. Once she is fired, he approaches the man who fired her and tries to tell him that she has already taught him how to dance, but he doesn’t listen the first time. Then, when he tells him again, the dance sequence starts. They have to act in this scene like they don’t really know the dance, when in reality they have rehearsed it for many hours. As the dance progresses they become more free-spirited and confident.

Both of them are synced perfectly with each other, even though they are doing the waltz and tap dancing mixed up together. Their tap dancing fits very well with the music. When they do the waltz, Ginger’s hand is not in the traditional position – it is freely flowing to the music instead of on his shoulder. She has amazing control over her spinning, especially because she does not have that extra hand for stability. She also uses her head as a way to distribute her weight and help her to turn (she rotates it in a circular motion). As they dance, they seem to be floating – especially Ginger – even as she lifts her dress to show off her legs. She only lifts her dress while she is tap dancing, to showcase the movements of her legs and her precision and technique. When Ginger and Fred jump, they always land at the same time, and as if there is no pressure directly on their feet at all.

I showed this dance to my mum because she mentioned that she knew Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire from movies she would watch when she was younger. She liked Ginger's technique and how her skill in dancing allowed her to appear as if she was floating across the floor.

Ella is a jazz artist - one of the greatest female singers of all time, and she is often called the 'queen of jazz.' Her voice is very soft and gentle and the song is very hard to do so quietly and to control so well. She has great control over her voice - moving from pitch to pitch seamlessly and when her volume changes, the quality of her voice stays the same. She was able to do a very good and controlled vibrato even though she was singing so quietly. Even as she got to the end of her life and she got sick, she was still able to sing with the same quality she had when she was younger. As she sings, she moves her head to the music, and when she gets louder she always moves the microphone away from her face to quiet her voice a bit. Her lips also curve like a dance to add to the music in the background.

Judy played Dorothy in 'The Wizard of Oz,' and she was sixteen when she first sang "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." She also sang "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." She is the greatest entertainer of all time - some call her a 'triple threat': she is one of the greatest actresses, one of the greatest female singers, and one of the greatest dancers. Mickey Rooney was also considered a 'triple threat,' but he was not seen as one of the greatest dancers. Judy doesn't know ballet like the other women we have seen (Cyd, Leslie, and Vera), so she is on the same kind of tier as Mitzi Gaynor. Despite this, she had a talent for being able to watch a dance one time and replicate it perfectly in one shot, much like Danny K.

In the dance, Judy and Fred's feet moved very quickly but matched up perfectly with each other, and the tapping from their shoes was in sync and also matched up with the music in the background. Judy actually sang the song during her dance performance, unlike other artists, and therefore sang over the audio recording they did previously for the movie. Her costume doesn't show that much of her body - barely her legs - which alludes to the fact that the producers wanted the focus to be on her voice and on the dance she did with Fred.

She is a lot more stiff with her dancing, even compared to her partner, and she doesn't sway her hips as much as other dancers do in their pieces. She is also a lot less curved and graceful, especially in this dance sequence. This shows that she doesn't have the same technical precision as Fred, yet she still has the talent to replicate dances that puts her in the top group. In this specific dance, the two did not connect with each other as much as the other dancers did from an emotional standpoint - but later in the movie they grow with each other and connect more emotionally.

This dance was a comedy dance, much like Fred Astaire's drunken dance, where he was upset about a girl. However, this dance was very strategically performed with balloons.

As Donald goes from standing on the bench by the table to sitting on it, he barely seems to exert any force on the bench - almost as if he floated down to it. This shows the amount of strength he had in his legs to be able to control his movement and the falling action so well. This is also displayed once more when he falls off the table and doesn't hit the floor with any force at all. Donald dances like he's falling over, as if he is drunk, yet only his top half really conveys that. His bottom half, mainly his feet, are moving very quickly, as he tap dances and spins and jumps to the beat of the music.

He also plays instruments while he is dancing - one with his hands (the tambourine) and one with the legs of a chair and then his feet (the xylophone), which he later smashes by jumping on it. All of his movements involving breaking things are timed and hit exactly on the beat with the music that is playing in the background. When he kicks the balloons to pop them after they fall, every pop is to the beat of the music, and his dance moves during that time are all in time with the music as well. At the end of the sequence, he makes eye contact with the camera, as people had been doing very frequently around that time. When he winked at the camera earlier in the dance, it was in time to the music, as well as when he hit the owner of the bar on the head and when he hiccuped. Every glass and piece of furniture he broke was in time with the music.

This comedic dance was dissimilar to other comedic dances, such as the Nutty Professor, because it involved more comedic aspects - like the funny song he sang with the dance and his acting. When the owner of the bar mentioned that he looked sad, the tempo of the music as well as Donald's routine increased to create a more convincing 'happy' tone. Donald also dances a lot with his face, making many facial expressions throughout the sequence. When he was doing spins in the air, he didn't look drunk, but instead he stumbled when he landed on his feet.

In the movie, Cyd Charisse plays a television personality and Gene Kelly is a fight producer. In that time, women were referred to as 'dames,' which was mostly used as a derogatory term referencing a woman's intelligence. Gene leaves Cyd with the boxers, who think that she is uneducated in the world of boxing. They begin to ask her questions and she answers all of them perfectly and without hesitation.

The scene starts off with the boxers singing, and Cyd listing the names of boxers that have won a certain award (which is surprisingly to the beat of the music playing in the background). Throughout the dance, Cyd swings her hips a lot and never seems to walk in a straight line - she always curves her legs around each other with each step she takes. The boxers in the sequence are professional dancers, acting the part of boxers, because they are able to throw and swing Cyd around with ease.

Occasionally during the dance she holds up her skirt, which shows off the movement of her legs. Her costume - a shirt with a belt (to form to her figure) and a skirt that was tight around the hips and flowy at the bottom - was able to show the movement of her hips and legs even more during the dance. She has a lot of control over her movements - when she spins she is able to stop perfectly on the beat with the music. She is also wearing heels, which makes the dance harder to do and she still does it perfectly - possibly due to her history with ballet.

When she was in the ring with the boxers, singing along and dancing with them, it signified that she was being seen as an equal because she provided proof that she knew things about boxing that the men considered important. The dancers around her bring all of the attention to her - just like in Mandy by Vera Ellen (in which the dancers around her were almost like human props to enhance her performance). Cyd also uses the real props around her (the boxing ring) to add to her dancing. Through the whole dance, she didn't stop moving - it was one continuous dance, and she wasn't out of breath at the end. The entire dance was done for the movie in one shot.

This was similar to the "Barn Raising Dance" from '7 Brides for 7 Brothers,' because just as they did dance moves that were contextually related to the characters in the movie, Cyd performed a lot of boxing-inspired dance moves throughout the sequence.

Camera angles were also used more in this dance to show different perspectives - it goes up to take a shot from above and then does a close up before moving back to the straight-on view. (The idea of camera angles was introduced by Stanley Donen.)

Marilyn was Whitney Houston's idol - she used to sing her songs. Marilyn is one of the greatest singers, and the lead singer of the Fifth Dimension.

Her eyes show the emotion she is feeling in the song and her lips curve as she sings. While she sings, she moves her arms in a smooth, flowing motion.

There were different camera angles in the video (front, zoomed in, from above).

Gene is in his 40's, and Leslie is 19. She was hungry and skinny; this movie made her famous.

Leslie's legal guardian falls in love with her (she is younger). They dance together - this is the same move as the montage of Leslie that we watched earlier in the semester. The dance has three parts, and the music changes for each part.

The dance is subtle and gentle, and every movement they do is identical. Leslie's dress covers her up, but still spins out and shows off her legs a little. This dance is like a pursuit - she's not sure if she wants to do this even though she loves him. She doesn't know whether she likes him or her legal guardian more.

Every light step they take is the same - it seemed as if they were floating because their heels were never on the ground. They do a slow waltz and incorporate some ballet as well. It seems as if they are deeply connected.

The dress makes you focus more on their emotional connection because it isn't as revealing as usual. When they touch and when they move together it is all perfectly in sync with the music, even as they move around each other in circles.

Donald meets Mitzi on a ship. When she gets up, she does so at the start of the song and on the beat. They chase each other in circles and sing as they dance. Their tap dancing also follows the beat of the song.

Mitzi's dress is a soft, gentle pink, and flows lightly and gracefully in the wind. It flows in time with the music and it opens up - it is very thing to show off her legs even when it isn't up.

When the music goes from calm to excited, they dance to the new tempo. When they slide down the pole together they do it to the beat of the music and it is so graceful. Throughout the whole song their relationship grows until they share a kiss at the end.

Both of them are in sync through the whole song. Impressively, Mitzi was able to climb the slope and the ladder in her heels. The slope was very slippery and they climbed up it and then slid down. When Donald moved his hand, it was to the music. They used the whole stage (the whole top level of the boat) for their performance.

