Darcey Bussell Dances Hollywood


Darcey Bussell Dances Hollywood

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As a principal ballerina at London's Royal Ballet for 20 years,

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Darcey Bussell was one of the world's most famous dancers.

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APPLAUSE

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But the rigours of classical ballet are a long way from the world

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she is about to enter.

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I have to say the attraction to those films as an eight-year-old,

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they were my first real introductions to wanting to dance at all.

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Four years after retiring, she is going to attempt

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to dance in a completely new way.

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To tap like Fred Astaire...

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..to foxtrot like Ginger Rogers...

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..and to leap like Gene Kelly.

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But this kind of dancing is the opposite of everything

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she has been trained to do.

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SHE LAUGHS

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Maybe I am slightly stepping out of my comfort zone. Just a little bit.

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Ah-ha-ha!

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She's got to be crazy, but God love her.

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If she does it great and I like it, bravo.

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By stepping into the shoes of the Hollywood greats,

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Darcey will discover the story of these films' music...

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costume design...

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The skirt goes with you, look at that.

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..and famous set pieces.

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And by dancing them herself, she'll unlock the secret of their genius.

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From the moment sound came to the movies,

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every Hollywood studio developed its own style of musical.

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And for the next 40 years, huge audiences were enchanted.

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What is it that these movies leave in our hearts?

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It's some image of brio, sophistication, romance,

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wit, lyricism, all coming together in this rhythmic current.

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People like Astaire, Cyd Charisse and Ginger Rogers,

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they're the most watched dancers of all time,

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and will continue to be so.

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The first film musicals were crude.

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Cameras and microphones had to stay still,

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so dancing was difficult to capture.

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But the technology quickly improved.

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New dance musicals became big box office,

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and new kinds of styles danced their way to fame.

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How they did it, I just don't know.

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They had great technique,

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and their musicality, the way they could

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interpret a piece of music just through their bodies was fantastic.

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Darcey Bussell has always wanted to dance like the performers

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she grew up watching.

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I think it is a little dream to imagine that I could ever achieve

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any of these numbers myself.

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Now her moment has come.

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In two weeks' time she will go before the camera to dance

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her versions of numbers she has always loved.

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That worked for me.

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Moviegoers came to expect and love a range of dances,

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so Darcey is going to perform four classics.

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A Fred tap solo...

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A Fred and Ginger romantic duet...

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A comic trio from Singin' In The Rain...

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and a complete reinvention of one of the most influential

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dance numbers ever filmed.

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It is ambitious, isn't it?

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All of it's ambitious because, of course, I've been a ballet dancer

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for the last 21-odd years professionally,

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and so I haven't had a chance to do many of those other styles.

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And so, yeah, I hope it's going to be fun.

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I hope it's not going to be terrifying.

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-Darcey retired to live in Australia four years ago.

-Morning.

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Now she's returned.

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It's day one of rehearsals in a dance studio in West London.

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In just two weeks, she must unlearn the ballet technique

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she has been trained in since the age of nine

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and make her body move in a completely different way.

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Well, no, I think whatever we do we've got to replace ourselves...

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Helping her, along with two West End dancers,

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is one of Britain's leading choreographers, Kim Gavin.

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Maybe um-ba-um-ba and hold it.

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Like Darcey, Kim trained at the Royal Ballet School.

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But he made his name in commercial choreography,

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producing show-stopping numbers for Take That, among many others.

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'We're paying tribute to four classic scenes

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'and adapting them for ourselves.

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-'We're exploring, you know.'

-Sorry.

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It's very much an exploration of that era

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and how difficult the routines were.

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First, Darcey will be attempting the iconic Puttin' On The Ritz.

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The number poses three main technical difficulties.

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Darcey will have to learn a whole new way of using her feet...

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..of holding her body, and using props,

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all within an extremely complex rhythm.

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'When you watch Fred Astaire doing Puttin' On The Ritz,

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'my brain understands how difficult it is,'

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but my heart understands how gorgeous it is just to watch it,

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and that's what great dancing's all about.

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Fred Astaire himself said that rehearsing this solo

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took five weeks of backbreaking physical work.

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Suddenly he goes through that glass door and there they are,

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'an army of Freds.'

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'It's just unbelievable!'

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'I think, with Puttin' On The Ritz, apart from being a classic piece,

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'you look at and go, "How did they do that?"

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'Then, in a rehearsal room,'

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it's much more of a realisation once you've put it on your own body.

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-It's not so taking.

-I'm going...

-Yeah.

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But you're thinking more that the stick is kind of there.

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-Controlling the move.

-Yeah.

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Ballet is all about effort and holding the leg as high as you can,

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or the turnout, keeping your feet pointed all the time.

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And I think that what the big jump is to the styles that we're doing

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is more about feel and being relaxed.

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Just relax your feet, be sloppy with your feet a bit more.

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It's difficult to be sloppy.

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I know, but you're almost pointing your feet between each shuffle.

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-I want you to dance like that.

-I know.

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I want you to walk around like that.

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'It's not about having a stiff back,

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'having turnout, having poise and strength.'

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One last time from the top.

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'It's about relaxing into the thing

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'and expressing yourself within it.'

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Ah-ha-ha!

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'And I think that's the difference with Darcey.

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'I think it's about the tap and the rhythms and making it smooth,

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but it's not about the effort that you put in that she would do

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if she did a ballet.

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Tap teaches you things that lots of ballet people never know.

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'You are thinking percussively and you are thinking down.

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Ballet is generally an art of the aerial, going up.

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In tap, you're going down into the floor. You've got to think hard.

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You have to think of making a noise rather than never making a noise.

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And then it is extraordinary speed with the feet.

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Of course, a ballet dancer moves fast with the foot

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but they're using the foot differently.

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They're seldom bringing down the heel.

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When they move fast with the feat they're normally covering ground

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in a very different way from the way tap dancers are.

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So there is Fred going "b-r-r-r-m" in ways that I can't even analyse.

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Any ballet dancer's just going to have to think of the whole

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musculature from the hip down in a whole new way.

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Fred's special skill was to make everything he did look natural

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and make every extraordinary movement look like everyone

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could do it if they just chose to.

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And that's quite a skill.

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I would imagine, without masses of experience,

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it's extremely difficult.

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It feels like it's something that maybe you need to have been doing

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all your life, you know, till it's integral to the way you move,

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so that's difficult.

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Fred Astaire rehearsed every single routine for weeks

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before he was satisfied.

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But Darcey only has a fortnight to rehearse four routines.

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And tap was forbidden at ballet school because it was thought

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that it weakened dancers' ankles.

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One, two, three...

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SHE LAUGHS

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Tap dancing is something I suppose

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I've always been very passionate about, watching the films,

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and it is incredibly exciting to watch.

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'And it would be nice to think

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'that I could achieve some of that excitement.'

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-Did the first bit right.

-And again.

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Both Nathan Clark and Dougie Mills are experts in tap.

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Bap-bap-bap.

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-Do it without the turn for now.

-I need to turn. Sorry.

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-I'm too old, aren't I? That's my problem.

-Here we go.

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One, two, three.

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'When you watch most tap dancers, their hands and arms are basically

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'just hanging there.'

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With Fred Astaire, everything is used.

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OK, his feet are going, but so are his arms and so are his hands.

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Astaire's style with the upper body,

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which is not that of any other tap dancer, this way of making

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a line throughout the body, making shapes, so you really are

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turning a technique into style, physical style - extraordinary.

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And the way he uses the cane,

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the way the cane is used as extra rhythm throughout,

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it's as though he's got three legs.

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Hey! That's it.

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Fred Astaire wasn't just a dancer,

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he was a drummer and a pianist.

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There are recordings of him doing all these things if you see him

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in a wonderful movie where he has a jazz number with a drum set.

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And you see him, in one take, with his feet playing

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the drums as well as his hands.

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It is great music and it's great dancing.

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-How was that?

-My first rehearsal day after about three years.

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SHE LAUGHS

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How was it?

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Um, well, it feels all lovely now because you're so hot and sweaty

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that you can't feel a thing.

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I'm just conscious of what it's going to feel like

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when I wake up in the morning! SHE LAUGHS

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My body is not used to this any more.

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Just going to have a stretch.

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'Camera.'

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Don't rush. One, one, stay, down.

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Darcey has come to ask for advice from a man who has already

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brought Fred's style to modern audiences by fusing it with ballet.

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And show it. One...

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Derek Deane.

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Fast, fast, fast, fast.

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Good. One...

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He is rehearsing the English National Ballet

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in his production of Strictly Gershwin,

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in which Darcey's tap mentor, Dougie Mills, is co-starring.

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And down.

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Mwah! Sharp, sharp, sharp, sharp.

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One, one.

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That's good. Come in, boys, in.

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OK.

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Well, Fred Astaire was obviously the greatest dancer that ever lived, really, wasn't he?

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I know, and he wasn't even that good looking, was he?

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-No, not even that good looking.

