Gene Kelly context

Question 1

Early life: Where did he grow up?

Answer 1

Kelly grew up under modest circumstances in Pittsburgh

Question 2

Early life: How old was he when he started dance?

Answer 2

• was 8 when he started, as his mother enrolled him in dance classes.
• soon quit and took lessons back up again at the age of 15

Question 3

Early life: time during the 1929 economic crash

Answer 3

• entered the Pennsylvania State College as a journalism major
• after the 1929 economic crash, he left school and found work in order to help his family financially
• he created dance routines with his younger brother Fred to earn prize money in local talent contests
• they also performed in local night clubs

Question 4

Early life: study at Pittsburgh

Answer 4

• 1931 Kelly enrolled at the Uni of Pittsburgh to study economics
• he became involved in the uni’s Cap and Gown club, which staged original musical productions

Question 5

Early Life: family dance studio

Answer 5

• his family opened a dance studio in the Squirrel Hill neighbourhood of Pittsburgh
• in 1932, they renamed it the Gene Kelly studio of the Dance - 1933, opened a second location in Johnstown Pennsylvania
• Kelly served as a teacher at the studio during his undergraduate and law-student years at Pittsburgh Uni

Question 6

Early Life: career

Answer 6

• Kelly eventually decided to pursue a career as a dance teacher and full-time entertainer
• he dropped out of law school after 2 months

Question 7

1940s: career

Answer 7

• during early 1940s, Kelly began making his mark as a dancer, choreographer, director and film maker in Hollywood musicals

Question 8

1940s: characters in his careers

Answer 8

• often played relatable/traditional characters such as sailors, boy next door
• often pretends to be somebody else to try and impress, before realising that being himself is more successful
• incorporated set within choreography - Umbrella, curb in SITR, beds in Anchors Aweigh
• performed his own stunts - SITR and The Pirate

Question 9

Kellys influences?

Answer 9

1. Fred Astaire
2. Bill Bojangles (Bill Robinson)
3. Robert Alton
4. Stanley Donen
5. Busby Berkeley

Question 10

Fred Astaire: who he was?

Answer 10

• an American dancer, actor, singer, musician, choreographer and presenter
• widely regarded as the “greatest popular-music dancer of all time”

Question 11

Fred Astaire: style of choreography

Answer 11

• drew from a variety of influences, including tap, classical dance, and the elevated style of Vernon and Irene Castle
• uniquely recognisable dance style that greatly influenced the American Smooth style of ballroom dance and set standards against which subsequent film dance musicals would be judged
• execution of a dance routine was prized for its elegance, grace, originality and precision

Question 12

Fred Astaire: What did Jerome Robbins say about Astaire?

Answer 12

“Astaire’s dancing looks so simple, so disarming, so easy, yet the understructure, the way he sets the steps on, over or against the music, is so surprising and inventive”

Question 13

Fred Astaire: works

Answer 13

1. top hat
2. Ziegfeld follies
3. easter parade
4. daddy longlegs
5. funny face

Question 14

Bill Bojangles: Who was he?

Answer 14

• born May 25, 1878 - died Nov 25, 1949
• An American tap dancer, actor, and singer, the best known and the most highly paid black entertainer in the USA during the first half of the 20th century

Question 15

Bill Bojangles: his career?

Answer 15

• Began in the age of the minstrel shows
• later moved to vaudeville, Broadway theatre, the recording industry, Hollywood films, radio and television

Question 16

Bill Bojangles: How did he contribute to tap dance?

Answer 16

• he brought it on its toes, dancing upright and swinging
• adding a hitherto-unknown lightness and presence
• infrequently dropped his heels marked a significant change in popular tap technique

Question 17

Bill Bojangles: What was his signature routine?

Answer 17

• was the stair dance
• he would tap up and down a set of stairs in a rhythmically complex sequence of steps

Question 18

Bill Bojangles: how did he use his popularity to overcome racial barriers?

Answer 18

• was one of the first minstrel and vaudeville performers to appear as black without the use of blackface makeup
• as well as one of the earliest Black performers to perform solo, overcoming vaudeville’s two-colour rule

Question 19

Robert Alton: who was he?

Answer 19

• 2nd January 1902 - 12 June 1957
• an American dancer and choreographer, a major figure in dance choreography