When Mitzi shakes her head, it is in time to the music. When they slide, the music slides with them and Donald helps Mitzi down because she is in heels. Their transitions are seamless.

Judy Garland brought Gene into the movie. She owns a farm, and the actors want to use her farm for the movie. Gene enters the barn and does his famous paper dance, which has never been replicated.

He makes music wit just his tap shoes and the squeaky floor, along with a newspaper and his whistling. The music in the background starts out very faintly because they want to showcase the music he makes on his own first. He rips the newspaper on the floor with his feet to the beat of the music.

The paper stayed flat while he was dancing and spinning, showing how light he is when he dances. When he went up the stairs, he danced with his shadow - he (right) was not centered so you could see his shadow on the wall (left). He uses his arms to balance himself when he spins on the paper.

Gene is eminental (down to earth), and when he finishes the dance, he picks the newspaper up off the floor like the whole dance was effortless. His feet move so quickly and to the music in the background. There were no straight lines; he dances around the newspaper in circles. This dance especially shows his personality and charisma. When he kicks the four equal quarters of the newspaper on the floor he does it to the beat of the music.

He rips the newspaper as he sits at the table to the beat of the music. The music ends just the same as it began, and the whistling and squeaky floor board ends it all.

Donna was one of Whitney Houston's idols. She was the entertainment for the Nobel Peace Prize - they wanted to pick the best singer and they chose her.

This specific rendition was done when she was at age 60. The quality of her voice stays the same (incredibly) from the age of 20 to 40, all the way to 60.

Her music makes everyone in the audience get up and dance even though they are the kind of people that are hard to excite like that because they are politicians. Her energy transfers to the audience as she engages with them. Her hands move in curves as she sings the song.

The little girl dances with him for the introduction and surprisingly through most of the rest of the song. He tap dances with so much control, it is as if he isn't even on wheels.

This is comedic dancing - which is brutal, because they have to match the falls with the beats of the music, meaning they have to practice falling a lot before the final take (they completed this in one take).

The little girl had to match up her movements with his (like when they shrug their shoulders). He falls at the end of the sequence, much like Fred and Ginger did, but throughout the sequence he dances much faster than they did. When he heard the music speed up, he had to speed up his movements as well.

They did many styles of dance in this sequence, including the waltz, twirls, ballet, and tap dancing. It was around the 1950's, so roller skates could come off very easily because they were essentially just strapped onto your shoes. At the end of the sequence when he falls, you can see them fly off of his feet.

When he spins on the lights, he extends his feet exactly when the cymbals hit. The whole spin is in time to the music. When he spins on the skates he is still tapping, which is very impressive.

In this sequence, the three men play pirates, putting on a comedic dance performance in the movie. Throughout the whole performance, they all had a lot of energy and were perfectly in sync with one another. Their costumes played a role in making the dance even more comedic than it was.

These three men were perfect for the dance because they could be goofy and polished at the same time. All three of them had perfect timing to the music.

They all fell on top of each other at the same time and stayed steady, which would seem very hard to do, and their heads were in perfect sync as well. It was impressively filmed in one take.

The Nicholas brothers were shorter than Gene, and they were able to jump at the same height as him and land at the same time. When they entered under each other's legs and slid up, the sound effect in the music slid up too. They made the whole dance seem effortless, and they were not out of breath at the end.

The low to the ground dance is like the "Dem Bones Cafe" dance. When they jumped up and their hands hit the ground it was in time to the music. Also, when they swung each other around it seemed to be effortless.

This movie was set 1928, which was the year when talking movies, "talkies," were first coming out. Gene Kelly played a "hoofer," or a professional dancer.

The camera was angled up for a new shot from above. The mob leader flips his coin to the beat of the music, and every little movement is timed.

Cyd comes on very strongly to Gene, with her green sparkly dress on to catch his attention. There was a lot of physical body contact, which the producers thought was too much to televise.

Cyd played the role of the mobster's girlfriend, and in the end he wins her back with a piece of shiny jewelry. When he flips his coin, he does it to show wealth - and when he flips it he never has to look at it to catch it.

Cyd walks very gracefully. The cigarette she had in the beginning added to her character - she had to practice the smoking because she didn't smoke, but she pulled it off on the first take for the film. She kicked the hat and glasses to the beat of the music.

The camera pans from her foot all the way up her legs and body, which the producers found inappropriate upon other things. Cyd slides down Gene's leg and they didn't want to show it in the movie, as well as the part where she wraps her leg around his body.

You can really tell the story just from the dance. At the beginning, he was trying not to look at her; he is from the country and he was not used to seeing women dress like that. The green dress may have been symbolic for envy, and it showed off a lot of her legs. While she is in green, he is in red and yellow, just like the background colours - but he is differently dressed compared to the other men.

Gene is very versatile and has skills that allow him to thrive doing very different dances.

Nat King Cole was the first African American to get on television, but was only allowed ten minutes because of the prejudice. Later, however, he was allowed a whole show. He wrote this song for his daughter, Natalie.

He smiles through the whole performance, and makes a lot of eye contact. He also sways back and forth to the music.

The video showed parallels between her father and herself. This was the first time something like this had been done - and this was after her father had passed.

The setting is in the attic, and it starts away from Natalie, slowly moving toward her, and pans over a scrapbook of family photos. There were also family videos and photos used in the presentation to evoke emotion in the viewers.

There was an obvious contrast between when they used colour and when they used black and white, because sometimes they were both in black and white, and other times Natalie was in colour.

Natalie was wearing a fancy dress for prom in her dusty attic. This is because her father was not able to escort her to her prom, and this was what she was able to have with him in that dress. She sees him in the old television and he looks right back at her lovingly.

Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire danced in sync through the whole sequence. Her dress makes her look as if she is floating, especially because it is so flowy in the wind.

A woman named Edith designed the costumes for the movie (and many others) and won many awards for her work. The skirt Ginger's dress flares out and she pops out more because she is textured differently compared to the background. Multiple genres appeared in this sequence, including waltz and tap.

Ginger was so fluid and gentle that it appeared she wasn't putting in any effort at all. She is always moving in an extremely elegant way - like the way she moves her arms in curves. Her dress seems to be heavy, but that doesn't affect her at all.

Ginger was able to remove her hands from Fred and still keep immense control of her body. In the beginning she was a little more stiff, but she gets more comfortable toward the end (and she doesn't smile until the end).

Fred is transcendent and seems to be floating with Ginger. He sang for the whole song, and she didn't say anything at all. Fred is always comfortable and his dances always look effortless. He is very classic.

Both Fred and Ginger were always in sync with the music - when they sped up, the music got faster. He was able to flip and spin her with ease, and she moves so quickly that it is almost as if she is teleporting back to the ground.

Cyd is a dancer in a night club trying to impress a man. This dance sequence has a lot of sensual restraint. She took a lot of her costume off and was almost essentially wearing a swimsuit after taking all of the other parts off.

She danced with a lot of curves, especially when she was going over toward the man. It was like her legs were also the trumpet player's legs - and the trumpet players were also professional dancers. The floor was very slick and Cyd danced in heels, so you could tell that she needed to have a lot of control over her body to be able to stay upright.

The camera tried to focus on her upper half when she was on the floor because she was extremely exposed in the dance she was doing - this is where camera angles came into the picture (Stanley Donen).

Her outfit resembled that of Vera Ellen's in "Mandi." Every time she removed a part of her costume, it was in time to the music. When the video starts, we see the red part of her dress that fades into baby pink (which is softer and more gentle/innocent). This is important symbolically because she is scantily dressed but with a very pure colour.

She would pop her hip to the beat of the music when she was moving backward. She had to be very careful not to step on her dress as she walked because the tail was very long. When she flips the tail of her dress it is to the beat of the song. A lot of her dance moves brought attention to her features. When her arms go out it is always to the best of the music.

Vera and her sister are entertainers. Vera always makes eye contact with the camera (especially in this sequence).

Danny Kaye was someone who could watch a dance once and replicate it perfectly - he does more comedic dance styles. However, he is not as smooth as Donald, Fred, or Gene.

Vera's dress allowed her to flow so gently. They danced different genres of dance through the whole sequence, and they had enough trust and control over their bodies that they were able to dance on the top of a very narrow boat. When they went down the stairs together they were both in perfect sync.

Vera is always smiling and charismatic. When her and Danny swing around the poles, they have to be perfectly in time, not only with the music, but with each other (because they couldn't hit into each other when they spun). They took the zipline back to the ground and the second their feet touched the floor they were dancing again.

Vera's head moved a lot to help her spin - and when she circled around Danny, she tripped on her foot ever so slightly. The dance is really quick; they move in circles and curves with each other. Vera's dress was a big help for her gracefulness, and it was very different to her costume in "Mandi."

