From March 2015

Our top 10 dancers of all time: #3 – Fred Astaire

Fred Astaire at Number 3 in SK Dance Studio Top 10 dancers of all time list

With Ginger Rogers at number 7, you don’t get any prizes for guessing that Fred Astaire must feature near the top of the SK Dance Studio Top 10 Dancers of All Time list. Although most famous for his pairing with Ginger, Fred’s primary partner in his early career was his older sister Adele and together, they enjoyed much success on the Vaudeville circuit and on Broadway. But the siblings went their separate ways and Fred set his sights on Hollywood.

Big screen success wasn’t instant though and not everyone appreciated his talents. One movie executive famously knocked him back with the summary: “Can’t sing. Can’t act. Slightly balding. Can dance a little”. A little? Are you kidding? In 1933, Astaire managed to land a small role in a Joan Crawford movie which gave him a foot in the door at RKO. There he was matched with Ginger Rogers and the rest is history.

Fred was well known as a perfectionist, in terms of both his choreography and the way in which his routines were executed. With Fred, nothing was left to chance, with every last detail of every single move carefully thought out. This was proved in the 1952 film “The Belle of New York” in which he filmed a solo dance number called “I Want to Be a Dancin’ Man”. Some time after the film was completed, movie bosses decided that the stage set and Fred’s costume needed upgrading, so had him film the dance sequence again. Watch these two versions side-by-side and you’ll see exactly how well rehearsed Astaire was – it’s like dancing with a reflection!

Click here to watch two almost identical yet separately filmed versions of Fred Astaire performing the same routine.

Fred insisted that his dance sequences were shot from a stationary camera which held the dancers in full view. This meant limited cutting away, no camera trickery and no fancy editing to help make the sequence more engaging for the viewer. Combine this with Fred’s preference for filming routines in one single take and you’ve got proof of both his technical brilliance and how utterly mesmerising he was as a dancer.

As well as the snappy tap routines and stunningly smooth ballroom numbers for which Fred and Ginger were famous, Astaire’s capacity for mastering a wide range of dance genres allowed him to continually re-invent himself and keep his choreography super-fresh. With Rita Hayworth for instance, he fused his signature tap style with Latin-inspired moves, whilst with Cyd Charisse in the “The Band Wagon”, Astaire performed an all-together more avant-garde piece in the “Dem Bones Café” scene with enormous flair. It’s said that Michael Jackson was heavily influenced by Astaire – kind of obvious when you compare this sequence with the Smooth Criminal video.

Whilst not quite in my number one spot, Fred Astaire is a complete dancing legend and totally warrants a high ranking place in the SK Dance Studio Top 10 Dancers of All Time list.

Our top 10 dancers of all time: #4 – Margot Fonteyn

Margot Fonteyn at Number 4 in SK Dance Studio Top 10 dancers of all time list

Dame Margot Fonteyn is undoubtedly one of the best known names in British dance history and if this list was just about Ballet, she certainly be right at the top.

For many, Fonteyn was just about as close to perfection as you could possibly get in a ballerina, looking every inch a super-star from whatever angle you looked. Watch clips of Margot’s performances and you’ll never see a bad line. She extends every last movement through to its full potential and creates a constant stream of picture-perfect poses that somehow merge into the most beautiful moving portrait. Watching Margot dance is a bit like watching your most perfect dream.

After training with the Vic-Wells Ballet, which later became the Royal Ballet School, Margot rose through the ranks to become Prima Ballerina of The Royal Ballet aged just 20. In her career, she danced the lead role in all the big Ballets, including Swan Lake, Giselle, Cinderella and most notably, The Sleeping Beauty. Fonteyn’s portrayal of Princess Aurora in this well-loved ballet raised the bar so high in terms of technical ability and captivating performance value, that it became the standard for which every ballerina since has aimed.

Click here to watch Margot Fonteyn with Michael Somes in The Sleeping Beauty.

Though still at the very top of her game in 1961 at the age of 42, many expected that Margot was perhaps getting ready to retire from the spotlight. But in that year, she first met Rudolf Nureyev who was 18 years her junior. The incredible rapport and deep connection the two shared sparked a period of incredible creativity and remarkably, a revitalized Margot went on to dance the lead with Rudolf for many, many more years. In fact, Margot only finally hung up her pointe shoes in 1979 at the grand old age of 60.

They say that dancing is a short career, but not if your name is Margot Fonteyn. So for amazing longevity and achieving utter balletic perfection, Margot rides high on the SK Dance Studio Top 10 Dancers of All Time list.