-It just shows you anyone can do it.

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True, but what enormous charisma.

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And if you look at all those old films,

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the energy levels are enormous.

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They make it all look terribly easy, they make it look terribly simple,

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but your energy levels have to be at full blast to be able to show that.

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-I have to say, I'm a bit scared.

-Well, I don't think you should be.

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It's about how, it's about where the eyes are going,

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it's about where the head is going. Is the boy behind?

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-There's so much...

-You're giving me so many tips.

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There's so much luggage there that makes it look right.

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You are taken more in by the dance.

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-And with the style.

-And the way he moved.

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-And the most simple step, made it look extraordinary.

-Absolutely.

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I think you're very brave to do this. I think you're very brave.

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I think it's a great challenge for you to try and do it,

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but you know, what they had was invention, musicality and style.

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So, you obviously have to be able to create

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what they first developed, which is not impossible at all,

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but very, very hard because it was so set on those people,

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do you know what I mean?

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-As we said, their characters.

-Their characters and how they were.

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It scares me to even think that I'm trying to attempt it.

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-But then I'm also very excited at the same time.

-Of course, of course.

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-It's a challenge for you.

-I wish I was younger.

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-Yes.

-You're going out of your comfort zone as well.

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You're going to find this very amusing, I know.

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HE LAUGHS

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Oh, I like that!

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Dougie Mills and Paul Robinson, two of the company's stars,

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have been inspired by the history of tap.

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-Woo!

-OK, OK, OK....

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-We're actually on the wrong side.

-Are you serious?

-Yes, we normally click.

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But we're the other way. We always miss that though.

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We always miss that.

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I'm just trying to touch on the history of tap

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and where it really started.

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Can you give me any ideas

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or your inspirations of where tap inspired you?

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It was Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly. That was my...

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-Earliest memory?

-Yes.

-Yes. Inspirations, isn't it?

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I'd go back maybe only 10 years or something before that

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to two people that really impressed me were the Nicolas brothers,

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were so acrobatic and their feet were amazing.

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-I don't know if it was the brother thing, how in sync they were.

-They could feed off each other.

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Yeah, and I think they started the whole role of film

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which moved to Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly

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and that was definitely our inspiration.

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-We try to do it the best justice possible.

-Exactly. Major respect.

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Yes, absolutely.

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Give me some tips of what kind of hits you straightaway

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if you think about Puttin' On The Ritz.

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-What is your first image?

-I would say fluidity with a cane,

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-being it's so fluid.

-Ease, yes.

-The way he just, the moves, the cane.

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-From one move to the other.

-The cane is so in sync with his body

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and the way he moves it round his body and stuff.

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-It's just like...

-The cane is my partner.

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The style with Fred Astaire's stick and positioning and...

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and all those shoulder moves and... I've got a lot to think about.

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But it's all about rehearsal and if I go over it, I think,

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they also mentioned a stick

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and having that relationship with the stick

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that it's actually your partner that Fred Astaire used that stick

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as part of his moves, it wasn't just an added on prop.

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Worries me a bit as well.

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But I'll just have to take it to bed with me.

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SHE LAUGHS

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That doesn't sound right, does it?!

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We know what you mean!

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I'll just sleep on it.

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I'll have to sleep, that doesn't sound right either!

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That sounds awful.

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Musicals were big business for a year after the coming of sound,

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but then, the depression hit Hollywood hard.

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One studio, RKO, even faced bankruptcy.

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NEWS PIPS

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But then, a dance musical with a performer new to movies

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called Fred Astaire became a surprise hit.

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LIVELY MUSIC

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Fred's skills in the theatre

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had attracted the interest of Hollywood producers relatively late.

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He was 34 by the time he made his first films in 1933.

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He and his sister Adele had been performing on stage,

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in vaudeville, later on, on Broadway

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and here in London from the ages of five and seven.

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He and Adele had done a screen test back in the 20s

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and this famous quote attributed to an anonymous studio executive

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which is, "Can't act, can't sing,

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"balding, also dances."

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Before sound, a man who looked like Fred would never have been a star.

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But Fred's dancing and singing

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made him one of the biggest names of the 1930s

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and saved RKO itself from ruin.

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He took inspiration from wherever he could find it.

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For tap, he borrowed dance styles he saw in the 1920s Harlem.

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In this case, given an innovative treatment

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within a bygone tradition of the minstrel show.

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From the 20s onwards, tap meeting ballroom,

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this is the great confluence

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and it was happening partly with the black African American artists,

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but partly with the high age of 20s, 30s elegance

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also, so it's the overlap of both white and black areas of society.

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Plenty of people feel that tap belongs to black artists

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and that Fred Astaire was an interloper.

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For me, he's as great a tap dancer as there ever was.

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-I'd just like to go from the beginning again.

-Yes.

-Sorry.

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MUSIC: "Puttin' On The Ritz"

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It's day three of the Puttin' On The Ritz rehearsals.

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Darcey now has to put together the moves,

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the cane work and the tapping.

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And Darcey's knee, which went through major ligament surgery

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five months ago, is holding up well. So far.

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'She's recovering from the knee injury,

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'which is hard,'

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especially the tap, it's hard

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because you're completely pounding on one knee.

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I think she's certainly got guts.

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She snapped a tendon in the knee,

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called the anterior cruciate ligament.

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She must adapt her dancing accordingly.

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'I was doing some dance classes just for fun

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'and I landed from a jump. Um, I dislocated my knee.'

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'And I had to go and see a physio surgeon that day.'

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'And they said that I had snapped it.'

0:21:420:21:44

And I said, "But I know, I've seen dancers snap Achilles and ACLs

0:21:460:21:52

"and it goes off like a gunshot."

0:21:520:21:54

'I said there was no sound.

0:21:560:21:57

'They said, "Probably because of your career,'

0:21:570:22:00

"there wasn't much of a tendon left anyway,"

0:22:000:22:02

cos I have had two operations on the same leg, on my ankle.

0:22:020:22:06

Seven, eight, one...

0:22:060:22:07

Basically they cut your hamstring and they graft it on with two screws.

0:22:070:22:12

'Normally it would be you wouldn't dance on it, probably,

0:22:130:22:17

'until eight months after the operation.

0:22:170:22:21

'So what I mustn't do on it is jump.'

0:22:210:22:25

Um, any large jumps, I can do small jumps.

0:22:250:22:28

But if you have a choreographer that knows you, you can adapt.

0:22:320:22:36

SHE LAUGHS

0:22:420:22:43

They've just pulled out of the insurance.

0:22:430:22:45

I'll use it as my other knee.

0:22:450:22:48

one, two...

0:22:480:22:50

The next day, Darcey's family arrive to give moral support.

0:22:500:22:53

-Hello.

-Hello!

0:22:530:22:55

-Hi! Hello.

-Hi, Angus.

-Hey, Jim. How are you?

0:22:550:22:58

-Good, thank you.

-Nice to see you.

0:22:580:23:02

-Oi, you.

-I'm all sweaty, sorry.

0:23:020:23:04

Are you going to do a little run for us?

0:23:050:23:08

Her husband Angus is worried

0:23:080:23:10

about the physical toll the rehearsals are taking.

0:23:100:23:13

-Go and sit down.

-How's your knee?

-Yes, knees.

-OK.

0:23:130:23:16

MUSIC STARTS

0:23:200:23:21

SHE SCREECHES

0:23:270:23:28

I'd missed this.

0:23:320:23:33

Oh, my bottom hurts.

0:23:330:23:35

-And then keep moving straightaway.

-Don't stop.

0:23:350:23:37

Mummy was really good.

0:23:370:23:39

When you're older, you can be like Mummy, but singing.

0:23:390:23:43

You don't want to be a dancer as well?

0:23:430:23:45

I would like to be a dancer.

0:23:450:23:47

So you can be dancing and singing, can't you?

0:23:470:23:49

You just have to work hard, like Mummy.

0:23:510:23:53

She works hard, doesn't she?

0:23:530:23:55

Just work hard. Mummy can teach you everything she knows about dance.

0:23:550:24:00

-She already has.

-She's taught you everything already?

0:24:000:24:03

Tap isn't Darcey's strongest suit.

0:24:060:24:11

So she has to work very hard

0:24:110:24:12

to get to six, seven, eight out of 10 by HER standards.

0:24:120:24:16

Plus having had the ACL on her knee only five months ago,

0:24:160:24:21

this is right border line.

0:24:210:24:23

Darcey's very careful,

0:24:230:24:24

but we are at the minimum threshold of what she would normally do.

0:24:240:24:29

So, we've got our fingers crossed.

0:24:290:24:32

We've really got our fingers crossed

0:24:320:24:35

that she will get through this program.

0:24:350:24:37

-Ah!

-OK.

0:24:470:24:48

APPLAUSE Doesn't hurt so much now.

0:24:480:24:50

It is odd, doing it in my 40s.

