Who danced Begin the Beguine with Fred Astaire?
Fred Astaire & Eleanor Powell - Begin The Beguine.
In his autobiography, Fred Astaire mentioned that he considered Rita Hayworth his favorite dancing partner.
It is a combination of Latin folk dance and French ballroom dance, and is a spirited yet slow, close dance with a roll of the hips, a movement inherited from rhumba. After Cole Porter wrote the song "Begin the Beguine", the dance became more widely known beyond the Caribbean.
Together, Astaire and Powell danced to Porter's "Begin the Beguine", which is considered by many to be one of the greatest tap sequences in film history.
So Fred Astaire was the more interesting dancer, and the influence of his films is still reflected even in contemporary pop culture to a greater degree (in my opinion) than Gene Kelly's.
Fred Astaire (born Frederick Austerlitz May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987) was an American dancer, actor, singer, choreographer and presenter. He is widely regarded as the "greatest popular-music dancer of all time".
Ballet superstar Mikhail Baryshnikov praised Fred Astaire's “perfection,” and celebrated choreographer George Balanchine called him “the greatest dancer in the world.” Replicating the casual elegance and grace of the most acclaimed dancer in film history is “about the most difficult task in dance,” said American ...
1. Michael Jackson. Michael Joseph Jackson is one of the popular dance icons and pop stars of the 1980s. He was not only a dancer but singer and songwriter.
Hayworth loved working with Astaire, and years later would say that the films they made together were "the jewels" of her life, along with Cover Girl. "Rita danced with trained perfection and individuality," Astaire gushed.
'' Although Kelly was highly ambitious and competitive, his colleagues said, he never seemed to feel threatened by Fred Astaire. ''They were very good friends; they admired each other,'' said Ms. Charisse.
Was Fred Astaire a good piano player?
Although he was an accomplished drummer and pianist, he rarely relied on those skills in performance. (Exceptions would include his playing piano in Roberta (1935), and the drums in both A Damsel in Distress (1937) and Easter Parade (1948).)
Fred Astaire said of all the Women he danced with Rita was by far his favorite :) Beautiful woman, great dress,but just look at his left hand and right foot: he was the master... She was an amazing actress and dancer!
Astaire and his older sister, Adele, were brought to New York as children to receive dance training and perform on vaudeville stages. They studied with Claude Alvienne and Ned Wayburn, but could not perform in New York because of the Gerry Society restrictions on child performers.
Fred Astaire had passed on a chunk to his two children because he wasn't expecting to marry again so long after the death of his first wife, Phyllis, in 1954. So Fred left Robyn the jewel of his estate - the right to manage his intellectual property and buff the sheen on his legacy.
“Can't act, can't sing, can dance a little.” In case you don't recognize the above quote, it's what a talent scout wrote about the great Fred Astaire after his first screen test. It's often cited as an example of why we need to keep trying. It also shows how wrong the gatekeepers can be when it comes to talent.
He faced a major rejection when he went in to attend his first screen test. During his first screen test, an RKO executive noted that Astaire, “Can't sing. Can't act.
Fred commented about Gene's abilities by saying, “he's a damned good director.” Gene was extremely devoted to Fred because, in his words, “the history of dance on film begins with Astaire.” By this time Fred was seventy-seven years old and in frail health.
