by Lillyswawa

Created on: April 24, 2010   Last Updated: April 25, 2010

When watching Richard Gere attempt to learn the tango with the able assistance of his attractive tutor played by Jennifer Lopez in 'Shall We Dance'?, we are immediately reminded of an earlier film where another couple - that time it was the guy who played instructor to a very willing female pupil - is caught up in the throes of passion whenever the music begins.

My, how moviegoers love romance. And romance, coupled with the art of dance, is even more titillating!

Hearken back to a time when top hats and filmy gowns, worn by the likes of Rita Hayworth and Joan Crawford, graced the silver screen. In 'Swing Time', Fred Astaire gets the girl - partly do to some fancy footwork. While doggedly wooing Ginger Rogers (who, in this author's opinion, was unbeatable in an evening gown!), their pairing in a waltz across the floor of their hotel remains to the present day, indelibly etched upon the minds of millions as one of the screen's most exhilarating moments!

Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, and a very "green" Debbie Reynolds kept us entertained in 'Singin' In The Rain'. While tapping, twirling, spinning and popping through their high profile number, "Good Mornin'", They end with a perfectly synchronized leap upon and over the back of a studio couch, - capturing the hearts of American movie goers everywhere.

And, might I add, Gene's splashy romp with an umbrella through numerous puddles in the street scene scored to the film's title tune,  became the beloved hoofer's trademark dance, - over night!

It was Fred Astaire who wooed and won another beauty in 'You Were Never Lovelier'. His veranda dance with the lovely Rita Hayworth underscored by the favorite,I'm Old-fashioned, shall be a favorite of mine forever... ah-h-h. It is rumoured that Astaire once told an interviewer, that of all the ladies he had ever danced with, she (Rita) was by far his favorite dance partner.

It may not be thought of by some as a great dance scene, - but the happy, lilting steps of Ray Bolger whilst singing "If I Only had a Brain" in 'The Wizard Of Oz', have for decades been the cause of wistful smiles from the ages of 2 to 100!

The Virginia Reel is danced together by Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh, who is dressed in mournful black.  What movie fan could forget that enigmatic scene?

The bouncy waltz danced by Anna and the King of Siam in the musical version of 'The King and I'. What a performance given by the late, great Yul Brynner, accompanied by the incomparable, Miss Debra Kerr!

So many. So very many... Too many to list, to be sure...

Still, I am hauntingly taken back to that final dance scene of a truly bombastic motion picture, - Dirty Dancing. The hero raises the heroine over his head. And, for a few seconds, she appears suspended in mid-air! She has overcome in the situation room of life. A small but, noteworthy victory.

What freedom. What beauty. What dance!

Immortalized forever, -  thanks to a medium which has become known to us all as, The Motion Picture... and, we count ourselves among the many lucky ones who are honored to be able to watch and enjoy, for years and years to come.

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