0:24:500:24:54

I'm not used to being old

0:24:540:24:55

and the recovery period after each day being really tough.

0:24:550:25:00

I have sort of bowed down

0:25:000:25:01

to my body is just going to hurt for the next three weeks.

0:25:010:25:05

MUSIC

0:25:050:25:08

Hi. Is this studio two?

0:25:140:25:16

-That way.

-Great, thank you.

0:25:160:25:19

The music Darcey will dance to is being recorded

0:25:200:25:23

specially for her at the legendary Abbey Road Studio Two.

0:25:230:25:27

The Beatles among others famously used this studio.

0:25:270:25:32

And now conductor John Wilson is here,

0:25:320:25:34

recording music otherwise only available in the original mono.

0:25:340:25:39

John Wilson's sell-out proms and concerts of Hollywood classics

0:25:410:25:45

are attracting new audiences to this music.

0:25:450:25:48

Start the letter "I" with the pickup from the clarinets.

0:25:590:26:03

-Oh, this is Darcey. Hello.

-Hello.

0:26:050:26:08

Shall we welcome her?

0:26:080:26:09

APPLAUSE

0:26:090:26:11

We're just about to try and do this nicely for you.

0:26:130:26:16

He has assembled a 63-piece orchestra dedicated to recording

0:26:160:26:20

this music faithfully for the first time since these movies were made.

0:26:200:26:25

Yes. One, two, one, two...

0:26:250:26:28

MUSIC: "Puttin' On The Ritz"

0:26:280:26:31

OK, we'll do that as an edit. That's it.

0:27:120:27:16

-..Faster the easier it gets.

-For me? Slower!

0:27:170:27:21

SHE LAUGHS

0:27:210:27:22

Because I'm not a tap dancer.

0:27:220:27:25

I'm pretending.

0:27:250:27:27

That's a good one for the violin lines, I'm told.

0:27:270:27:30

Are you going to have a listen to it, yes?

0:27:300:27:33

MUSIC REACHES CRESCENDO

0:27:370:27:40

LAUGHTER AND SQUEALING

0:27:400:27:43

I'm in shock. SHE LAUGHS

0:27:430:27:46

Not that I wasn't expecting it to be good but, um...

0:27:470:27:52

slightly too professional for me!

0:27:520:27:56

John has made it his mission accurately to recreate music

0:27:580:28:03

that was once thought lost forever.

0:28:030:28:05

In 1969, MGM was taken over and the room full of scores

0:28:050:28:12

and all the orchestral parts was destroyed.

0:28:120:28:15

One Saturday morning, every note of music written for every MGM film

0:28:160:28:21

was taken away and used as landfill for a golf course.

0:28:210:28:26

So that music no longer exists.

0:28:260:28:28

So I had no choice other than to transcribe them from the soundtrack.

0:28:290:28:34

But it's music I've loved all my life

0:28:340:28:37

and for the past decade I've been restoring this music

0:28:370:28:40

by listening to the soundtracks. Laborious though that may be,

0:28:400:28:43

one is restoring great works of American popular culture.

0:28:430:28:49

All right, I know how to fix that.

0:28:490:28:52

And they're as fresh now to listen to, especially live,

0:28:520:28:56

as they were when they were first recorded.

0:28:560:28:59

One, two, two, two...

0:28:590:29:02

MUSIC STARTS

0:29:020:29:04

'It's really impressive.

0:29:070:29:09

'And seeing them all kind of furiously getting in every note,

0:29:090:29:14

'I feel incredibly honoured, actually.

0:29:140:29:16

'It sort of wants me to make it even more perfect

0:29:160:29:20

'and I'm not going to be satisfied unless it is.'

0:29:200:29:23

Five. MUSIC CONTINUES

0:29:300:29:32

My groin. SHE WINCES

0:30:490:30:52

-Which number is this?

-This is just the last toe, heel, toe, heel.

0:30:550:31:00

And into the nine, cos we haven't got a clean one yet.

0:31:000:31:03

In these movies, the sound of the taps was added separately.

0:31:050:31:10

Unusually, Fred always did his own,

0:31:100:31:12

and Darcey comes to what's known as a Foley studio

0:31:120:31:16

to try to do the same.

0:31:160:31:17

-Can I do that again?

-One more. Just the same place.

0:31:220:31:26

With the music and the taps in the can and barely a fortnight

0:31:270:31:31

after arriving London, it's Darcey's first film studio day.

0:31:310:31:34

I'm not limping. I'm all right.

0:31:340:31:37

< Morning, Darcey!

0:31:370:31:39

You were going to push in there.

0:31:400:31:43

One, two, three, four, bring it in front of you.

0:31:430:31:45

Nathan Clark, having helped coach Darcey, will now be filling in

0:31:450:31:49

as the army of Freds after she goes through the mirrors.

0:31:490:31:53

-OK.

-Cameras rolling.

-Have fun, enjoy, and cue music.

0:31:530:31:58

'My body's feeling like it used to feel, a bit beaten up.

0:35:030:35:07

'But I feel really honoured

0:35:070:35:09

'that I got to actually work on that choreography

0:35:090:35:12

'and just appreciate what a genius Fred Astaire was.'

0:35:120:35:15

I probably didn't give him the justice he should have had

0:35:150:35:20

in Puttin' On The Ritz, but I'm really glad I attempted it.

0:35:200:35:24

I've got a couple of blisters in my tap shoes for a change

0:35:240:35:28

instead of my point shoes.

0:35:280:35:30

Everyone loves tap dancing. The problem is with tap dancing,

0:35:340:35:38

it's a thing you have to do basically on your own,

0:35:380:35:40

it's an individual thing. And people want to dance

0:35:400:35:43

to meet the opposite sex, that's what dancing was all about.

0:35:430:35:47

Boy meets girl, girl meets boy, that's what you wanted.

0:35:470:35:49

For Darcey's second number,

0:35:520:35:53

she has to move into a very different type of dance.

0:35:530:35:57

The romantic duet.

0:35:570:36:00

Darcey has come to one of the last remaining ballrooms in Britain.

0:36:000:36:05

These dance styles were once all the rage.

0:36:050:36:08

My dad, who used to go dancing a lot,

0:36:110:36:15

has spoken to me about, everyone went dancing. Everyone.

0:36:150:36:21

'Everyone wanted to dance

0:36:230:36:24

'because you all wanted to be Fred Astaire or Ginger Rogers.

0:36:240:36:27

'They would watch the movies and see a little move

0:36:270:36:31

'and then they would try and interpret that.

0:36:310:36:33

'My dad would practise with his sister in the front room.'

0:36:330:36:36

"Let's try and do that thing Fred and Ginger did."

0:36:360:36:39

And they'd practise it.

0:36:390:36:40

And when he'd get to the ballroom, get the girl and give it a go!

0:36:400:36:44

The dances that swept Britain were directly influenced

0:36:460:36:51

by the Hollywood dream factory.

0:36:510:36:53

And when RKO paired an at first reluctant Fred

0:36:530:36:57

with a certain Ginger Rogers,

0:36:570:36:59

the most enduring and celebrated duo in dance was formed.

0:36:590:37:03

Of the hundreds of films RKO made,

0:37:050:37:08

the Astaire-Rogers pictures were among its most profitable.

0:37:080:37:11

Well, you know, a lot of the dances that are ballroom dances

0:37:130:37:16

actually come from America.

0:37:160:37:19

The foxtrot, that's a Hollywood dance.

0:37:190:37:21

The quickstep comes from the Charleston.

0:37:210:37:24

So that's another dance that comes from America

0:37:240:37:28

and has developed into one of our ballroom dances.

0:37:280:37:30

And I think when people went to the cinema,

0:37:300:37:33

they wanted to be Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

0:37:330:37:37

The duo changed not just Hollywood

0:37:410:37:44

but how couples on both sides of the Atlantic danced.

0:37:440:37:48

Dances from their films became crazes,

0:37:480:37:52

such as the hit of 1934, the Continental.

0:37:520:37:56

Retro DJs the Shellac Sisters play these very records today.

0:37:590:38:04

-And would this have first come off a film?

-Yes.

0:38:040:38:07

As people saw the dancing, Fred and Ginger doing amazing things,

0:38:070:38:12

and probably thought, "Hmm, if I get a hold of that 78,"

0:38:120:38:14

you know, "Me and the wife can learn those steps

0:38:140:38:17

"and then we'd wow them on the dancefloor."

0:38:170:38:19

# It has a passion, the Continental

0:38:210:38:24

# An invitation to moonlight and romance

0:38:240:38:26

# It's quite the fashion, the Continental

0:38:260:38:28

# Because you tell of your love while you dance

0:38:280:38:31

# Your lips whisper so tenderly

0:38:310:38:35

# Her eyes answer your song

0:38:350:38:40

# Two bodies swaying, the Continental. #

0:38:400:38:43

'Why do you think it became a craze?'

0:38:430:38:44

'I think with the Continental, it was a bit risque, wasn't it?

