Award-winning choreographer Michael Kidd dies.

[CBHagman]

Hey, movie fans. Did you ever see The Band Wagon? How about Seven Brides for Seven Brothers? Remember all those amazing dance numbers?

Well, we just lost the choreographer who created them. Michael Kidd, who worked both in Hollywood and on Broadway, has died.

Obituary:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/25/arts/dance/25kidd.html?hp=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1198558281-02d6DoMY8UOB6uQ3vpd23g

On Broadway, Mr. Kidd won five Tony Awards: for “Finian’s Rainbow” in 1947, “Guys and Dolls” in 1951, “Can-Can” in 1954, “Li’l Abner” in 1957, and “Destry Rides Again” in 1960. In Hollywood, he received a special 1997 Academy Award “in recognition of his services to the art of dance in the art of the screen.”

Perhaps his best-known film work was “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers,” a 1954 musical of the American frontier whose dances, which he created for ballet dancers, were not supposed to appear balletic. He had them perform what he called “work movements,” like wielding axes.

(SNIP)

Then he was lured to Hollywood. His first film as choreographer was the 1952 adaptation of the Frank Loesser hit Broadway musical “Where’s Charley?” starring Ray Bolger in a repeat of his Broadway role. Mr. Kidd’s first big success in films came with the Fred Astaire musical “The Band Wagon” in 1953. The film, with songs by Howard Dietz and Arthur Schwartz, included the now-famous “Girl Hunt Ballet” with Astaire and Cyd Charisse, a spoof on the hard-boiled private eye stories of Mickey Spillane, and the lyrical “Dancing in the Dark,” in which Astaire courts Charisse in Central Park.

IMDB credits:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0452264/

And if your mind needs refreshing (or you just want to have some fun), watch this clip of the barn-raising dance from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Watch out for flying men and flying axes!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCdiWxzw0RU