She frequently picked up her dress to dance easier on the back of the boat. They were doing the paso doble and flamenco on the top of the boat. Their arm movements matched with the music. Danny Kaye looks more like the background and Vera stands out more. Her flip was very graceful, and their tap dancing was very skilled and matched with the music very well.

Shirley Jones is 19 and Gordon is 26. Shirley and her aunt own the farm and Gordon works it. This song was written by Raker and Hammerstein. These two are some of the greatest singers of all time.

Shirley's voice goes to such high and low pitches with what seems like so little effort. They both move calmly and gently, and for people singing outside, they are projecting their voices beautifully.

The conditions for filming outside have to be perfect, from the light to the breeze, to make the video good.

This was the only time Fred and Gene danced together. Everyone was trying to make them feud by pitting them against each other, but they refused any real arguments and continued to be nice to each other. In this dance, however, they pretend they are tense and arguing with each other.

They are dressed exactly alike to even the playing field, and because both are two of the greatest dancers. Fred is more upward and floating (transcendent) and Gene is more down to the earth (eminental).

They both practiced this dance for weeks. They play off of each other a lot through the whole sequence. When they change outfits, they are still matching (twice) even down to the way their facial hair was shaved. When they were right behind each other they had to time it perfectly because they didn't want to bump into each other.

The tempo of the music perfectly matched their dancing. Fred jumped higher than Gene (transcendence), but they were still able to land at the exact same time. All of their mistakes were purposeful and timed to the music. Gene seemed to lead the dance, and he moved his arms more and very gracefully.

This scene is a play in the movie. The male dancer in the play was Vera Ellen's main dance partner in "Mandi." The ladies fight in this sequence but are still dancing the whole time. There is a lot of sensual restraint throughout this piece.

When Cyd was being handcuffed, she did the praying mantis move like Leslie Caron did in "Hong Kong Cafe," because now she is 'praying' on the sheriff. She did a lot of shoulder movements like in 'Singing in the Rain.'

When she came down the stairs the firs time, she picks up her knees a lot, and then does it again when she gets the sheriff (as if she has gotten her new man). They pulled their fingers in time to the music.

When she came down the stairs to see the first man with another girl, she goes down two steps at a time, and not in a straight line. With the first man, she was always very bent or hunched over as to not seem taller than the man.

She wears bright blue, as opposed to Johnny's outfit and the girl in green - even when the girl in green's dress came off she didn't stand out at all. Cyd slides across the table and you can tell that the floor is slippery as well, showing her skill and control over herself.

Cyd's dress makes her pop out from the background. There was a lot of emphasis placed on their hands in this dance sequence, which is not seen in other dances. The male also goes after the female in this dance, which is generally uncommon in dance sequences.

The dress was specifically designed for this dance, because the white shows purity and innocence, and it looks very conservative at first. The music itself is very unique and dramatic.

They both play off of each other while they try to get each other, and the dance features some foreshadowing. They are dancing almost on top of each other, as she wraps herself around him. Cyd dances a lot with her hips. This dance is considered "the worst of the best" because of its sensuality.

The tail of her dress is like the one in "Baby You Knock Me Out," and is very tight to show her curves off. It is extremely difficult to slide down between James' legs, yet she does it with such control and elegance. The music becomes very intense at times. She is transcendent and he is eminental.

When she spins around his arm it is almost so fast that you don't entirely catch it the first time you watch the video. When she swings around him on the stairs, it is so graceful and controlled. He picks her up with her foot and her body on his, which was something very infrequently seen, if at all. Their circular motions made the beauty and grace of the whole piece.

This song was written by Victor H. The character played by Alfie Boe is 'Jean Bell Jean,' who has quite the story. Alfie says that when he sings this song, he actually prays - it is the most important song that he has to sing.

He steals bread for his family and is now a convict who can't get anything because of his new status. A preacher takes him in and he steals plates from him - which he gets arrested for - but the preacher lies for him and tells them he didn't steal anything. Later on in his life, he becomes successful - and he takes in one of his employee's children when her mother dies. She grows up and meets a boy who goes to fight in the war. This song is a prayer for the boy to come back home safely to his 'daughter.'

Boe's voice is very open and delicate. He sings with such strength and power, and his stance throughout the song when his dynamics increase shows a lot of power as well. When he moves his arms, they are gentle movements and they are in curves. The instrumentalists in the background dance as they play the piece for the audience.

In this piece, we can already see that Judy is a lot more fluid - less stiff - than the first time we saw her perform. Judy's voice is extremely powerful - overpowering Gene's (as you can barely hear him singing) and the instruments surrounding her.

Judy and Gene were tap dancing together - not keeping up any kind of emotional connection. As they danced, they kept perfectly in sync with each other and didn't have any solos through the sequence.

Because the piece is done in black and white, her outfit was made to emphasize parts of her body: she had a belt around her waist, exaggerated shoulder pads, and sparkles to make her extra visible.

There were some points in which she was more stiff compared to Gene's grace and fluidity. She is able to keep up with him quite well, however she does stand out more because of her voice and her stage presence.

In the movie, Fred Astaire's character would get engaged to women and then leave them at the alter. He then meets Vera and wants her attention, however she is not interested in him. She begins to think about him and in this particular dance sequence, is deciding whether to dress more naughty or nice for him.

The movie has a lot of technically challenging and difficult dances, but Vera is able to do all of them. You can tell that she doesn't smoke by her facial expressions - but she is able to mask it well enough to play her character's more naughty side. She wants to be dainty but dangerous throughout the dance.

Her dress keeps attention on itself and on her legs - she constantly used her hands and legs to open out the slit in her dress and show off her legs. She was skilled enough not to trip over the long dress in her heels. She makes a lot of eye contact with the camera and looks a lot over to the side. The black dress symbolizes her 'naughty' side, as well as helping her to stand out from the background. You can still see her elegance even with her 'naughty' persona.

Vera draws a face on something and pretends to dance for Fred's character. Critics were upset about a certain part of this dance, because she gets dressed on camera, which they thought was very inappropriate. Her body is less covered than usual - which made her body's fullness as compared to previous times more apparent because she had anorexia.

Cyd Charisse's dance 'Baby You Knock Me Out' is from this movie as well. Gene double crosses a mob because they want him to throw a fight and he refuses. He roller skates away from their chase in a rink and when he exits the rink he forgets that he still has his roller skates on. Through the dance, he is able to effortlessly sing, act and dance at the same time.

As he skates, he doesn't go in straight line, and he tap dances with ease and grace. He jumps in the roller skates and taps both of his feet together, landing perfectly - which is very hard to do without stumbling or falling - and he clicks them together in time with the hit of the cymbals.

He smiles through the whole piece as he sings, and he almost becomes transcendent through his uplifting movements. He took the idea of roller skating from Donald O'Connor's roller skating dance and inspiration from Fred Astaire's to make a combination dance that was the best of the three. You can hear the tapping of his skates to the sound of the music. He moves backwards and sideways with ease, and the skates made his expression of happiness much more prominent. His movement has so much fluidity and grace that it is like he is floating.

The camera was up high and down low - done by Stanley Donen, who also partook in the choreography as well. Everyone from the beginning who stopped to watch him came back at the end all in one big group, which was foreshadowing.

Judy is a high school senior in the 1900's who is in love with a boy who is her neighbour. She sings about him (his name is Johnny) and he comes running after the trolley.

As she moves to lower pitches, her vibrato is very impressive. She is the only person in history to do a dance like this on a trolley. As the trolley moves, her voice does not shake at all - and she is singing the song live, we are not listening to a recording. She is very emotive while she sings - almost like she is just having a conversation with the people on board through the whole sequence. It is as if she is conducting all of the people on the trolley as she moves around and sings.

Debbie Reynolds, Carrie Fisher's daughter, wasn't a dancer, she only sang. In this dance, Donald is helping her learn to dance.

Donald's shoulder movements are in sync with the music. They played off of each other's movements a lot throughout the sequence. Debbie's dress spins perfectly for this dance because it was made specifically for this dance.

Donald is very kind and gentle with her through the dance because she is not experienced in dancing. He uses a prop camera to take pictures of Debbie during the dance, and every flash of the camera is on a beat in the music. Donald is able to sing and dance at the same time. His movements are very controlled and fluid.

Donald would dance with people who weren't very versed in dance, unlike Gene and Fred. He heads Debbie during the dance because she is not a professional dancer, and she had to keep up with his steps when they danced together. When they danced on the carpet and then moved to the hardwood, you could tell that they were in sync with the music the whole time because now you can hear the taps.

Donald was very quick and he danced circles around Debbie. Debbie looks at her feet a lot during the dance because she is not used to dancing, which is usually a no-no. They used the table to dance a lot, and in the beginning of the sequence Donald clapped to the rhythm to help her get the beat of the music.

