Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire were the great male dancers of golden age Hollywood, and yet their styles and personae were entirely distinct. Astaire looked at home gliding along the polished ballrooms of the rich while Kelly seemed more comfortable breaking into dance on the counter of a working class diner. There was no hint of the fop about the fluid but forceful and virile Kelly.
Kelly had an opportunity to explain his ideas on dance in a 1958 episode of Alistair Cooke’s TV series, “Omnibus,” a remarkable showcase of culture both contemporary and classical. The Kelly episode has been released on DVD as “Omnibus: Gene Kelly—Dancing, A Man’s Game.”
According to Kelly, dancers and athletes have much in common, and to underscore his point, the episode includes cameos from some of the era’s star athletes, including Sugar Ray Robinson, Mickey Mantle and Johnny Unitas. “Mickey Mantle throwing a ball is a beautiful thing to watch,” Kelly says, explaining that athletes and dancers depend on physical training and a sense of rhythm. The difference is chiefly that “the dancer must have something to say,” whether telling a story or expressing an idea or an emotion in motion.
Kelly went on to identify the distinctly American style of dancing that was becoming universally recognized with the popularity of West Side Story—an idiom rooted in the melodies of the musical stage and the rhythms of jazz. And yes, in between all the talking, Kelly treated the audience to some snappy dancing.
