Gene Kelly. Flashcards
List the Influences of Gene Kelly.
Ballet.
Robert Alton.
Black Dancers.
Athletic Childhood.
His Mother.
Explain the Influence of Ballet on Gene Kelly.
Kelly studied Ballet for several summers with in Chicago.
Kelly was the first American-born choreographer to create a ballet for the Paris Opera Ballet..
Kelly attempted to popularize ballet in the 1950’s.
Explain the Influence of Robert Alton on Gene Kelly.
Aton would break up the chorus line into soloists and small groups.
Explain the Influence of Black Dancers on Gene Kelly.
Experiences of watching and working with black dancers.
Explain the Influence of Athletic Childhood on Gene Kelly.
Kelly’s father was Canadian-born and loved sports, especially hockey.
Gene later credited hockey for some of his dance steps, which he described as ‘wide open and close to the ground’.
Explain the Influence of his Mother on Gene Kelly.
Kelly’s mother loved the theatre.
She was the one who sent him to dancing lessons.
At first Kelly wanted to quit the lessons because of the other students who would make fun of him, but then he discovered that the girls liked a boy who could dance.
List the Stylistic Features of Gene Kelly.
Vigorous Movement.
Fierce Tapping.
Athletic Jumps.
Quick-Fire changes of Pace.
Weighted Style.
Combined Ballet and Jazz influences with Tap.
Shoulder Shrugs.
Naturalism - dance sprang from circumstance that looks as normal as breathing.
Masculine.
Explain Gene Kelly’s impact on American Jazz Dance.
Gene Kelly was a major influence on creating a new form of American dance, one that was different from the formal and ballet styles of European dance. Kelly danced in a more energetic, athletic way.
Solely responsible for creating a new approach to film musicals as a performer, as a choreographer and a director. A creative genius fuelled by single-mindedness, a volatile temper and narcissism, his need for perfection was uncompromising.
He wanted to present dance to as wide an audience possible, to point out that dance is a form of athletics as well as art, to keep trying to film dance in new ways.
He pushed the boundaries of dance on film, mixing live artists with animation and special effects.
Explain Gene Kelly’s impact on Film.
Kelly’s experiments with dance and film technique included combining the two.
His first attempts at film choreography relied on the established formulas of the film musical.
Later he developed a system of choreography that made for the camera that took into account camera setups, movement and editing.
Explain Gene Kelly’s Choreographic Intention.
Kelly’s on screen personality had an exuberant,, all-American charm that brought dance down to earth. Kelly often played a guy who felt that the best way to get wat he wanted was to impress people.
Kelly’s characters had much of the ‘average guy’ in them and this quality appealed too audiences.
Explain Gene Kelly’s Early Training and Background.
Born in Pittsburgh, into a large, Irish working-class family with a mum who was determined to get her kids into show business. She enrolled 8-year-old Kelly and his older brother in dance classes.
Gene started dancing again as a teenager, even while he played sports - since athletes were as important to his dad, as show business was to his mum.
While all 5 Kelly children danced and took piano lessons, the youngest of the family was considered the real show business talent in the family.
As a teenager, Gene helped his mum take over and expand a local dancing school.