Debbie is 19 with no dance training when she does this dance. Gene Kelly was furious because she had no prior dance experience. He had to teach her how to dance in three months.

During the dance, it doesn't seem as if she has only a little experience dancing. However, they couldn't do this dance in one take like most others, because it took her 15 hours to get up to speed on the day of filming.

When the practiced, her feet would bleed and Gene Kelly would just say to clean it up. She cried under a piano when Astaire saw her and was kind to her and mentored her to be as good as she could be for filming day. It took her 40 tries to get over the couch correctly.

This is the most famous comedic dance of all time. Her feet are not actually in sync with theirs - she couldn't keep up. Instead, Gene went back and tapped her shoes to the correct beat in an audio overlay for the film so it would be in time.

Donald O'Connor is more light on his feet and transcendent. Kelly is very down and eminental. In some scenes, the two men would dance below while Debbie did a simpler dance up high so she wouldn't have to do as much dancing.

At the very end, she fixes her dress and pulls it down to make sure she is appropriately covered up, which made newspaper headlines. Everyone was so impressed by this and they loved her because she was so modest.

This dance features the fastest tap dance ever done. The scene begins with a bunch of dads who got left to watch their children. Donald is very gentle at the beginning, and the other men dance with him but they do a much simpler sequence.

When he moves his head to look around, it is exactly to the beat of the music. His dances are comedic - he sings about funny things, and then impresses with his dances. He tap dances very quickly on the floor and around props and does it on a slippery stage without falling.

You can really see how small he is in this sequence compared to the other men. The ideal dancer, which was determined by scholars, was between 5 or 6 feet (on the smaller side). This dance used really tall men to show how small Donald was. He was able to stand on the steps and use angles to his advantage to make himself look taller at times. He jumped over a high table, which was very impressive considering his height.

When he taps, he is so concentrated but his dancing is still fluid and graceful. Sometimes his fast taps sounded like vibrations because they were so close together. He used a lot more gymnastics in this dance than he does in other dances. This dance is considered "flash dancing."

When he was encompassed in steam, you could still see his legs and feet to watch him tap. When the music stopped and he still kept dancing, he was in perfect sync (because when the music started back up he was still on beat). He is so quick, that it separates him from Gene and Fred.

He spun and jumped down the stairs which is a lot of pressure on the knees and ankles, but he pulled it off and seemed unbothered. When he danced with the women they were all perfect.

Adam (the oldest brother) comes into town to get some supplies. He is looking for a wife around the town. He gets out of the general store and is looking for a girl to make his wife. The perfect girl he meets is called Millie, and she is not interested in marrying him.

Howard Keel is a singer and actor. He was very well timed with the background music and he had amazing tone.

Fred Astaire uses the metronome as a prop. He creates a tap dance to the beat that he sets on the metronome.

This is the first time we have seen Fred not wearing a suit and tie/tuxedo. He shows his eminental side by staying fairly low to the ground during the dance.

He begins the sequence by dancing with a hat rack - as he watches how it moves, he dances along with its movements. He creates his dance based on his props. He doesn't trip up or fumble with any of the things he uses. He made the props that he danced with come alive.

When he spins the ropes, they match up to the music. All of his movements are something like the sounds of the music, and they are all perfectly in sync. He used a lot of props and he was still able to keep perfect time with the music. When he threw the bowling pin up, it was in time to the music.

He is very graceful, even in such a different kind of dance. He turned the hat rack into a metronome at one point in the sequence - when he went in the opposite direction to the rack, back and forth. When the instrument changed, he danced with a different object.

Fred Astaire is the only person to ever do this dance (dancing with drums). He plays the cowbell with the drum to the background music and it was a part of the music itself as well. His tap dancing also adds to the drums and the music.

He plays the drums rather unconventionally. As the music progresses and gets faster, he begins to move faster to match the tempo.

He has to be gentle enough while hitting the drums with his feet so he doesn't break the drum, but hard enough to make a good sound - which requires a lot of control over his body.

He had to memorize all the drums and every movement he was going to do to hit them all at the right time. He was very precise and quick through the entire sequence. This showed his eminental side, as he was low through the sequence, and even when he jumped he was fairly low to the ground.

In the movie, he was performing in a night club. In the dance, he had to coordinate not only his feet, but his hands and arms as well.

"O Mio Babbino Caro" is one of the most famous opera songs - it is the one that female opera singers sing to determine who is the best.

Sissel sings a lot of different genres. With this song specifically, different people have their time to be the best at it.

The song expresses her longing for her boyfriend. She sings to her father about how much she loves him - because her father does not like him - and if he does not accept her, she will die for him.

Sissel sings with such immense control and amazing tone. She doesn't strain at all. Her face only moves to articulate words, and she sings the highest pitches with such ease. Even when she sings lower pitches, she does it with a wonderful vibrato that resonates very well. She barely has to open her mouth to create such a beautiful sound.

You can see the emotion in her eyes and in her face. Her face dances delicately to the music that she makes.

This was the first time when animation and humans come together. Gene dances with Jerry as if he was really there.

Gene had to be able to jump and make sure that they were evenly spaced so Jerry had time to jump (with the same exact time in the air). He danced and then the animators copied his dances into Jerry's movements. When Gene and Jerry grab each others hands, it is always a handshake.

Gene has to play on something that isn't there, while pretending that Jerry is really there dancing with him. It was a very fun dance and showed a much more upbeat and goofy side of Gene than we usually see. When he walked on his knees and jumped, he made the hardest moves look easy.

He smiles through the whole song, and he his more transcendent in this dance than in previous dances. He was very convincing that he was dancing with Jerry. This was the dance that almost pushed me to Gene (from Donald O'Connor).

Jerry was able to be 3D and dance convincingly with Gene; he could move forward and backward and to the side like a regular person. Jerry also speaks in this song, which we are not used to at all because in the Tom and Jerry cartoons they are completely silent. Gene is in a sailor's outfit for the movie because it is called "Anchor's Aweigh."

Gene Kelly shot the movie in New York instead of on a set that looked like New York. Vera Ellen is the co-star.

The men in the introductory scene are on leave from the army and they see Vera on a poster and imagine that she is someone famous. Gene really wants to meet her, and he imagines what she would be like from the description on the poster. Vera then dances all of his thoughts.

She dances gracefully through all of the thoughts. The dances are more upbeat and fun, so she doesn't seem as elegant as usual. Her costumes change to fit the kind of thought that Gene is having - a fancy dress for her fancier side, and sporty costumes for her athletics. In this sequence of dances, she is wearing much more modest clothing than usual.

She showcases different kinds of sports and gymnastics through dance, which we haven't really seen much of from her. She pretends to beat up the men in the sporty/acrobat scene. She had to be positioned perfectly to pretend to throw the men around. She dances about more common things (kind of like the Gene Kelly staple of being the common man).

We aren't used to Vera in such long dresses, but it is still noticeable that she is not nearly as thin as she is in other dance videos. She may have been in recovery - at that time anorexia wasn't really recognized, so there would have been no formal diagnosis.

The men were all professional dancers and gymnasts. The whole sequence of dances made sense as a thought process - she had to act as if she was being pulled into the next scene/thought every time he had a new thought.

She is very professional - when she goes off from the center she discreetly fixes it while she is dancing to compensate for her mistake.

Cyd is dressed more modest than we usually see her. The movie is around the time of the Cold War (Russia vs USA), and Cyd is a high official from Russia who travels to Europe and America and she notices the difference in how women dress in Russia versus other parts of the world. She wants to conform to the different style of clothes. She finds Fred and likes him, and he likes her as well.

Every move in the scene is specific and calculated exactly to the beats of the music. Fred is able to pick her up with such ease - there were a lot of lifts and no mistakes. They seemed slightly more stiff than usual, but still very graceful and and smooth at the same time.

Cyd was smiling and her hair was down. Her outfit was a lot longer than we are used to and more covering. She played a completely different kind of character compared to what we have seen (her clothes were not as flashy). There was still a reason that you are drawn to watching them, however, because of their shoes. Her shoes are brown and Fred's are white (much different from anything he usually would wear).

They move inside twice from the outside and they use lifts as a transition. Fred is 5'9" and he can pick her up easily, showing that he is very physically strong and controlled.

The skirt Cyd was wearing was actually a pair of pants made to look like a skirt, and she was wearing flats. As they danced, they used all of the set and moved through different elevations.

The dance isn't very flashy but it is very precise, intricate, and very well done. They did it in one shot and the dance has more than one thousand movements - it was even more technically challenging than 'White Tiger.' Their arms, legs, feet and hands move in perfect sync with each other, and when he lifts her, he holds his head and curves his body in order to balance her weight with his to hold her up (and he smiles to top it off).