0:38:440:38:47

'Because they kiss in the middle.'

0:38:470:38:49

And that would have been quite unusual, to do that in public.

0:38:490:38:52

-In that time as well.

-Yeah.

0:38:520:38:54

# Kiss while you're dancing. #

0:38:540:38:57

'So to have a dance where that was part of the dance...

0:38:570:38:59

-'It was allowed.'

-'I think it was a boys' dance.'

0:38:590:39:02

-It was choreographically allowed in the music.

-Exactly!

0:39:020:39:05

I'm sure all the men rushed to the dance studios to learn that one!

0:39:050:39:09

You can imagine the queues outside!

0:39:090:39:11

Yeah, in that era, it would have been very undone.

0:39:110:39:14

Some dances were brief crazes,

0:39:160:39:19

but other Fred and Ginger numbers have endured forever.

0:39:190:39:22

In her version of Cheek To Cheek,

0:39:250:39:27

from the movie Top Hat, Darcey will be taking the Ginger Rogers role.

0:39:270:39:32

I wonder what's keeping Horace.

0:39:330:39:36

'It's always a question with dancing all the time,

0:39:390:39:42

'how much is it about sex?'

0:39:420:39:43

-I'm afraid I'm going to have a headache.

-Don't go.

0:39:430:39:46

This is a meeting I've been planning a long time.

0:39:460:39:50

'Katharine Hepburn's famously meant to have said

0:39:500:39:52

'that Ginger gave him sex and he gave her class.'

0:39:520:39:56

Nice to see you again, Miss Tremont.

0:39:560:39:58

You robbed me of the pleasure of introducing you two.

0:40:010:40:04

You've already met!

0:40:040:40:05

The chemistry between him and Ginger was never equalled ever again.

0:40:050:40:11

'I think, physically, they were such perfect complements,

0:40:180:40:23

both very lissome, both very lithe.

0:40:230:40:25

She was just the right body shape to match his slight figure.

0:40:250:40:30

'And it's a very good example of how they told a story in dance.

0:40:340:40:38

'It's very much part of their characters,

0:40:380:40:41

'their thought processes, their feelings,

0:40:410:40:44

'all of which their wonderful fluency of movement communicates.'

0:40:440:40:48

Watching this as a kid on Sunday afternoons,

0:41:070:41:10

this probably would be one of my favourite pieces.

0:41:100:41:13

Cheek To Cheek. It's very romantic.

0:41:130:41:18

I do love the feel.

0:41:180:41:21

She looks like she's totally studying Fred.

0:41:210:41:24

She's got her eye on him all the time.

0:41:270:41:30

And he looks like he's just playing with the steps.

0:41:320:41:34

The techniques in this style of dancing are also very different

0:41:400:41:44

from ballet. Here, Darcey will have to go against her instinct

0:41:440:41:47

to keep her knees straight and her feet turned out,

0:41:470:41:51

and she'll have to allow her posture to relax.

0:41:510:41:54

'It looks so easy, but it actually isn't at all.

0:42:010:42:03

'I mean, rehearsing it is actually really tiring,'

0:42:030:42:06

cos they bounce all the way through it, they're doing a lot of jumps.

0:42:060:42:10

Even though the steps are so simple.

0:42:100:42:12

MUSIC CONTINUES

0:42:130:42:16

I think my favourite bit is the end, where they're cheek to cheek,

0:42:400:42:44

it suddenly just all makes sense.

0:42:440:42:46

And he REALLY pushes his face against hers, she seems a bit kind of tense.

0:42:470:42:52

Quite lovely.

0:42:520:42:54

And the relief that they're finished.

0:42:580:43:01

This image of romance has a powerful appeal across the decades.

0:43:070:43:11

Two years ago, Darcey was a guest judge on Strictly Come Dancing.

0:43:150:43:19

-Hi.

-Hi, Moira, lovely to see you.

-Lovely to see you.

0:43:190:43:23

-Welcome back!

-I know, I know.

0:43:230:43:25

It brings back a lot of good memories. It's really nice.

0:43:250:43:28

-I love the new sets as well.

-Oh, good!

0:43:280:43:29

Yeah, it's very impressive.

0:43:290:43:31

For us, with Strictly,

0:43:370:43:40

the likes of Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers,

0:43:400:43:42

they are the benchmark for dance.

0:43:420:43:44

It's about the coupling, it's about the chemistry.

0:43:440:43:48

That's who Len will set as a benchmark

0:43:490:43:52

for everybody to aspire to be.

0:43:520:43:55

That's what I want to see.

0:43:570:43:59

That's what I want to be - transported to Hollywood.

0:43:590:44:02

And, whether I'm stuck here in Shepherd's Bush, I still want

0:44:020:44:05

to be there in Hollywood, thinking of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

0:44:050:44:09

We're working on four different pieces. One is Cheek To Cheek.

0:44:140:44:17

-Oh, yes!

-Which was Fred Astaire.

0:44:170:44:20

-Would you have an tips for me approaching a piece like that?

-Um...

0:44:200:44:25

I mean, I know it's foxtrot.

0:44:250:44:26

It's very fluid, very fluid and smooth, so I would say,

0:44:260:44:30

because it's so linear,

0:44:300:44:33

but the lines are also very smooth

0:44:330:44:36

going in and out, so no tension in the body.

0:44:360:44:40

It has to have some kind of tension, but it has to be a very fluid,

0:44:400:44:44

-relaxed tension.

-Slightly hidden.

-Yes.

-That's brilliant.

0:44:440:44:48

-Thank you very much.

-You're welcome.

0:44:480:44:50

-All the best for tonight.

-Thank you.

-Enjoy.

-Thanks.

0:44:500:44:53

MUSIC OBSCURES SPEECH

0:45:080:45:10

-That's not on the beat.

-They don't hit it.

-They don't hit it, do they?

0:45:120:45:16

-No.

-I wish she didn't have that bloody dress on!

0:45:160:45:18

I can see it.

0:45:210:45:22

This time, Nathan will be taking the Fred Astaire role.

0:45:220:45:26

'This is a bit of a challenge,

0:45:260:45:28

'working with a ballerina, cos we have completely different training,'

0:45:280:45:31

the way you hold you hold your body is different and the way ballet boys

0:45:310:45:34

partner their girls is different to the way we're trained.

0:45:340:45:37

-Is it because I'm trying to go, "Yah...yah"?

-Rather than going...?

0:45:370:45:43

'Cos I haven't done the classical training with partners,

0:45:430:45:46

'but I know that it's a lot more controlled and rigid

0:45:460:45:50

and you know exactly where everything is, where,

0:45:500:45:53

when it comes to partner work in the jobs that I do,

0:45:530:45:55

it's, "Throw that girl around as fast as you can

0:45:550:45:58

"and just hope that you get there in time."

0:45:580:46:00

Huh!

0:46:020:46:03

SHE CHUCKLES

0:46:030:46:05

I think Darcey's done an amazing job of coming over

0:46:050:46:07

to my side of things, and I've also learnt a lot from her.

0:46:070:46:10

Five, no, seven, eight. One, two, three, four, five.

0:46:100:46:16

Da, da, ya! Yes?

0:46:160:46:19

If I go past you, it's crap.

0:46:190:46:22

Ballroom dancing, waltz and foxtrot particularly,

0:46:220:46:25

you swing from the hip. It's all about the...

0:46:250:46:28

They're called the swing dances, because you swing through the hip.

0:46:280:46:32

In addition to that, you have to get sway.

0:46:320:46:36

These things are not natural in a ballet dancer.

0:46:360:46:39

When you watch ballroom dancing, the first step is taken through the heel

0:46:410:46:45

and then you lift up onto the ball of your foot to get rise and fall.

0:46:450:46:49

Same in the foxtrot - heel, ball, rise and fall.

0:46:490:46:54

In ballet, you very rarely - in fact, I don't know if ever -

0:46:540:46:59

you step forward through the heel.

0:46:590:47:01

It's always off the ball of the foot or through the toe onto the ball.

0:47:010:47:05

So, this is going to be technically a huge challenge.

0:47:050:47:10

'Apart from just learning the choreography

0:47:110:47:14

'and getting the number down,

0:47:140:47:17

'the technique is going to be so difficult,'

0:47:170:47:20

and so far out of Darcey's comfort zone.

0:47:200:47:22

-You seem to glisse on and then he pulls you down.

-So it's more that.

0:47:220:47:26

-Yeah.

-And I'm doing like that on top.

-Yeah.

-Like a ballet step.

0:47:260:47:31

Marcus and Karen Hilton are 12 times champion ballroom dancers.

0:47:340:47:41

They've come to give Darcey some technical tips

0:47:410:47:44

about how this sort of dance style differs

0:47:440:47:47

from what she's been brought up to do.

0:47:470:47:49

Quite a slow one, isn't it?

0:47:490:47:51

Yeah, so it's like a check to the left, to the right,

0:47:520:47:55

then it comes back.

