Ballroom dance is a set of partner dances, which are enjoyed both socially and competitively around the world, mostly because of its performance and entertainment aspects. Ballroom dancing is also widely enjoyed on stage, film, and television.
The Red Shoes is a 1948 British drama film written, directed, and produced by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. It follows Victoria Page, a ballerina who joins the world-renowned Ballet Lermontov, owned and operated by Boris Lermontov, who tests her dedication to the ballet by making her choose between her career and her romance with composer Julian Craster.
Michael Kidd was an American film and stage choreographer, dancer and actor, whose career spanned five decades, and staged some of the leading Broadway and film musicals of the 1940s and 1950s. Kidd, strongly influenced by Charlie Chaplin and Léonide Massine, was an innovator in what came to be known as the "integrated musical", in which dance movements are integral to the plot.
Coppélia is a comic ballet from 1870 originally choreographed by Arthur Saint-Léon to the music of Léo Delibes, with libretto by Charles-Louis-Étienne Nuitter. Nuitter's libretto and mise-en-scène was based upon E. T. A. Hoffmann's short story Der Sandmann. In Greek, κοπέλα means young woman. Coppélia premiered on 25 May 1870 at the Théâtre Impérial de l'Opéra, with the 16-year-old Giuseppina Bozzacchi in the principal role of Swanhilda and ballerina Eugénie Fiocre playing the part of Frantz en travesti. The costumes were designed by Paul Lormier and Alfred Albert, the scenery by Charles-Antoine Cambon, and Édouard Desplechin and Jean-Baptiste Lavastre.
Sarah Marshall Kernochan is an American documentarian, film director, screenwriter and novelist. She is the recipient of several prestigious awards, including two Academy Awards
The Nicholas Brothers were an entertainment act composed of brothers, Fayard (1914–2006) and Harold (1921–2000), who excelled in a variety of dance techniques, primarily between the 1930s and 1950s. Best known for their unique interpretation of a highly acrobatic technique known as "flash dancing", they were also considered by many to be the greatest tap dancers of their day, if not all time. Their virtuoso performance in the musical number "Jumpin' Jive" featured in the 1943 movie Stormy Weather has been praised as one of the greatest dance routines ever captured on film.
The Tales of Hoffmann is a 1951 British Technicolor comic opera film written, produced and directed by the team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger working under the umbrella of their production company The Archers. It is an adaptation of Jacques Offenbach's 1881 opera The Tales of Hoffmann, itself based on three short stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann.
Center Stage is a 2000 American teen drama film directed by Nicholas Hytner about a group of young ballet dancers from various backgrounds who enroll at the fictitious American Ballet Academy in New York City. The film explores the issues and difficulties in the world of professional dance, and how each individual copes with the stresses. This movie was Zoe Saldana's and Amanda Schull's film debut.
Save the Last Dance is a 2001 American teen dance film produced by MTV Films, directed by Thomas Carter and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The film stars Julia Stiles and Sean Patrick Thomas as a teenage interracial couple in Chicago who work together to help Stiles' character train for a Juilliard School dance audition.
The Turning Point is a 1977 American drama film centered on the world of ballet in New York City, written by Arthur Laurents and directed by Herbert Ross. The film stars Shirley MacLaine and Anne Bancroft, along with Leslie Browne, Mikhail Baryshnikov, and Tom Skerritt. The film was nominated for eleven Academy Awards, including Best Picture. The script is a fictionalized version of the real-life Brown family and the friendship between ballerinas Isabel Mirrow Brown and Nora Kaye.
Take the Lead is a 2006 American drama dance film directed by Liz Friedlander and starring Antonio Banderas as dance instructor Pierre Dulaine, the founder of Dancing Classrooms. It also stars Alfre Woodard, John Ortiz, Rob Brown, Yaya DaCosta, Dante Basco, Elijah Kelley, and Jenna Dewan. The film was released on April 7, 2006. Although based in New York City, it was filmed in Toronto. Stock footage of various locations in New York City was used.
Bolero is a 1934 American pre-Code musical drama film directed by Wesley Ruggles and starring George Raft and Carole Lombard. The Paramount production was a rare chance for Raft to star and to play a dancer, which had been his profession in New York City, rather than portraying a gangster. The film takes its title from the Maurice Ravel composition Boléro (1928). The supporting cast includes William Frawley, Ray Milland, and Sally Rand.
Norma Adele Miller was an American Lindy hop dancer, choreographer, actress, author, and comedian known as the "Queen of Swing".
Paul Harris is an English choreographer, dance teacher and movement director in film, television and theatre.
Alexandre (Alex-Andre) Magno is a Brazilian born choreographer and director. His dance styles include hip-hop, jazz, ballet, samba, flamenco, tango, salsa, and martial arts. He has performed with Madonna, Yanni, Britney Spears, the Lido La Tourné, Ballet Hispanico, the Ringling Brothers Circus, and the Academy Awards. He also works with his own dance company, “Personna Dance Theatre".
Honeymoon, also shown as The Lovers of Teruel in the United States, is a 1959 film by the British director-writer Michael Powell based in part on the ballet El Amor Brujo by Manuel de Falla. The film stars Anthony Steel, Ludmilla Tchérina and Spanish ballet dancer Antonio, and features Léonide Massine.
Frank Veloz (1906–1981) and Yolanda Casazza (1908–1995) were a self-taught American ballroom dance team, husband and wife, who became stars in the 1930s and 1940s, and were among the highest paid dance acts during that era. They performed on stage in productions such as Hot-Cha!, which ran for 119 shows on Broadway in 1932. They also appeared in popular films such as Under the Pampas Moon (1935), The Pride of the Yankees (1942), Honeymoon Lodge (1943), Brazil (1944) and The Thrill of Brazil (1946), the latter of which is credited as being of major importance to the growth in popularity of Samba in America.
The Spirit Moves: A History of Black Social Dance on Film, 1900–1986 is a documentary film by Mura Dehn chronicling the evolution of African-American social dance throughout most of the 20th century. In its original form it consists of nearly six hours of rare archival footage shot over the course of thirty years. Since 1987 this complete version has only been available for viewing at a select few institutions. In 2008 the first three parts of Dehn's work, totaling two hours, were remastered and released on DVD by Dancetime Publications.