They were the greatest harmony group, and Marilyn McCoo was a part of it.

All of the members of the group sway back and forth throughout the song and do calm and fluid, curved dance moves while they sing. They blend very well togehter, and they all smile through the whole performance.

Gene Kelly wanted Donald in his movie, and asked him about his other dances (he wanted Donald to have his own dance scene), and this is what they created for him. He practiced this 14 hours a day for weeks.

'Singing in the Rain' is a part of the transition to "talkies." This song made Donald an international star. He plays the piano well (and badly) to add to the song, and he is very comedic. The only other people to do comedic dances were Jerry Lewis and Danny Kaye, because comedic dance is so brutal.

Donald dances with a dummy/doll and pretends that its really alive (and beating him up). He falls a lot and throws himself around, but doesn't seem to be hurt at all. He uses the whole set, including all of the props that are made available to him. He does two flips by walking up walls, and he only uses two steps to get up the wall, even though he is so small.

This dance was done in one take. Donald made funny faces when he walked into the brick wall. He sings, acts, and dances all at the same time - he isn't out of breath, even though you would imagine that throwing himself around would knock the breath out of him.

He was so high energy the whole time, and never faltered. At the end, they rushed him to the hospital and he spent three days there; he was so bruised and injured from practicing and throwing himself around.

This is another sequence where technology and dance come together. This is a comedic dance, unlike other dances that Gene Kelly has done. He dances with Arabian guards and a woman he likes (who are all animated), along with a little boy (who is not animated). The little boy was able to keep up with Gene in the parts of the scene where they danced together.

Gene is transcendent in this sequence, unlike most of his other dances, and he does very fluid ballet moves. He goes to dance in a book with the animated characters, and they come alive. The snake dances with curves as a person would - it dances with Gene and they are both in sync. The snake hops away to the beat; the dance was simpler to make animating easier.

Gene looks like he's really interacting with the animated people - he has to know exactly where every part of his body should be at all times. When the boy hypnotizes the guards, they move on beat with the music, and when Gene starts to dance with them, they all dance at the same time in perfect sync.

When he dances with the woman, they are very graceful and elegant. Gene's neck tie moves similarly to the guards' facial hair when they all dance together. When he dances with the girl, it looks so real.

When he danced with the guards, it was like when he danced with the Nicholas Brothers. He becomes transcendent and floats a lot. Gene uses their fake knives to make a part of the music and distract the guards.

Leslie plays Cinderella in this movie, and she goes to a garden where she meets the prince. The prince tells her that he is the King's baker, invites her to the ball, and then she has a dream about him baking with her (which is what this specific sequence shows).

She does a lot of ballet in this sequence. When the prince fixes his clothes, it is all in time to the music. They stir the big pot to the beat of the music as well. This dance shows more traditional ballet, and she smiles throughout the whole dance.

Leslie dances on top of the giant cake. The further she gets from the top of the cake is the faster the music gets. She is never really on the ground, showing how transcendent she is. When she jumps down, she had wires attached to her to help her go smoothly and safely. They made this giant cake prop, which was actually as big as it seemed, that she danced on top of. When she is at the top of the cake, she is like a little tiny ballerina in a box, and they play that kind of music to go along with it.

These dancers are the second tier greatest dancers, aside from Jeanne Coyne, who married Gene Kelly later on. In this dance, Tommy dances with Ann, Bob dances with Carol, and Bobby dances with Jeanne.

Ann Miller is dressed in pink and silver, so she really stands out. Carol and Jeanne were both dressed the same in different colours - it is the same with their two partners.

Tommy Rall was over fifteen feet in the air, and he swings out and lands very softly, which has never been done before. Of these people, Ann Miller is the most famous, and we can tell that Tommy is the best male because they paired him with Ann.

Carol Haney is great, and Bob Fosse was paired with her because they thought he was better than Bobby Van - Bob Fosse knows ballet and Bobby Van doesn't. Bobby Van and Jeanne Coyne didn't have a big part compared to the others.

They are performing in front of an audience. It seemed like Tommy Rall had a string attached, but he didn't; he lands with the harp music (as if he was one with the harp).

Bob clung to the pole without using his arms or his legs, which was impressive. When Carol exited the scene, she looked at the camera. Their timing is all perfect and they are all synchronized with their partners, everyone else, and the music.

Both Tommy and Bob did everything perfectly and identically, exactly to the music. This is similar to Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly dancing together.

Both men were very transcendent, due to their ballet background. The dance itself is very different from other dances we have seen, because this dance features Fosse choreography. Tommy jumped off the box and did a split, because he was the one out of both of them who was able to do it.

In this dance, Ann Miller wears extremely revealing clothes. She makes a lot of eye contact with the camera as she dances around the set. The sounds she makes are much different to taps from other dancers that we have previously seen.

She is dancing, singing, and acting. She taps quickly to the beat of the bongo drums, and adds to the sound that they make with her taps. She is extremely fast with the tap dancing. Ann doesn't have the ballet background like the other women do, so she is less graceful.

Bobby is in the store past hours, and doesn't think anyone is watching him. He sings and dances at the same time all throughout the store. He dances on top of a piano, and plays the trumpet while he is on it. He swings around the pole to the music as well.

Bobby uses different elevations, the whole stage, and it was a comedic dance. The whole upbeat and charismatic feeling is akin to that of Donald O'Connor.

He slides over the glass boxes and he does a lot of things with the mannequins. No one else has ever done the move sliding on the boxes before. He transitions seamlessly from transcendent to eminental (much like Donald O'Connor). He dances atop the bar and on the bar stools and jumps off the bar gently and gracefully.

All of his jumps were to the beat of the music. Bobby interacted with a lot of people on the set, and a lot of different props. There was a dog that copied his jumps for a few seconds while he moved along the pavement, but the dog couldn't make it much longer when they got to the sidewalk.

There were four cameras in the town that they created, so the whole dance was done continuously but filmed with different cameras to get all of the dance throughout the town. Bobby wasn't out of breath after jumping so much, and no one else has done a dance like this before.

The sound of his taps changed as the materials under his feet changed; the pressures on his legs and ankles had to be a lot (especially after practicing constantly). Bobby collected a lot of people like in Gene Kelly's roller skating dance.

They move so well together and always have each other's position in mind before they make their next move. They are perfectly in sync with each other as well.

Ginger holds up the extra fabric on her dress to add to the dance, and it is always in her hand when she moves. As she goes up the stairs, she spins in circles, and her spins are all so uniformed. When she stops spinning there is absolutely no movement in her feet.

She spins incredibly fast and doesn't seem to get dizzy. Her arm is still not on Fred's shoulder, as usual, and she is still balanced through all of the spins. She makes clean landings and keeps moving the second she hits the ground.

Ginger doesn't smile throughout the dance, mostly because in the movie, he is making her dance with him and she doesn't want to - however, you can still feel their connection with each other as they dance.

This scene is a dream, and the dance gets slowed down. She is always on her toes, and she shows her perfect form as she spins and is lifted by Fred.

Because it is slowed down, it shows that their footwork is perfectly in sync, and you can see Ginger's balance and the way her dress flows with her movements. She is lifted so elegantly and always lands on her toes, never flat on her feet. Her form is always so curved and graceful, and she is never flat footed in any dance.

She straightens out her feet when they are almost parallel with Fred's to make them into symmetrical beings, while she is not looking, and hits the spot perfectly - which shows how professional she is. When her drape goes over her face, it doesn't phase her and she keeps dancing and lets it fall on its own.

Her dress is a little shorter so you can see her footwork a little better and how she moves her legs. She was very angelic, and it was as if she was flying through the whole song as Fred lifted her off the ground.

This movie, and this video, skyrocketed Vera Ellen to fame - this was when she was younger. She does a lot of cartwheels and gymnastics in this dance. She also had a good combination of tap and ballet through the dance.

She moves with a lot of curve and energy and grace as she moves through different elevations, and she does very fast tapping with the tips of her heels, almost as if she isn't moving her feet at all. She spins in a circle on her tippy toes and continues to tap the tips of her shoes quickly.

She walks up stairs that are made out of a few men, and she does so seamlessly and quickly. She is only wearing leather shoes and tap dancing on her toes (not with ballet shoes) which no one has ever done, and it is incredibly hard to do.

She is a very experienced tap dancer, and for being so young, she did amazingly because she did not have point shoes.

Heather is a flowering plant that grows in the spring and autumn in Scotland.

Gene Kelly and his friend go on holiday to Scotland and they get lost. They have their map and there is nowhere around for miles. When the haze disappears, they see a small town that had people in it dressed in clothes from 200 years ago. When they go to sleep 100 years go by, and the city only appears every 100 years and disappears in the nighttime. He meets Cyd in the city and she plays a peasant girl - they dance together on the hill.

