My mother once told me, the sign of true mastery is not just giving a good performance, but giving a consistent performance every single time. That requires complete control and awareness of yourself. This is the perfect example of that.
That's funny you say that. I was an extra in a local tv commercial years ago and I remember seeing the professional actors (mostly from a regional dance company) just walk across the screen during the takes and it was just...different. It made the way most people walk (including me) look clumsy and plodding.
I saw this decades ago, as a young impressionable man. I've talked about this clip many times, so it's freaky RU-vid suggested it. I saw it once, and was so impressed I asked my parents of I could start tap lessons. I lived in a declining industrial town, and it was pretty unusual for a young boy to turn up. I was told I had to do ballet to do tap. Not my first choice, but ok... Then I was told, some weeks later, there would be a recital. Being the only boy, possibly ever, they were very excited to have me be a centerpiece of the show. That was the teacher's first mistake. Firstly, I didn't tell any friends about this interest of mine for great of constant ridicule. Secondly, I just wanted to dance like Fred Astaire. I wanted to work hard. I didn't want an audience. That's when it gets weird. My parents had worked very hard to source Male tap shoes at some expense and effort. I had no idea what to do. And as I was walking up the stairs to the class I had a great idea. I would say I couldn't possibly go to the class... Because of ghosts. Somehow my parents listened to me, they couldn't talk me out of the ghosts concern - so I stopped tap and ballet. It's only years later that I realise my parents don't believe in ghosts. I didn't really believe in them, but I thought grown ups did, and couldn't refute my experience. I now realise my parents probably understood everything, and were just very understanding and cool about it. I love them. They are pretty old, and presently at home, one battling with Covid-19. This video has reminded me that I really want to hug them again. Thank you!
Every time I see Fred Astaire's work, I'm speechless. Even as a child, he mesmerized me with his talent. Unbelieveable perfection. Thank you for posting this. What a man. What a dancer. What a hard worker to get it right. Brilliant!
What makes this all the more impressive was that the retake was not simply an hour or so later, but days later! Mikhail Baryshnikov said it best at the Kennedy Honors for Fred: " What do dancers think of Fred Astaire? It's no secret. We hate him. He gives us a complex because he's too perfect. His perfection is an absurdity. It's too hard to face."
I performed @the 1983 KCH Mikhail B told us not to expect any1 to respond 2 our dance cause it was a Fad & his was an Art. he went on b4 us-we got a Standing "O" he did not we were kids he was a jerk! Kim-A-Kazi "The Dynamic Dolls" I also got to chat with Gene Kelly for 1hr it was Amazing
Kim-A-Kazi Valente I did some research and Fred Astaire wasn't at the 1983 KCH. I think you have him confused with Frank Sinatra, who was there and being honored that night. Frank Sinatra was known as a jerk. Fred Astaire was not. Plus Fred Astaire was 84 years old then.
it's amazing that he still manages to make his dancing creative and inspired while being so incredibly technically perfect. Most dancers have either one or the other.
Wow, I love to watch him. He loved innovative props and creative dance! My mother loved to watch Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire movies, and that's where I got my interest. Both of them are legends!!!
If you watch carefully in the "sophisticated" version his upper body ever so slightly elevated and moves his head differently. Subtle but gives it a more elegant look. A master no question.
Impressively perfect! Fred was a dance genius with a photographic memory! You have to keep in mind that there are several weeks between both recordings! And both harmonize incredibly precise! Without tricks, without editing, - just like that - amazingly impressive! !
Wow...absolutely incredible. Even the lengths of his slides where identical. I can kinda get the actual taps being in time...cause that has to match the musical timing....but even the length of his sliding on the sand was the same. I heard somewhere that his practice session was to, basically, go in a room, close the door, and simply not come out until he had a number totally memorized and perfect.
I remember reading a quote by Debbie Reynolds; she was filming 'Singing In the Rain' on an adjacent film lot to Astaire, he had a guard on the door to his practice room stopping anyone from seeing him. She was allowed to go in and watch him one time. She said he started going through this brilliant, beautiful routine he was working on; then he got to a point where he didn't know what to do next, went red in the face and threw his cane away in a fit of frustration. He worked in secret to make it look effortless, by not letting anyone see just how much effort he put in - apparently while filming multiple takes of the shoe shine routine for 'Band Wagon', he sweated his way through four changes of wool suits.
@VintageBeauty1313 You know, I have to agree with you. He wasn't the handsomest man in the world, but there was just something about him that went beyond looks and made him very attractive. If he were still alive, single and not 113 years old, I'd date him.
A true show man that wanted to entertain, an artist that is rarely if ever see today, God bless you fred its a pleasure to see this, I agree.... Perfection!