0:47:550:47:56

It's sort of doing a triangle. Is that right?

0:47:560:48:00

I suppose it's almost like a check and back.

0:48:000:48:02

We call it a natural check.

0:48:020:48:03

'If I look at male and female in the ballet world,'

0:48:030:48:06

the male will just literally support the female,

0:48:060:48:09

whereas, in this instance, body weights are coming together.

0:48:090:48:12

'So it's the weight of the body that's supporting each other.'

0:48:120:48:15

'So we've got that constant body contact and weight contact.'

0:48:150:48:19

-It's quite soft, isn't it?

-It's much softer.

0:48:190:48:22

We were just going, "Side and side, side and side." And it's like across.

0:48:220:48:28

'I think the challenge is tremendous,

0:48:280:48:30

'but she's coping admirably.'

0:48:300:48:31

From an early age, she's been told

0:48:310:48:33

she must straighten those knees, no matter what.

0:48:330:48:36

Flex your knees.

0:48:360:48:37

Darcey, chase after me and just feel how flexed my knees are.

0:48:370:48:41

-They never, ever...

-Straighten.

0:48:410:48:43

'We're talking about flexed knees,'

0:48:430:48:46

inside edge of knees coming inside, no turn out,

0:48:460:48:49

tracking of the legs under the body.

0:48:490:48:51

Put your knee together, the back of the knee.

0:48:510:48:54

But, um, she's making a lovely job of it

0:48:540:48:56

and I know she's capable of doing it beautifully.

0:48:560:48:59

Beyond technique,

0:49:140:49:15

Darcey needs to find out what was the essential character

0:49:150:49:18

that Ginger Rogers brought to this extraordinary dance partnership.

0:49:180:49:22

Actress Summer Strallen is about to play the Ginger Rogers part

0:49:240:49:28

in a new national touring production of Top Hat.

0:49:280:49:31

She was a beautiful lady.

0:49:310:49:33

She was incredibly petite, wasn't she?

0:49:330:49:36

Yeah, tiny, and a fantastic actress.

0:49:360:49:38

I think that's the main thing that I love about her.

0:49:380:49:42

She wasn't THE most fantastically trained technical dancer,

0:49:420:49:46

yet she looks it.

0:49:460:49:48

-'There's a meaning to every single move that she does.'

-'Yeah.'

0:49:480:49:53

'And you can really tell what she's thinking the whole way through.'

0:49:530:49:57

-'Having a story with her moves.'

-'Absolutely.'

0:49:570:50:00

And that's been a massive inspiration to me, anyway,

0:50:000:50:03

watching her work.

0:50:030:50:04

One, two, three, one, two, three.

0:50:040:50:06

One, two, three, turn! One, two, three, tur...

0:50:060:50:09

Let's try it again.

0:50:120:50:13

'Ginger Rogers was essentially an amateur.'

0:50:130:50:16

'Glorious amateur, I should say.'

0:50:180:50:20

Because she almost...

0:50:200:50:22

You almost watched her learn to dance through each film.

0:50:220:50:25

'She learnt from Astaire and she got better and better as it went along.'

0:50:250:50:28

'The pleasure in watching her,'

0:50:320:50:33

is watching this person who's loving it,

0:50:330:50:36

absolutely loving doing what she's doing

0:50:360:50:38

and loving getting better at it.

0:50:380:50:40

'And it's partly why we all love Strictly Come Dancing, actually.

0:50:460:50:49

'We love seeing those people getting better each week.

0:50:490:50:52

'We love that sort of change and how they feel about it.'

0:50:520:50:55

'And it's a lot to do with feeling, I think.'

0:51:040:51:06

So that would be my advice, really, is to try and capture that,

0:51:060:51:09

not just the technique.

0:51:090:51:12

The success of Fred's films attracted some of the top

0:51:180:51:21

popular composers of the day to work with him.

0:51:210:51:24

-Nice and lightly, yeah?

-And Irving Berlin's Cheek To Cheek

0:51:240:51:28

was one of the most lasting numbers of them all.

0:51:280:51:30

THEY PLAY "CHEEK TO CHEEK"

0:51:300:51:32

These movies often prompted the musicians to their finest.

0:51:360:51:40

Irving Berlin had been at the top of showbusiness

0:51:400:51:43

since the First World War, or thereabouts,

0:51:430:51:46

but he'd actually gone to a slight loss of inspiration.

0:51:460:51:49

Suddenly, he's invited to work on Top Hat

0:51:490:51:51

and working for Fred Astaire brings his greatest flowering so far.

0:51:510:51:55

MUSIC OBSCURES SPEECH

0:52:010:52:03

'Fred Astaire was this sort of quality control man,

0:52:070:52:11

'when it came to certain composers.

0:52:110:52:13

'He'd been known to say, "I think you can do better."'

0:52:130:52:16

'He was tireless in polishing it to a real perfection.

0:52:180:52:21

'The sort of perfection I don't think we'll ever see again.'

0:52:210:52:24

'The way Fred Astaire put a number across,'

0:52:260:52:28

was often, you know, very much involved with his rhythmic sense.

0:52:280:52:32

He never thought of himself as a singer,

0:52:320:52:34

but he was many composers' favourite singer.

0:52:340:52:37

He always sang beautifully in tune and he had this sort of poise

0:52:370:52:43

and rhythmic sort of grace,

0:52:430:52:46

which I think did a lot of those numbers

0:52:460:52:49

great credit and great justice.

0:52:490:52:51

-Well, if Madge doesn't care, I certainly don't.

-Neither do I.

0:52:510:52:56

All I know is that it's...

0:52:560:52:58

# Heaven

0:52:580:53:00

# I'm in heaven

0:53:000:53:03

# And my heart beats so that I can hardly speak

0:53:030:53:09

# And I seem to find the happiness I seek

0:53:090:53:16

# When we're up together dancing cheek to cheek. #

0:53:160:53:19

'The phrasing that Fred Astaire brings is so astounding.

0:53:240:53:27

'I love the way he slides the voice generally.'

0:53:270:53:29

# I'm in heaven Da-da daa-da. #

0:53:290:53:31

It's really a master musician portamento effect, that.

0:53:310:53:35

# Seem to vanish like a gambler's lucky streak

0:53:350:53:41

# When we're up together dancing cheek to cheek. #

0:53:410:53:48

While rehearsing, Darcey gets a special visitor.

0:53:480:53:52

-"Rehearsing Cheek To Cheek..."

-"A swell tune."

-"A swell tune."

0:53:520:53:55

The perfect vernacular for the time!

0:53:550:53:59

As a teenager, Ava Astaire travelled frequently with her father.

0:54:000:54:04

Daddy and Ginger, they never fought.

0:54:040:54:08

There's always all these stories about how

0:54:080:54:12

they were fighting constantly

0:54:120:54:14

and I really think that probably can be attributed

0:54:140:54:18

to the dress that he had to fight

0:54:180:54:22

when they did the number Cheek To Cheek.

0:54:220:54:24

They got out there to do the shot and the feathers started shedding

0:54:240:54:29

and they got up his nose and in his eyes and he lost his temper.

0:54:290:54:34

And from that, legends have been built that they fought constantly

0:54:340:54:39

but, actually, when the whole filming was over,

0:54:390:54:42

they presented her with a gold feather for her charm bracelet.

0:54:420:54:47

How funny.

0:54:470:54:49

It is one of those magical pieces, when you watch Cheek To Cheek.

0:54:490:54:52

You just go, "That dress, oh, my gosh, that dress."

0:54:520:54:54

I can see why she wanted it and she did design it

0:54:540:54:58

and it's just that they never rehearsed with those dresses,

0:54:580:55:02

any of the costumes.

0:55:020:55:04

They never did in those days.

0:55:040:55:06

And there you are, the feathers down low there.

0:55:070:55:10

Couturier to the stars and one of Princess Diana's

0:55:100:55:13

favourite dress designers, Bruce Oldfield,

0:55:130:55:15

is giving advice about the type of frock Darcey might wear.

0:55:150:55:18

That dress, on its own, is a dog.

0:55:190:55:23

And that dress needs a body in it and it needs a body who's dancing

0:55:230:55:26

because it's this great, big bulky coat.

0:55:260:55:28

Cos she was so petite,

0:55:280:55:29

to put her in something that kind of covered her up.

0:55:290:55:32

Yeah, it's ridiculous. But, of course,

0:55:320:55:34

it was a sublime dress in motion.

0:55:340:55:37

A ghastly yeti of a frock.

0:55:370:55:40

I've never seen somebody faff around with a dress

0:55:400:55:42

that's in their mouth and she's like this.

0:55:420:55:44

-Every time she went upside down, you couldn't see her face.

-Yeah.

0:55:440:55:47

So he would lunge with her, and the dress would be flapped over her face.

0:55:470:55:51

It must have been...

0:55:510:55:53

No, apparently, after that film, she was called Feathers,

0:55:530:55:55

-that was her nickname.