Gene Kelly wanted the movie to be filmed on location in Scotland, but the producers said no. Gene and the producer went to Scotland, they took the trees and heather, and imported them fresh every day and they built Scotland right on the stage. Gene is very authentic and cares a lot about production.

In this scene, they are picking heather for Cyd's sister's wedding. As she runs up the hill, her body is curved, and she is so grateful and delicate through the whole song.

They dance in circles around the tree, and Cyd's dress spins out in a beautiful circle and you can see the orange underneath, which stands out from the background. When Gene lifts her, he does so with such ease that it doesn't seem hard at all.

They are dancing right beside a cliff, on a little outcropping that they put all of the Scottish trees and heather on - and Cyd leans right by the edge of the cliff and doesn't fall (because she has such good control over her body). They dance with a basket and with a tree, and they are not on a flat surface because they are outside.

This was a more romantic view of Cyd, and you can really feel their connection in this song. This time, Gene went after her, versus other songs where she goes after him - the story also goes full circle; she gives him a piece of heather at the end instead of them sharing a kiss, and she holds back from him a little.

Vera is in a turtleneck and a really short skirt, so you can see how skinny she is in this video - and you can also see that she doesn't let her disorder take over her life and she keeps going and doing an amazing job at her dances.

She moves very quickly; you can see how experienced she is in tap, and her and John are both perfectly in sync and work very well together.

Vera does a lot of spins and never gets dizzy, and she always moves in curves. Both Vera and John make a lot of eye contact in the camera, and Vera is very energetic and upbeat in this dance.

Michael Jackson is the greatest hip hop dancer. His costume is fit for the story and is also much different than any of the other dancers' costumes. He has a little more flare than the background dancers which makes him stand out with his technique.

He is able to spin very quickly and then stop just as quickly and cleanly. No one is able to top his hip hop talent. He uses a different kind of choreography than we are used to with the other dancers, but he is still transcendent. The women were also a lot less covered than we are used to with earlier dances.

MC Hammer's real name is Stanley Barrell. He is the greatest pop-rap dancer of all time. He really brought rap music to America.

MC stands for master-of-ceremonies; he is in charge of his dance group and he made a lot of money from his dancers. He didn't pay taxes and couldn't pay his dance group, and got in trouble, so he went away for a little while. He came back and became a Christian and changed the MC to master of Christ. MC has a youth group and he talks to people in prisons - he was torn apart for all of this.

They always ripped him apart for his suit and tie attire. There was a debate between who the best dancer was - MC hammer or Michael Jackson? MC created the "hammer time" dance move.

He moved very quickly and was extremely coordinated. Michael Jackson and MC hammer were very kind to each other and never really had a feud. MC asked Michael Jackson if he could include the last part of the video with the jeweled glove (referencing Michael), and he said yes and he loved it.

The kid that he danced with was extremely talented, as he was able to keep up with MC, as well as the background dancers. MC is very eminental.

They are the greatest ice dancers in history, and they hold a world record. This is a performance from the 2014 Winter Olympics. Canada had just skated and they broke the world record just before Meryl and Charlie performed; then Meryl and Charlie broke the Canadian's record right after.

They are both extremely graceful and fluid in their movements. Their lifts are amazing - they are called curved lifts - and they are so gentle and perfect. They were so in sync the whole time, and their rotations (twizzles) are perfectly in sync and extremely controlled.

Their footwork is very coordinated. The man isn't required to smile, but he female does smile through the whole performance. Meryl's body moves in such elegant curves. Even when they weren't dancing right with each other, it was like they were intensely connected. With the slow-motion camera, we were able to see how exact their movements were together and how in sync they were with each other.

They broke the world record that was taken from them minutes before by 5 points (which is a lot when it is considered that things were measured in tenths of points).

Marge and Gower are a husband and wife team - the greatest husband and wife team of all time. Marge can do ballet and other dances, which could put her up there with the greatest dancers. Her husband could also do ballet and could have been put up there with the greatest dancers.

Marge only ever danced with her husband. This choreography is kind of like Bob Fosse, and the whole dance matches with the speed of the music.

The story for this dance is that he is a thief and he tries to steal Marge's jewelry. He was able to so elegantly lift her and take the watch away again.

Gower climbs up a wall, which is very impressive. He holds Marge and spins her with so much control and coordination.

Marge is still alive, she is in her 90's, and still dances.

He is the greatest male ballet dancer of all time. Before he comes on the scene, the male ballet dancers danced like the girls - very feminine. He brought the masculinity of male ballet back to where it "should have been." Mikhail is Russian.

His jumps are incredible - his head is almost ten feet up when he is jumping. He is very gentle and graceful - he floats. His spins are very controlled, yet still have their speed, and his moves were all in time to the music.

Mikhail is only 5'6", but his stage presence makes him appear much taller, and he is extremely transcendent.

She is the greatest female ballet dancer. Her face shows a lot of emotion. She is also called "extreme Natalia" because she is extremely flexible. She is very young, and she is 5'6".

The male with her is claimed to be the second greatest ballet dancer. She is extremely graceful and just seems to float. She is able to hop on her toes across the stage on one leg, which is very impressive. The male who dances is able to do such elegant spins.

She jumps into his arms with such control and he catches her so steadily. Ballet dancers don't jump off to the side, but she does, and the audience applauds her for it. She is very transcendent, and her dress was beautiful and allowed for us to see her legs, which is traditional for ballet dancers.

This dance features Bob Fosse choreography, which included bending your knees a lot and sliding around (as well as "Fosse hands," or jazz hands).

In this scene, Marge is in a place that she isn't supposed to be. Every movement that Marge and Gower make is to a beat in the music. The instruments follow the movements of their bodies. The music is influenced by jazz music.

The both move a lot to the side, and they are constantly in sync or playing off of each other's dance moves. They were able to stop at the right time when they did the spin and they were able to spin with such control.

The critics didn't like that Marge jumped on top of Gower while they were spinning, but they ultimately decided that it was okay because they were married. When Marge takes the rubber band out of her hair and lets is down, you can see the change that she is now much more expressive and comfortable.

In the finale, they do tap dancing, and you can see their experience. They also sing as they dance together, and she is dancing with a different man.

Howard Keel stars in this movie. Show boats were boats on the Mississippi that would go from city to city and perform; when they would dock, they did a bigger performance.

Marge and Gower are both members of a show boat. As Gower spins the chairs, his legs are in time to the music. When Marge spins them, they are also in time to the music. They dance with the umbrella as a prop and they are able to transfer it cleanly to one another without it being a big part of the dance.

Gower also used his stick as they did with the umbrella. When they are kicking their legs up in the air and moving across the stage ever so slightly, they have a lot of control. It puts a lot of strain on their backs, and no dancers ever do that amount of kicks or for that long like they did.

Eddie Murphy would say that Jerry Lewis is the greatest comedian of all time. Jerry does all different kinds of dances and some incredible footwork. He gave Bob Fosse a chance and put him in movies a lot. He also invented a new camera for movies. He is one of the best.

The movie is about Jerry and his friend (Dean Martin) and they live in a city with barely any people in it. Jerry writes a letter to a New York newspaper and says he wants New York for his last wish. They think he's dying, Dean Martin pretends to be a doctor, and they collect all of this money from it. Jerry finally decides he wants to dance at the event.

He dances crouched, which takes a lot of control of the legs, and his footwork is very fast. The entire dance is extremely fast paced and as the tempo of the music increases, Jerry and the woman he is dancing with both get faster.

Jerry is carried on a woman's back - it is usually the other way around - and she carried him quite a far distance compared to men carrying women in other dances for a much shorter time. He falls right in time to the music, and the whole dance is almost like organized chaos.

Jerry would say that he is not a dancer, despite his impressive dances.

When Bob Fosse started appearing in more movies, his style of choreography was much more apparent.

Robert Alton did the choreography for this movie, and he didn't like the shift to Bob Fosse's choreography. Danny does a comedic dance, where he mocks Bob Fosse and his dance moves, and Vera and John dance with their usual classic dance moves. A woman named Martha got instrumentals into universities, etc. and she was mocked a little too in this sequence.

All of the hand movements that Danny did were stiff and they did a lot of moving to the side. He sings about the situation as well. Vera comes in and shows off her extremely fast tapping with the tip of her shoes.

Danny would grab Vera and then John would grab her and they would flip back and forth, symbolizing that one of them had to "take the cake for dancing." Which one of them, traditional or Bob Fosse dancing, would win?

This is a part of the shifting in the 50's, and Danny, Gene, and Fred don't think that they should shift the kind of moves that they do. Their costumes showed how vibrant and cool the more tradition dance was, and the Bob Fosse dancers wore ugly costumes that were all the same and purple and not cool.

