Choreographical Inspiration (Part 1)
I love choreography.

I don't think that's the world's best kept secret either.

I love shows, I love productions, I love watching people perform.

When it comes to our own choreography and routines, Sheri and I tend to be a bit...hmmm.. I suppose you could say "different" in the way we approach routines and choreography (and even social dancing for that matter). But really, I don't think it's altogether _so_ different. It's just being inspired by things we see and making it our own, as the great Frankie Manning would put it.

Frankie often says: People don't come up with new moves, they steal them and make them their own. Frankie would talk about how he would see a move, play with it, be creative with it, to the point where one day someone would come up to him and say "Wow, that's a cool move. Where did you get that?" and he would reply, "Man, I got it off of you!"

I really like that. I like the thought that people get inspired, maybe without even knowing what it is that inspires them, and perhaps days, weeks, years later they think of something to try out in a social dance, performance, or choreographed routine.

Like almost every Lindy Hopper out there, I too am inspired by other Lindy Hoppers (both master level and even newbies!). I'll save that for another article (but if you're curious of which master level Lindy Hoppers I really like to watch, the short list: Skye Humphries, Max Pitruzella, Frida Segerdahl, Nina Gilkensen, Ramona Staffeld, and as a group the Silver Shadows).

Besides being inspired by Lindy Hoppers, I would say a lot of my inspiration actually comes from non-Lindy folks, or rather non-Lindy sources. And I would say I have my parents to thank for that.

My parents - especially my dad - were (and are) big fans of Broadway musicals, shows, and movies. While growing up, they would always take me and my brother to small off-Broadway theatres to watch a lot of musicals: Guys and Dolls, My Fair Lady, Oklahoma, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Camelot, etc. (Of course at the time my brother and I didn't much care for them, it wasn't anything "cool" like Rock and Roll music!) And when we were at home, my dad would constantly "make" us watch movies with him. I don't know how many times we watched "The Music Man", "West Side Story", and one of his favorites (and now mine) "Singin' In The Rain".

Not only that, we would roadtrip to California every summer and during the many days stuck in the car my dad would play soundtracks to all his favorite musicals (I would music-wise his favorites are "Camelot" and "My Fair Lady").

Despite my brother and I claiming how painful this existence was (again, this music wasn't the rad stuff like Rock and Roll), both my brother and I grew to really enjoy the production of it all, especially the singing and the dancing.

In fact, my brother and I even had a chuckle the other day:

Ben: "Okay, you'll never guess what I just bought off of Amazon the other day.
Rich: "What?"
Ben: "The entire 'Camelot' soundtrack with Richard Harris, Julie Andrews..."
Rich: "Ha ha and Robert Goulet.. I just bought it too!"

So the short of it is, I grew up watching and appreciating a ton of musicals, shows, and movies. And loving them. And I'm guessing being choreographiscally inspired by many of them to this day.

With taht in mind, I thought it'd be fun to share with you some of my favorite dance numbers from the movies.

I was actually planning on going into each clip and pointing out the things that I like (showmanship, choreography, use of [insert criteria here]) and realized that I didn't want to influence your enjoyment of the clip. After all, I had spent years growing up watching these movies and shows and no one ever pointed out how I "should" enjoy those numbers, leaving my enjoyment to evolve in its own natural way. So why dare inhibit your natural enjoyment of the clip by putting my opinions in there?

(maybe for another time ... hee hee)

I will say that I love many numbers of many movies and the common thread of them all is that watching them really makes me want to get up, get in costume even, and DANCE!

The sample of clips I want to share in this article (in no specific order):

America from "West Side Story"
Barn Dance from "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers"
Cool from "West Side Story"
Shipoopi from "The Music Man"

And finally ....

Fit As A Fiddle from "Singin' In The Rain"
Moses Supposes from "Singin' In The Rain"

(Okay that was a specific order, but come on - I got to put clips from my favorite movie as the final clips!!)



ENJOY!

America from "West Side Story"


Barn Dance from "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers"


Cool from "West Side Story"


Shipoopi from "The Music Man"


Fit As A Fiddle from "Singin' In The Rain"


Moses Supposes from "Singin' In The Rain"