-Ah.

-Yeah.

0:55:550:55:57

-Amazing. So, can we look at it? A feel of that...

-Of feathers, yeah.

0:55:570:56:03

Chic to chic. Cheek to Cheek, not chic to chic!

0:56:030:56:06

Yeah, it just needs flow at the hem, doesn't it? Um, what about this one?

0:56:060:56:11

Cos this one has, you know, it's massively...

0:56:110:56:15

There's a lot of dress there. This is a wedding dress.

0:56:150:56:18

And, of course, if you danced in that,

0:56:180:56:20

it would just keep moving after you.

0:56:200:56:22

-Yeah.

-It's very short. I've got such a long body.

-Have you?

0:56:220:56:25

Well, you might come out the top end, as well.

0:56:250:56:28

-Thank you.

-That wouldn't do.

0:56:280:56:29

SHE LAUGHS

0:56:290:56:31

Hello! Does it do up?

0:56:310:56:33

-I don't know.

-Ooh.

0:56:330:56:35

Ginger. Ginger.

0:56:350:56:37

Is it cos I've got to lower it? Cos my waist actually is tiny.

0:56:370:56:40

I think it is, but then your boobs might jump out the top.

0:56:400:56:44

Don't...

0:56:450:56:46

THEY LAUGH

0:56:460:56:48

That'll be exciting!

0:56:480:56:50

THEY LAUGH

0:56:500:56:51

No, it won't be.

0:56:510:56:53

-Yeah, it looks great.

-It is, it's so light.

0:56:530:56:56

-It doesn't feel like it would knock anybody out, either.

-Not even Fred.

0:56:560:57:00

-Good old Fred.

-No, exactly.

0:57:000:57:02

But there's enough room under here for a couple of people.

0:57:020:57:06

-Yeah, there is, yeah.

-You might get lost. Beautiful.

0:57:060:57:10

It's good also for your high kicks, if you decided you wanted to do any.

0:57:100:57:15

The skirt goes with you, look at that.

0:57:150:57:17

SHE LAUGHS

0:57:170:57:18

-God, it went all the way up, your leg!

-Oh, it still does.

0:57:180:57:21

I'm amazed that your legs will go up that far.

0:57:220:57:25

-That's very kind.

-I didn't know that's where they're supposed to go.

0:57:250:57:28

-Oh, really?

-No.

0:57:280:57:30

Downstairs, Bruce has another possibility.

0:57:300:57:33

-Oh, wow!

-Cos it's the same as the pink.

-I love the colour.

0:57:330:57:38

-It's lovely seeing it in the making as well.

-Yeah.

-The detail!

0:57:380:57:41

-I think it will be very good for that scene.

-Gorgeous.

0:57:410:57:45

-Gorgeous, tell your auntie.

-DOG WHINES

0:57:450:57:48

-What is it, Baz, what's the matter?

-Doesn't like the dress.

0:57:480:57:51

Doesn't like the dress. "It's better in pink."

0:57:510:57:54

Yeah, "Better in pink, why are you making another one?" It's gorgeous.

0:57:540:57:58

Thank you.

0:57:580:57:59

A week later, the Bruce Oldfield dress has arrived for a try-out.

0:58:000:58:05

Oh, it's a bit big.

0:58:050:58:06

Yeah, it could do with coming in a little bit.

0:58:100:58:12

'The whole point of that Cheek To Cheek thing,'

0:58:120:58:16

is that it feels like it's a floaty, fantasy, feathery thing.

0:58:160:58:21

It's a little bit too structured, I think that's why.

0:58:230:58:26

-So it would take away from the...

-The steps.

0:58:260:58:30

-I like women's backs and that completely negates...

-The back.

0:58:340:58:38

-I like seeing the back.

-Yeah.

-Cos that's the elegant part, isn't it?

0:58:380:58:43

I mean, that does look beautiful, but it...

0:58:430:58:45

It's pretty from the front, but it's not a dress, I suppose,

0:58:450:58:48

-that you twiddle in.

-No.

0:58:480:58:50

So, the Oldfield dress, not so flexible in the back,

0:58:500:58:54

is rejected in favour of something closer to the original.

0:58:540:58:58

Cheek To Cheek is being filmed on location,

0:59:020:59:04

and her new dress awaits her.

0:59:040:59:08

This is the original dress that Darcey tried on.

0:59:080:59:10

We've done a few alterations to it.

0:59:100:59:13

We've put more feathers round the bottom,

0:59:130:59:16

just to give it a bit more weight.

0:59:160:59:18

Darcey felt like there should be more feathers

0:59:180:59:21

around her head and shoulders.

0:59:210:59:23

This has been shaken within an inch of its life,

0:59:230:59:26

so we don't get any featherage.

0:59:260:59:29

Take first positions. And...cue music.

0:59:380:59:43

MUSIC: "Cheek To Cheek".

0:59:490:59:53

By the early 50s,

1:01:591:02:01

MGM was making half of all the musicals turned out by Hollywood.

1:02:011:02:05

And, emboldened by success, the studio took the gamble

1:02:051:02:09

of allowing one of its stars, Gene Kelly, to co-direct a movie.

1:02:091:02:13

Hot dog! Hallelujah!

1:02:131:02:15

Kelly jumped in with both feet

1:02:151:02:17

and helped change the direction of movie musicals for ever.

1:02:171:02:20

-What do you mean, the 24th?

-It's 1:30 already, it's morning!

1:02:201:02:24

Every person, when they wake up,

1:02:241:02:26

should have Good Morning suddenly come on.

1:02:261:02:28

-# Good morning.

-Good morning.

1:02:281:02:31

# We've talked the whole night through... #

1:02:311:02:33

The third number that Darcey will be dancing is from

1:02:331:02:36

one of Kelly's finest achievements,

1:02:361:02:38

the ever-popular movie, Singin' In The Rain.

1:02:381:02:41

# It's great to stay up late. #

1:02:411:02:43

In Good Morning, she'll take the Debbie Reynolds role.

1:02:431:02:46

When you compare Fred Astaire to Gene Kelly, I mean,

1:02:471:02:49

Gene Kelly is more obviously handsome and hunky.

1:02:491:02:52

And for that very reason, that is, apparent sexiness,

1:02:521:02:57

plenty people will always prefer Gene Kelly.

1:02:571:02:59

# Good morning Good morning to you.

1:02:591:03:03

# And you and you and you. #

1:03:031:03:04

If Fred Astaire is Champagne and caviar,

1:03:041:03:08

then Gene Kelly was beer and a burger.

1:03:081:03:11

He was the man's dancer.

1:03:111:03:13

# New York, New York A wonderful town... #

1:03:131:03:15

'The same old things are said about Fred and Gene all the time.

1:03:151:03:19

'It's that Astaire was elegant and in top hat and tails

1:03:191:03:22

'and Gene Kelly is the workmanlike, everyman guy.'

1:03:221:03:27

'You know, he was happy being a builder or a sailor in everything.'

1:03:271:03:30

The irony of it is that I think it was almost the opposite.

1:03:301:03:34

You know, Astaire sort of fell into the top hat and tails,

1:03:341:03:37

didn't really feel comfortable and was much more a casual kind of guy.

1:03:371:03:41

'Gene Kelly was very sort of inspired by different forms of dance

1:03:411:03:45

'and did look to higher things in terms of his dancing,

1:03:451:03:49

'wanted to make a whole film using classical ballet dancers.'

1:03:491:03:53

And you have to admire his ambition.

1:03:531:03:55

Darcey will have not only to tap and use props,

1:03:591:04:02

but also to follow the Gene Kelly trademark use of different levels.

1:04:021:04:06

'I think this piece has great energy, it's got great wit.

1:04:081:04:12

'You know, I wanted to see Darcey really have fun with it.'

1:04:121:04:16

And I think that that combination, all over the set,

1:04:161:04:18

with the levels would be a great challenge for her too.

1:04:181:04:22

'In Good Morning, settees, mackintoshes,'

1:04:251:04:30

anything you wanted, whatever was lying about, almost -

1:04:301:04:33

"Let's augment that into the number."

1:04:331:04:35

It's just such a unique bit cos Gene uses all these props

1:04:411:04:47

as part of his choreography.

1:04:471:04:49

And props terrify me.

1:04:491:04:52

Three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

1:04:541:04:57

Halfway through rehearsals

1:04:591:05:01

and Gene Kelly's daughter, Kerry Kelly Novick, has come to watch.

1:05:011:05:04

-Hello.

-Hi, I'm Darcey.

-I'm Kerry.

-Thank you for coming.

1:05:041:05:07

-I am very happy to be here.

-I am Kim.

-Glad to meet you.

1:05:071:05:11

-This is Nathan.

-Hello.

-Nice to meet you.

1:05:111:05:13

MUSIC: "Good Morning" by Brown and Freed

1:05:131:05:17

Whoo!

1:05:231:05:25

-Single!

-Yeah!