Danny is a comedic dancer, however, he was not their first choice for the movie. They asked Fred Astaire, but he read the script and didn't like it. Donald O'Connor was asked and then said yes, but he got sick and couldn't do it.

In this movie, Cyd is a Russian spy. She sees how the women are dressing - in nylon stockings, different makeup, jewelry, dresses, etc. She hides clothing all over her hotel room that would make her look like the European women.

There is a part of this dance, where Cyd is almost entirely undressed and you can see her shadow through the curtain that she stands behind - and the critics didn't like it. The compromise was that when she came out from behind the curtain, she had to hide really fast behind the chair after she came out from behind the curtains.

She is so calm and graceful as she is deciding whether or not she wants to dress differently. Every time she walks somewhere else in the room, she was stepping in time to the music. You can see her confidence grow through the song as she gets more comfortable with the European style of clothing versus what she is used to.

This musical, along with 'Singing in the Rain,' are acclaimed to be the two greatest musicals of all time. In this musical, Fred is looking for another dancer in the audience and finally accepts Cyd, and she is performing for everyone.

Cyd has incredible control over every part of her body, and she moves in time to the music with each of her dance moves.

Each of the three lifts she does in the line of three men are identical. She is very talented in ballet - when she was younger, this is the kind of dance she started out doing. Her body is always curved and so graceful and elegant.

Her attire was fit for a ballerina in this sequence - you see her legs a lot more to show off her precision and technique. She wasn't very sensual in this dance as she usually is - we just see her graceful ballet side. She doesn't have as much emotion as the other dancers usually have when they dance ballet. Her performance shows her technique more than anything else, and the song she uses is much more upbeat than other dancers have had as well.

This dance was similar to Leslie Caron's ballet performance on top of the giant cake prop. Every time she was lifted into the air, the harp sound would play, and she seemed very transcendent. She was controlled enough to squat down on one leg with her foot still pointed.

In the movie, Cyd's character is a very cold person, which is why she is so emotionless in her dance, because she has to be for the part.

Fred dances with a piano - he's the only one to ever do this. His taps add to the music being played on the piano by the pianist. This piece is more humourous than we usually see in Fred's dances.

He plays a piece on the piano himself and dances as he plays it, which shows his versatility in music as well as dance. He climbs on and over the chairs so slowly that it seems there music be a string attached to him or the chair to lower him so gently to the ground.

He has a lot of control over the movement of his legs as he swings from various parts of the piano. He could play the piano with his foot without ruining it, and he played the same notes over and over again - which must have taken hours of practice to perfect.

He used a lot of the space inside and around the piano - he didn't just stay in one spot. He played the piano kind of like Donald O'Connor in his comedic balloon dance - they both played instruments and were extremely controlled in their movements. There is a lot less brutality in this dance compared to most other comedic dances that Donald O'Connor does.

Generally, Fred dances with a lot more props than other dancers usually do.

They are said to be the greatest ballroom dancers of all time. They don't do tap and ballet but they can do anything else.

They were world champions ten years in a row; in their second year of dancing, they entered into the world championships and won. They were never beaten in almost 12 years in around 100 dances.

Arunas is from Lithuania and Katusha is from Russia. They retired recently (between March and May); they competed in the world championship this year and got second place because they were sick, just before they retired. Now they are no longer competing.

Arunas moves his arms in such graceful curves in the beginning of the dance, and Katusha does the same. They both have genuine smiles on their faces through the whole dance. You can feel that they have a connection together as dancers.

Katusha's dress is made to spin out into a circle when she spins on her own, and into a fan when she dances with Arunas. They are always able to stop so well after they do a lot of turns. They move so well together, like puzzle pieces.

Arunas is able to lift her and spin her so elegantly, and their footwork is very impressive because they are able to move fast while not stepping on each other's toes as they spin around and around. As they spin, both of them rotate their heads in the direction they want to turn.

Even as the dance finishes, while she leans back, her arms are so controlled - she doesn't just let go of them, they move purposefully out toward the ground. Her hair also isn't tied up - usually in ballroom dancing, you put your hair up in a tight bun - because it was a part of the dance to emphasize her spinning.

Donald said that he believed his best dancing was done in this movie, and this is his favourite dance. When he was young, he danced with a woman named Peggy, but when this dance came around he said he loved dancing with Vera. Unfortunately, they never danced together again because they tried to team them up for 'White Christmas,' but he got sick, so Danny Kaye took his place.

In this movie, Vera is a princess and he is not meant to talk to her (the same movie that he danced with her underground). Vera is wearing the greatest dance dress ever created - there is a science to making the perfect dance dress, because you have to understand how the fabrics will move. Vera moves with this dress incredibly.

Vera and Donald move together from the beginning and incorporate their usual tap dancing into the sequence. They are both so elegant and move so well together.

Her dress is able to fan out when she picks it up sometimes, but it flows so smoothly when she jumps and dances. It almost always keeps its shape no matter what position you see it from. The designer of the dress (Irene Sheffler) won awards - she designed it very light and for movement.

Vera and Donald move over a few different elevations - their feet move very quickly and they never have a problem tripping or stepping on each other's feet.

Michael Jackson liked this outfit so much, he got it himself for his "Dangerous" video with some slacks. All of the women around the world wanted the outfit; it went viral. Judy can do ballet and she is called "one take Judy." This is the same movie that Gene Kelly did his paper dance.

Judy is the greatest entertainer of all time. She is a great singer and actress - she sings over her recording while she dances (and you can hear her voice shake when she moves) - and she is on the secondary level of greatness.

Judy doesn't do a lot of big moves, but instead, makes a lot of intricate movements that are in sync with the music. She wears just a long suit top with stockings and a black hat, and dazzling earrings. All of her simple movements add to the dance, she moves very slightly but with a lot of meaning, and all of her timing is perfect.

The men that dance with her are all professional dancers, and they are very energetic and in time to the music. Judy is visibly smaller than the men. She sways her hips ever so slightly even when you think she is going to be still, so it is still adding to the performance, even as the men dance around her. She also sings through the entire sequence.

This video is from the same movie that Hong Kong Cafe is in. It features Fred, who is a business man from New York doing his work in France with his associates. His car breaks down by an orphanage and he goes inside to make a call. He sees Leslie helping to take care of the children and asks the head teacher about her, and when Leslie sees his shadow when he leaves, she sees long shadowy legs (hence Daddy Long Legs).

He pays for her to go to America to do dance, and he refuses to meet her, until one day he goes to see a performance of hers and they accidentally wind up dancing with each other. You can feel their connection when they meet is very strong even though she doesn't really know who he is.

Leslie is dressed in a bright orange, which matches the colour scheme of a lot of the other girls' dresses, but still makes her stand out, and Fred is dressed in a black suit, which is different from all of the men's white suits.

When they started filming this movie, Fred's wife died, and they asked him if he would like to put the filming off to another time, to which he declined. In the movie, and in real life, he is 55, and Hollywood had previously said that they think he should stop dancing now because he is washed up and can't dance as well. He proves them wrong with this dance.

One part of the dance in particular, that they do twice, reminds me of Fred and Ginger when they dance, except in this version, Leslie and Fred's arms are both dropped to the side as they spin (so they don't have each other to rely on for balance).

When they meet, they begin to dance with each other, and they are perfectly synced up with each other. Leslie has great control over her spins, and her and Fred mimic each other's footwork and their feet move together. Her dress spins out into a beautiful circle, and when she turns lightly, her dress opens out just enough.

At one point, everyone is watching them dance, and they are careful not to step on each other's feet. Fred lifts Leslie so delicately and gently, but with purpose - he crosses his leg over to be able to use the power in his legs to lift her up high. After a while, everyone joins back in again, but they are still the stars of the show.

Fred takes off dancing on his own without Leslie for a moment, and then she comes back, and everyone starts dancing again. The little bit of choreography he did on his own was to show Hollywood that he wasn't out yet, and he did an amazing job.

This is Gene's solo piece. Debbie Reynolds, Cyd Charisse, etc. starred in this movie as well. Many believe that this dance is the best dance of all time, and it is one of the most recognizable dances.

Gene falls in love with a girl and he drops her off at her house in a cab, and he is so happy that he walks home in the rain. They create the city on a sound stage inside a building, and they tried to use sprinklers for the rain but it wasn't realistic looking. They decided to mix the water with milk and pour it down to make it shine more like rain on the street and with the puddles.

When filming this, Gene was extremely sick and could barely stand with a 100+ degree fever, and he did the scene in one take. He said this was the easiest dance he ever did, and you can't even tell he is sick.

The scene where Gene is hanging onto the light pole is a statue at Disney's Magic Kingdom. Stanley Donen's camera angles show Gene's face close up as he looks up toward the sky with his eyes closed.