My friends wrote to Gene Kelly for an autograph; I wrote to Fred Astaire. I still think he is the best of the best. And IF you wanna see him as an Actor; watch THE TOWERING INFERNO. He got an Academy Award Nomination for that one (but lost to Robert DeNiro for The Godfather II)
When people try to compare Astaire with Kelly, they are talking about more than dancing style; they are really talking about the rare combination of gifts that Astaire brought to the craft of film. Not just a marriage of talent, but the good fortune to have excellent story lines in which dance and song moved the story along. The good fortune to have collaborators like Cole Porter, Irving Berlin George and Ira Gershwin. But more than even that--Astaire loses himself in the role, subsumes himself in the role, while Kelley always seems to be playing Gene Kelly playing Gene Kelly. And a lot of that sense of Gene Kelly playing Gene Kelly is that inimitable and easily recognizable Gene Kelly voice. Astaire's voice could be 'Everyman' singing while Gene Kelly is Gene Kelly singing.
Cyd Charisse was one of the few dancers who got to dance with both of them. She said, "As one of the handful of girls who worked with both of those dance geniuses, I think I can give an honest comparison. In my opinion, Kelly is the more inventive choreographer of the two. Astaire, with Hermes Pan's help, creates fabulous numbers - for himself and his partner. But Kelly can create an entire number for somebody else ... I think, however, that Astaire's coordination is better than Kelly's ... his sense of rhythm is uncanny. Kelly, on the other hand, is the stronger of the two. When he lifts you, he lifts you! ... To sum it up, I'd say they were the two greatest dancing personalities who were ever on screen. But it's like comparing apples and oranges. They're both delicious."
@@BillWeinman I beleive Cyd Charisse said when she got home after a days work, her husband new who she had danced with that day. If she was full of bruises, then it had been Kelley.
the best of the best, he is truly the KING of dance, untouchable, uncomperable, and unbelievable, unbeatable, the greatist, give that man the crown ! there's no other, he's the KING of dance, thanks for sharing this video. ..
HEY , MATE .... WHAT DANCERS ? NONE OF THE CELEBRITY STRICTLY COME DANCERS ( NEW 1'S) 'VE ANY SKILL. THE WOMEN CAN SHOW OFF A FIT BODY AND TITS BUT THEY'VE GOT NO REAL SKILL EXCEPT MAYBE IN THE( CALL GIRL OR PROSTITUTION DEPARTMENT ££££!.
I’m impressed with how even the camera movements are choreographed in detail: angles, focal lenght, zooms in & out, cuts... everything punctually reproduced in the second take! Great overall quality!
It's hard to believe the hours of back-breaking work that went into his routines when you're spellbound by the seemingly effortless grace of the results. Astaire was a well-known perfectionist who would rehearse sometimes ten and twelve hours a day, and expected the same punishing level of effort from his partners. Few could keep up with him, but as he noted approvingly in his autobiography, "All the girls I ever danced with thought they couldn’t do it, but of course they could. So they always cried. All except Ginger. Ginger never cried.”
Mr.Astaire could do nothing wrong.....he was perfect. He was sooooo elegant and that helped a lot when he danced with not so sexy ladies. There will never be another dancer like him....impossible.
Try this with one of today's lip singing divas both m & w now are divas. Fred, Gene, Ginger, Rita and few other Legendary Super Talented Entertainers are always gonna be what we as a nation used to stand for
the comment about performance perfection being the result of rehearsal perfection sure catches my attention. I am rehearsing for a June 13th contest the same two songs, over and over, every day and then at least once a week in front of my singing coach and twice week for my performance coach. I cannot say I will win. I cannot say I will even rank. But I can say, when I am called to the mic, I will be prepared, confident, and will love being there at that moment. Astaire is a great inspiration.
@mvann5 Absolutely. It's no fun being 59. Have to pee three times a night, etc. But there is one consolation - I LIVED through Trance, Eighties techno-Pop, Seventies Disco, Sixties Psychodelia, Sixties Beat and (just about) Fifties Rock 'N' Roll. Not to mention some great Jazz and Blues. It's been a hell of a ride. Happy New Year! Mike.
This is perfect to the point of scary! I don't think there's a dancer in history that could match his precision and skill. What a brain he must have had to be able to store and process all that information like Fred.
Incredible! Compare this man to some of the singers and dancers of today. There is absolutely no contest. I'm glad the film industry developed in time to capture his amazing talent.
@mvann5 Agreed! Original melodies ran out around 1980, Pop died in 1990 and Dance followed just after the turn of the Millennium. Hiphop and rap have been around for decades but have nothing to say to anyone outside of those who perform it and their acolytes. Having lived through the Fifties, Sixties, Seventies, Eighties and Nineties - I pity the young today...
If the rhythm, tempo the beat or swing are the same in both versions and Fred Astaire knew this dance, the steps, pirouettes, sliding moves and so on the way he should..And off course he knew all this.. Then the total synchronicity is not what's impressive.. However, the skill, originality and versatility he had in his craft most certainly are..