1:05:251:05:27

Ay-ya!

1:05:331:05:34

And two, and one, two, three, four, five, six, seven.

1:05:361:05:40

Hup!

1:05:451:05:47

So we make a cut there.

1:05:491:05:51

Gene Kelly had such an athletic body.

1:05:511:05:55

I suppose that is why he loved all the props

1:05:551:05:57

-and didn't worry about jumping off anything, but she did.

-But he was 40.

1:05:571:06:01

When he did Good Morning he was 40?

1:06:011:06:03

-Yes.

-OK, then I don't feel so bad now!

1:06:031:06:05

-There's a parallel!

-Yeah, there's a parallel!

1:06:051:06:08

-Was he...?

-Did you watch this piece on the set when they did it?

1:06:081:06:13

Yeah, because Singin' In The Rain was shot in the summer,

1:06:131:06:16

so I was on summer vacation so I was I was hanging out a lot.

1:06:161:06:19

-I was eight...

-It's amazing what you remember.

1:06:191:06:22

..And Debbie Reynolds was 18.

1:06:221:06:25

I thought she was the most wonderful person and she was extremely sweet.

1:06:251:06:30

MUSIC PLAYS

1:06:301:06:33

Singin' In The Rain - do you have any...?

1:06:371:06:41

Did he tell you what that was like to rehearse?

1:06:411:06:43

Doing all those dance moves in the rain?

1:06:431:06:45

They rehearsed it without the rain, a lot,

1:06:451:06:49

but then it took them two days to shoot.

1:06:491:06:52

And he was wearing a grey tweed suit with a Norfolk jacket, a heavy suit

1:06:521:06:59

and it's California in the summer

1:06:591:07:01

and the rainwater was sort of tepid, I think.

1:07:011:07:04

'By the end of the first day, he was running a temperature of 103

1:07:041:07:10

'and getting pneumonia because he was in the wet suit all day.'

1:07:101:07:14

'He shot it really sick.'

1:07:151:07:17

-'Wow.'

-'He did do it?'

-'Of course.'

1:07:171:07:20

Singin' In The Rain was co-directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen.

1:07:251:07:29

Now 87, he's lost none of his bite.

1:07:291:07:33

Singin' In The Rain was a movie

1:07:331:07:35

that you found yourself collaborating on.

1:07:351:07:37

-What was it like?

-Hell!

1:07:371:07:40

Who could like co-directing?

1:07:411:07:45

I don't want to have to prove myself to my partner.

1:07:451:07:49

And he outweighed me because he was the star of the picture.

1:07:491:07:54

It said "Gene Kelly".

1:07:541:07:56

I was the director, at least that was my feeling,

1:07:561:08:00

and Gene was the star.

1:08:001:08:01

But he was the co-director and I hated it.

1:08:011:08:05

-Did you co-choreograph?

-Yes.

1:08:051:08:08

-Was that equally difficult?

-Worse.

1:08:081:08:12

Yes, because that's very physical.

1:08:121:08:15

Not something I enjoyed and I don't think it was something he enjoyed.

1:08:151:08:20

MUSIC PLAYS

1:08:201:08:23

No matter where that balance is, unless you're all taking

1:08:371:08:41

the weight off the back foot at the same time...

1:08:411:08:44

-Just keep the pressure going. Find where it is.

-And...

-Go.

1:08:441:08:50

'It is not fun making movies.'

1:08:591:09:01

'Even if they are supposed to be about fun.

1:09:011:09:05

It ain't laughs and joy, and, "Isn't this great?".

1:09:051:09:07

It's not. It's tough.

1:09:071:09:10

'It was inch by inch.'

1:09:141:09:17

It's, "This is good enough for a few seconds or a few bars,

1:09:171:09:21

"now what?"

1:09:211:09:23

And you have to come up with a new idea to carry on.

1:09:231:09:26

Then you go...

1:09:261:09:28

'It was a step-by-step idea.'

1:09:301:09:34

'"It works up to there, but now it seems to be lousy. What's wrong?

1:09:361:09:41

'"Take it out, change it, turn it upside down."

1:09:411:09:44

'That's the way it is to choreograph that particular number.'

1:09:441:09:48

'It's not... It doesn't...'

1:09:481:09:50

The only idea behind that number is they are happy dancing together.

1:09:501:09:55

'And happy dancing is not a great idea. We've all seen it a lot.'

1:09:571:10:03

'So you have to come up with great invention.'

1:10:061:10:09

'I don't know that it was great, but it was at least invention.'

1:10:131:10:17

Singin' In The Rain was also step-by-step.

1:10:241:10:26

If you look at it, you will see him dancing and splashing in puddles.

1:10:261:10:33

'Those puddles have to be selected, the beat they're on,

1:10:331:10:36

'how big it is, how much water it is, where does he go?

1:10:361:10:40

'They have to be dug out of the cement.'

1:10:401:10:43

It's inch by inch.

1:10:461:10:48

It's not, "I have got a great idea,

1:10:481:10:50

"he's going to splash in the puddles." Now what?

1:10:501:10:53

'You have to work out exactly which puddle, how does he splash in it?

1:10:551:10:59

'Where is it? What's the dance step?

1:10:591:11:02

'How does it fall in the music?'

1:11:021:11:03

That's choreography.

1:11:031:11:06

# I'm dancin'

1:11:061:11:08

# And singin'

1:11:081:11:10

-# In the rain.

-#

1:11:101:11:13

MUSIC PLAYS

1:11:231:11:26

Gene Kelly had arrived but Fred Astaire had not gone away.

1:13:051:13:10

In fact, he returned with a vengeance in this movie,

1:13:101:13:14

discovering in the process a whole new range of invention.

1:13:141:13:17

This is from a film The Band Wagon.

1:13:191:13:23

I think it's one of my most favourite scenes

1:13:231:13:25

from some of these films because the choreography is just extraordinary,

1:13:251:13:29

actually quite comical.

1:13:291:13:30

But just perfect for the scene because it's all set in a nightclub.

1:13:321:13:38

There are all these gangsters and their girls.

1:13:401:13:43

Fred Astaire also found a brand-new partner,

1:13:461:13:50

the extraordinary Cyd Charisse.

1:13:501:13:53

Cyd Charisse plays these two women.

1:13:541:13:58

The major, sultry woman - here she comes in her beautiful red dress.

1:13:581:14:04

'It's very sexy, but kind of classy and sexy.'

1:14:071:14:10

'Cyd Charisse is my favourite.'

1:14:161:14:19

She was so tall. She had such an elegance, such a presence about her.

1:14:191:14:24

'It's incredible to think that that was done in 53.

1:14:271:14:31

'We're talking over 50 years ago,

1:14:311:14:33

'and yet it's modern. It's up-to-date.

1:14:331:14:36

'It could be a Michael Jackson number. Smooth Criminal.

1:14:361:14:39

'That is one of my iconic numbers,'

1:14:391:14:43

mainly because it's totally unexpected.

1:14:431:14:45

It is not what you expect Fred Astaire to be doing.

1:14:451:14:48

'Astaire is now in his 50s.'

1:14:511:14:54

He was a workaholic, a perfectionist.

1:14:541:14:56

He didn't love to give it...

1:14:571:14:59

He wanted to keep it ongoing, just in the right circumstances.

1:14:591:15:02

And he needed the right partner.

1:15:021:15:04

In Darcey's final number, she'll be exploring the Cyd Charisse role

1:15:041:15:08

In The Girl-Hunt from The Band Wagon.

1:15:081:15:10

'He was inspired by Cyd Charisse

1:15:101:15:12

'who had come from the classical ballet world,'

1:15:121:15:14

but interestingly really blossomed in film.

1:15:141:15:18

Apparently she never had any stamina at all.

1:15:181:15:21

It suited her perfectly to do these shots and then have a rest,

1:15:211:15:25

then do something else!

1:15:251:15:26

'But she's one of the most beautiful dancers ever captured on screen

1:15:261:15:31

'and probably one of the most viewed dancers of all time.'

1:15:311:15:34

'Fred Astaire in his memoirs talks about Cyd Charisse.

1:15:361:15:39

'He says, "When you've danced with Cyd Charisse you stay danced with."'

1:15:391:15:43

-Hi.

-How are you?

-Thank you for coming to meet me.

1:15:511:15:54

-My pleasure.

-Come and sit down.

1:15:541:15:57

Darcey has come to meet choreographer Lavelle Smith Jr

1:15:571:16:02

who was a dancer in Michael Jackson's Smooth Criminal video...

1:16:021:16:05

-Right here. That was me. See that bad dancing?

-No!

1:16:051:16:09

-Bad dancing!

-That wasn't bad. That was great.

1:16:091:16:13

..which itself paid direct homage to The Girl-Hunt number.

1:16:131:16:15

# Smooth criminal. #

1:16:151:16:17

'Do you remember watching that with Michael Jackson,

1:16:231:16:27

'that scene with Fred Astaire?'

