Daily Dance: Gene Kelly & Donald O'Connor

From the 1959 Special, Pontiac Star Parade. It originally aired 21st November 1959.

All kinds of awesome. 

Daily Dance: Gene Kelly In "An American In Paris"

I dare you to watch this twice! This was done 64 years ago, well before I was born, and is one of my all-time favorites--since the first time I watched it on TV in the library at Eastern Washington University, where I worked, in 1985. Oscar Levant on the piano, and Gene Kelly dancing, in the 1951 movie--An American in Paris. Gene Kelly actually won a special Oscar "in appreciation of his versatility as an actor, singer, director and dancer, and specifically for his brilliant achievements in the art of choreography on film" for this in the 1952 Academy Awards. How cool is that!?!

Posted by R.T. Williams on Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Daily Dance: Julie Andrews Tap Dancing With Gene Kelly

I've never seen this.

Of course, Gene is fantastic, but who knew Julie could tap so well?

Fabulous.

Movie Musical XANADU Celebrates 35th Anniversary Today

Thirty-five years ago today the Olivia Newton-John/Gene Kelly musical movie XANADU hit the theaters with a mega-smash hit soundtrack.

Over the past 3+ decades Olivia has often acknowledged that, while the movie's script had some issues, the honor of working with Gene Kelly was easily one of the highlights of an already stellar career.

She's also quick to note how successful the soundtrack for the film scored on the music charts.

The soundtrack album hit #2 in the UK and #4 in the US. It was certified Double Platinum in the US and Gold in the UK, plus yielded five top 20 singles.

Three big hits for Olivia:

"Magic" –  #1 for 4 weeks on the Billboard Pop chart, and #1 for 5 weeks on the Adult Contemporary Billboard Chart
"Xanadu" –  hit #8 on the Billboard Pop chart, #2 on Billboard AC chart, and was #1 in the UK
"Suddenly" –  reached #20 on Billboard Pop chart and #4 on the Billboard AC chart

And two hits for ELO:

"All Over the World" – Electric Light Orchestra (No. 13 Pop, No. 45 AC)
"I'm Alive" – Electric Light Orchestra (No. 16 Pop, No. 48 AC, certified gold)

The cult following of the film led to the surprise success of a Broadway musical version of the film, and tonight in Las Vegas Olivia will be premiering the music video of a newly re-worked/remixed version of "Magic" with her daughter Chloe Lattanzi and dance music producer Dave Aude.

But for now, can we just sit back and take in the fabulosity that was the finale of the fab cult favorite?

I have to add - if you look closely you'll see Golden Globe winner and iconic Bob Fosse dancer Sandahl Bergman as one of Olivia's sister "muses." I worked with Sandahl for a long time and THAT was one of the great highlights of my dancing career :)