Gene smiles during the entire scene and sings through all of it - he was perfect for the part. He taps in the rain and it makes almost identical sounds to when he is tapping on a stage, however there is a hint of water splashing sounds as he splashes while he taps. While he is splashing through the puddles, he does so in time to the beat of the music. He dances continually with the umbrella as well, using it as a prop sometimes and as a real umbrella sometimes.

Around this time, musicals were falling out. Fred has fallen in love with an English girl and he sees her picture on a board in front of a theater. He steals the picture, dancing his way back home. When he gets home, an amazing scene unfolds.

There is no trick photography in this scene - what you see, is what Fred is actually doing. This is all Stanley Donen's work, from the camera angles to the choreography. Many would say this is Fred's famous dance.

His head moves to the beat of the music right at the beginning as he sits in the chair. He sings to the woman's picture and sways his arms gently as he moves place to place. He dances with a chair (which is expected because he is known for dancing with a lot of props), and he moves so fluidly between elevations and from sitting to standing to jumping off walls.

He appears to jump off the couch and onto a wall, as if he is defying gravity, and then makes his way to walking on the ceiling. He dances with the light fixture on the ceiling and gets the woman's picture from the desk on the ground very fluidly. He pretends to balance on the chair and on a chest of drawers.

As he starts to dance faster, he pretends to be crawling up the wall and up the ceiling and onto different walls, and then he goes to tap dance by the light fixture again. His footwork is extremely fast.

I showed this dance to my parents, who immediately recognized Fred from seeing his dances when they were younger. They enjoyed it and were able to figure out the trick to the set within minutes.

Gene does a flamenco dance, along with ballet and tap in this sequence. He valued the perfection of his dances, therefore, he did his own stunts - which Hollywood producers didn't like.

He spins extremely gracefully, lightly and cleanly. As he taps, the sounds his shoes make add to the music. When the tempo of the music increases, he does traditional flamenco dancing and begins to speed up his dancing. He really showcases his ballet skill when he does his spins in the air.

Gene used a curtain and swung from one really high part of the building to the other to get to the girl (this was the stunt that made the producers nervous). His top is very bright yellow compared to the mostly cream and white coloured background.

The flamenco is mostly the footwork, not so much the upper body and the arms, but Gene is able to put everything into his flamenco. He was able to jump from column to column in perfect time with the music and was also balanced enough not to fall during the time he jumps from place to place.

Donald sings and dances with children, and even with children participating, the timing of the dance is impeccable. No one has ever attempted to do this dance the way Donald does it.

He tries to cheer up the little girl by singing a song to her and dancing around the set. He does tap and occasionally throws himself around because he thought the children would find it funny. He bounces a lot and jumps around everywhere too, like a bunny.

He uses a rubber ball and then an even bigger bouncy ball, and keeps time while throwing them around and bouncing them off people and things - which he does so cleanly.

He plays the xylophone with a ball by bouncing it - which takes a lot of control to do without hitting a wrong note. When he bounces the balls off his head into the children's arms, it is all to the beat of the music - and the children are able to be perfectly in sync when throwing the balls to him.

When he slid all the way to the xylophone, it was a part of the choreography just like the other parts of the dance, which was impressive because it was so controlled.

The Band Wagon and Singing in the Rain are the best musicals of all time. Gene Kelly says that this is the greatest couples dance of all time.

Fred Astaire's character is jazz, tap, etc. and Cyd's is ballet. They create a dance that mixes their talents together, which is very hard to do.

In this movie, Fred goes to watch Cyd doing ballet and he wants her for his show, but she is very cold toward him. She says she will do it but she doesn't want to. After a while, they get to know each other and learn to like each other. They ride to central park in a carriage, walking through people dancing together, and when they get to the clearing you can see a clear contrast between what the other dancers do and what they do.

When they are walking into the park, they are stepping to the beat of the music a bit already. They walk off to somewhere in private to do their own dance after seeing all of the other people dancing. Her dress is very elegant and moves extremely beautifully as she spins and moves - it moves with her body very gently.

Their feet move at the exact same time and they are perfectly in sync. They both move so fluidly and gracefully together. The dance really began when they started walking into the clearing on their own.

The music is so elegant and powerful, and each dance move fits with the emphasized beats perfectly. They create such aesthetically pleasing lines with their bodies, and this dance really shows how transcendent they are. At the end of the scene, they get back into a carriage, right where they started.

This sequence is a play inside the movie. It really caught the attention of Hollywood producers for Vera Ellen. This dance is called "chasse" - they are chasing each other, stepping together, and sliding around the stage.

There are no words in this dance, but you can still understand the story. There is one thing in this dance that critics didn't like and wanted them to take out of the dance, but they managed to keep it in.

Vera wears yellow and red, unlike the more drab colours of the rest of the people on the set. When Gene walks down the stairs toward Vera, every step is to the beat of the music. They both take notice of each other and Vera makes the first move, dancing side to side, stepping around and trying to get him to like her.

Gene responds by dancing with her and they both do moves as if they are chasing after one another and they are on a hunt. They do each side movement, step by step, together. When Gene lifts Vera, he only does it with one arm around her back, and it is the same as he pulls her across the floor, which takes great strength and control.

They move into a saloon, and the dancing speeds up as the music gets faster. When the police exit the room, they get extremely fast and begin doing a lot of different moves that we haven't seen before. When Vera gets shot, the music speeds up again as Gene begins to try and fight the man who shot her, until the man shoots him too as they dance.

Gene continues to dance with the shot in his stomach until he carries Vera up the stairs, where they both fall to the ground.

In this dance, Fred and Ginger do some incredibly fast footwork. The dress was made perfectly for this dance, and made the dance even more beautiful.

They dance with their arms around each other's necks, which makes it incredibly hard to dance with such balance and precision as they did. It is almost as a child swings their friend around in circles and falls because they do not have their arms to support them - but Fred and Ginger make such a difficult dance look so easy and flawless; they don't fall or trip and the dance doesn't look like it was hard at all.

Ginger is not as trained as the other women we have seen - so for her specifically to do something this amazing and have so much style and grace is very impressive.

At the time of this award show, Fred is 76 and Ginger is 56. They received the only standing ovation for a presentation of people ever.

Ginger seemed very shocked and smiled when Fred spun her around a little, because previously, he had expressed that he didn't want to do a dance when they were presented to the audience. She is so good at what she does, that even though she didn't expect it, she was perfectly in time and didn't trip or stumble at all.

This dance begins as something much more tame compared to the kinds of dances that we are used to from Gene and Donald. Donald performs in this sequence as less of a physical comedian and more of a verbal one.

Gene and Donald are perfectly in sync, however, you can see a very small difference in the movements of their arms - which separates them into their usual two categories: eminental and transcendent. Donald is transcendent because his arms are usually up higher than Gene's arms when they dance, meaning that Gene is eminental (because he keeps his arms down lower to the ground).

Fred was able to dance with such style and with the same amazing technique as he used to, and he is around 70 years old in this video. This shows how incredible of a dancer he is, because he is still able to do such a coordinated and crowd-pleasing dance.

Donald sings and dances perfectly to the beat of the music. You can tell he has good balance because of the way he sits on the bar and puts his legs up with no wobbling or trouble at all. His dance still has a little bit of a comedic effect to it, which is important to his personal character and style.

He does multiple spins in a row and continues to not be dizzy. His footwork is also incredible - his feet move so quickly and he is able to tap with such speed and precision. He interacts with a statue of a woman, which we see in a few of his other dances when he pretends that mannequins are alive.

The theme continues into reality as the statues all come alive and dance around him. Donald has no problem dancing through water and fountains - getting his hair wet and continuing to dance just as well as he did before.

Gene dances with his alter ego in this sequence. This is an example of technology and dance, because he is dancing both dances and one is imposed into the video of the other.

He is very talented and it is impressive that he is able to do his dances in sync without having a person next to him to mirror his dances. His head is tilted down a lot, which shows his eminental side.

His spins are incredibly controlled and considering he had to do them twice and do them perfect and in complete sync, it was an extremely impressive performance.

Fred has such a gently graceful style. His taps are light but they have a loud enough sound to still contribute to the music.

When he dances with the woman in the orange, they are perfectly in sync. His suit makes him stand out a lot because he is in a bright white, while she is in black and orange that blends in with the back.

When he dances with the woman in purple and yellow, she is much more eccentric in her clothes and her dancing style. The last woman he dances with is during the time when the music begins to speed up even more, and they both speed up their dancing to match the tempo of the music.

Fred does a fast tap when the music is extremely fast, and he is perfectly to the beat of the music and contributes to the music as well. The people dancing behind him tap their feet as well as they move around, which added even more to the music.

The people in the background dance very quickly, and Fred dances slowly, which is a very cool part of what makes this dance stand out in comparison to other dances Fred has done.