1:16:271:16:29

I remember watching it and thinking, "Wow!"

1:16:291:16:32

When I started watching it with him he explained that he would go

1:16:321:16:35

to this guy's house, Fred Astaire's house, and learn how to tap,

1:16:351:16:39

-talk about making movies.

-Really?

1:16:391:16:40

Yes, Fred Astaire told him that they took their time.

1:16:401:16:44

They didn't skimp on that.

1:16:441:16:46

He'll do it again and again, and that was Michael.

1:16:461:16:48

You would have to smile and bear it because we would do it

1:16:481:16:52

until our bodies told us what was next.

1:16:521:16:55

'What I notice when you see Michael Jackson's work

1:16:561:17:00

'and Fred Astaire's, is that it's very clean'

1:17:001:17:05

and you can actually see everything, every movement left behind.

1:17:051:17:09

-Yeah, I love that.

-Like a sparkler - when you do this

1:17:091:17:12

and you can see the line after it's finished.

1:17:121:17:14

That's a great analysis. Yes.

1:17:141:17:16

Everything is so clean and, as you said,

1:17:161:17:20

it does come down to rehearsals.

1:17:201:17:23

Yes, to rehearsal. Smooth Criminal took three months to do.

1:17:231:17:26

-Three months?

-Someone reminded me this morning

1:17:261:17:29

-that it was really only eight minutes.

-Wow.

1:17:291:17:32

-There you go. But we'll never forget it.

-We'll never.

1:17:321:17:36

# Then you ran into the bedroom You were struck down

1:17:361:17:40

# It was your doom... #

1:17:401:17:42

# So sexy

1:17:421:17:45

# Tonight I am all yours... #

1:17:451:17:49

And its influence continues...

1:17:491:17:51

# The way your body... #

1:17:511:17:56

..to Beyonce and beyond.

1:17:561:17:59

HE HUMS

1:17:591:18:01

In this final number, Kim Gavin is reinventing The Girl-Hunt sequence

1:18:011:18:07

from The Band Wagon For Darcey.

1:18:071:18:09

'This section from Band Wagon, called The Girl-Hunt Ballet

1:18:111:18:15

'has riddled its way up to today,'

1:18:151:18:19

and we want to try and do is take it and do our version

1:18:191:18:23

with Darcey being the forefront, the Cyd Charisse character.

1:18:231:18:28

'And put a new soundtrack, new dance,

1:18:301:18:33

'bring in some ensemble to create a dynamic piece,'

1:18:331:18:39

based on or influenced by The Band Wagon.

1:18:391:18:42

'I'm hoping that we can surround her with a great team as well,

1:18:451:18:50

'and that she's part of that team,

1:18:501:18:52

'unlike the other numbers which are very much stand-alone pieces.'

1:18:521:18:55

I wanted her to fit within the group a little bit more.

1:18:581:19:01

Look at that!

1:19:031:19:05

But it does not need it flatter.

1:19:091:19:12

It almost needs for you to kind of go up that way.

1:19:121:19:16

A different direction?

1:19:181:19:21

So that I am seeing you go over there, not up there and coming down.

1:19:211:19:27

That would be better.

1:19:291:19:31

-Then you have somewhere to go.

-It gives us more room.

1:19:311:19:34

-That works. That's better.

-Let him go round.

-Yes.

1:19:341:19:38

-Then we will have time for it as well.

-Yes.

1:19:381:19:40

'You do have to get yourself in a very different mindset

1:19:421:19:45

'for a piece like this. It's much more grounded.'

1:19:451:19:48

Nothing's ever fully stretched.

1:19:481:19:50

Even though Kim has asked for a couple of things

1:19:501:19:53

that are probably more authentic to me,

1:19:531:19:56

'everything is very into the ground and very fast.

1:19:561:20:00

'The beat is incredibly important. And it just looks,

1:20:001:20:04

'when it goes like that...

1:20:041:20:06

'And I am learning off the girls I'm around.'

1:20:061:20:09

'I'm enjoying watching them a lot,

1:20:111:20:14

'just watching their little nuances.'

1:20:141:20:17

The way they touch their head,

1:20:171:20:19

or move or anything like that is really nice to see.

1:20:191:20:22

I will have more inhibitions about things like that.

1:20:241:20:27

'I'm just finding things like putting your shoulder up.'

1:20:281:20:32

In classical ballet, we'd be very inclined

1:20:341:20:37

to make sure the distance between your chin and your shoulder

1:20:371:20:41

is always long and if I did a move like that, I'd have distance.

1:20:411:20:45

Here it's really happy to do a roll.

1:20:451:20:48

'I think it's very much the flavour of the piece as well.'

1:20:521:20:55

Kind of rum, dirty, but keeping it classy at the same time.

1:20:591:21:05

You kind of run in.

1:21:161:21:19

Finally Darcey is back on set with the ensemble of other dancers

1:21:191:21:24

to shoot Kim's reinvention of the hugely influential The Girl-Hunt

1:21:241:21:28

with its newly commissioned score.

1:21:281:21:31

'It was late and it was quiet.'

1:21:391:21:41

'The city breathed slowly,

1:21:441:21:46

'caught in a dream, though nightmares hid in every shadow.

1:21:461:21:50

'The name's Riley. I am a police detective.

1:21:501:21:55

'I got a tip that something big was going down

1:21:551:21:58

'and I wanted a piece of it.'

1:21:581:22:00

'This was no place for a kid like her.'

1:22:101:22:13

'She had eyes that were once bright and twice as scared.

1:22:181:22:23

'She was the girl I wanted to protect and serve...forever.'

1:22:231:22:27

'I knew this wasn't what it seemed, but what was it?

1:22:381:22:41

'I guess there's only one way to find out.'

1:22:411:22:45

# Hey, yeah!

1:22:451:22:51

# Ooh

1:22:531:22:54

# Yeah

1:22:561:22:58

# Everybody's shaking and making those looks at you

1:22:581:23:01

# I just won a bet with the band

1:23:011:23:04

# Yeah

1:23:061:23:11

# Ooh-oh, ow! #

1:23:211:23:25

'She had legs longer than a millionaire's cheque-book

1:23:551:23:59

'but no one could afford to make this mistake.'

1:23:591:24:01

'You could cut the tension with a knife.'

1:24:141:24:16

'This girl was bad. This girl was dangerous.'

1:24:181:24:22

# Yeah, she moves with danger

1:24:311:24:32

# Yeah, she talks in tongues Don't think you can change her

1:24:321:24:36

# Now look what you've done

1:24:361:24:38

# Now she's got the motive Now she's shot the gun

1:24:381:24:42

# She could tempt you and play you and catch you if you run

1:24:421:24:47

# Stop her before you fall in love

1:24:471:24:50

# Because you ain't secure If you're wanting more

1:24:501:24:52

# But a little unsure then you already need the cure

1:24:521:24:55

# Trust me there's more there really is

1:24:551:24:58

# Stirring it everywhere

1:24:581:25:00

# The way she's making you stare and flicking her hair

1:25:001:25:02

# Crush her now Just crush her now

1:25:021:25:04

# She moves with danger Yeah, she talks in tongues

1:25:041:25:08

# Don't think you can change her Now look what you've done

1:25:081:25:13

# Now she's got the motive Now she's shot the gun

1:25:131:25:16

# She could tempt you and play you and catch you if you run

1:25:161:25:20

# Yeah. #

1:25:201:25:22

'This case was closed but I still had some unfinished business.

1:25:481:25:53

'The girl was bad, the girl was dangerous,

1:25:531:25:58

'but that's my kind of girl.'

1:25:581:26:00

Soon after The Band Wagon was released, rock and roll arrived

1:26:091:26:13

and a certain romantic innocence was lost forever.

1:26:131:26:17

'Dance is dependent on the music and unfortunately

1:26:171:26:21

'that type of music, the foxtrots, the waltzes,'

1:26:211:26:25

and the gliding glamorous dances,

1:26:251:26:28

the music went and with it the dancing went, unfortunately.

1:26:281:26:33

As popular music changed,

1:26:341:26:36

movie musicals seemed out of tune with the times.

1:26:361:26:41

But the stars of the golden age were never outshone.

1:26:411:26:45

'What I learnt about Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly

1:26:461:26:49

'is they were geniuses

1:26:491:26:51

'and they had set a mark incredibly high for their time,'

1:26:511:26:56

on their choreographic skills, their dance ability,

1:26:561:26:59

that people are still trying to emulate today.

1:26:591:27:02

'They had such a distinctive quality of their own

1:27:061:27:09

'that they were able to create something unique.'

1:27:091:27:12

'The detail, precision

1:27:141:27:16

'and discipline that goes behind rehearsing these numbers...'

1:27:161:27:20

# I'm happy again. #

1:27:201:27:22

..Hopefully we got a little essence of that.

1:27:241:27:27

I say there!

1:28:011:28:03

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

1:28:031:28:06

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1:28:061:28:09

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