The Greatest Dancer - My Top Ten

I decided that the best way to tackle this week's theme is to give you an insight into who I think are the best ten dancers ever. As a professional dancer myself it was quite a challenge to limit myself to just ten given that there are so many different genres of dance to select from. I have done my best to choose and present them in the traditional dance style of reverse order beginning with number ten. You will find a mix of  brief  details, you tube links and photographs. The list is purely personal and there may be some inclusions that you have may not have encountered before. Please read, watch and comment if you like. My hope is that my efforts may stimulate vibrant conversation.

10 Mitzi Gaynor

Mitzi's most famous movie role came in the Rogers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific. Bikini clad she strutted her stuff in the memorable 'I'm gonna wash that man right outta my hair' and my favourite, 'Honey Bun' which was such a clever routine.

9 Donald  O'Connor

His face and name may not be familiar to many of you but if I tell you that he was the funny man in he classic movie Singing in the Rain where he performed a standout  performance with his routine, Make 'em Laugh. Just follow the link below and enjoy the show. 

8 Liza Minnelli

The daughter of  Judy Garland was always destined for the stage. Wasn't she born in a trunk in a theatre? Liza with a zee, rose to fame through her performance in the movie Cabaret. Not the most attractive girl but boy could she sing and dance. Set in pre-war Berlin, the story highlighted the grotesque nature of entertainment at a time when The Nazi party first came to power in Germany. It is a great watch with several memorable numbers featuring Miss Minnelli as Sally Bowles

Watch her reprise her award winning performance in Cabaret by clicking on the link. 

7 Michael Jackson

What a phenomenon this young man was. I first saw his exceptional Thriller video in a night club in Blackpool in 1983 and we were all copying the routine. 

Michael was born into an African American family of five boys and two girls. I remember his first hit Rockin Robin. He was such a cutie but it was his incredible dancing that propelled him to super stardom. 

 

6 Cyd Charisse

She reputedly had the longest legs in the business.  During her career, Cyd partnered many of the best male dancers, including a memorable routine with Gene Kelly in Singing in the Rain. 

Click on the link to see this incredible routine.

5 Juliet Prowse

For those of you unfamiliar with the name or the 1960 Cole Porter movie Can Can, I thoroughly recommend  that you get a copy or watch  it soon. It is a real romp set in Paris at the turn of the 20th century. The costumes and songs are fantastic - but oh the dancing - it will just blow you away. 

The finale can can performance feature both Juliet and one of the stars of the show, Shirley MacLaine who was a terrific dancer but surpassed by Prowse. She was simply sensational. She starred on Broadway as Mame.

Follow the link to see the Can Can finale. 

4 Sutton Foster

This tap dancer is a genius. Watching her perform in a live stream of Anything Goes at the cinema a few years ago was the first time I have ever cried with joy in  public.  The final dance routine errupted on stage into a cacophony of  wonderful tapping, singing and amazing timing. The ovation in the theatre expanded into the cinema.  Sutton's perfomance is a triumph. The show is well worth watching. If it ever comes to a UK theatre, I will be first in the queue for a ticket. 

Some of cast performed at the Toni awards and you can see this shortened version by clicking on the link. 

3 Dame Margot Fonteyn 

Royal Ballet Prima Ballerina Assoluta Margot Fonteyn (1919–91) was an iconic figure in British ballet. With Ninette deValois and Frederick Ashton she was instrumental in shaping the Company, and was particularly renowned for her performances in the formal classics and as a muse for Frederick Ashton.

Many of her most loved roles were performed with Rudolph Nureyev. See her here in Rose Adagio from Sleeping Beauty.  

2 Gene Kelly

Genius is the only way to describe the prowess of Gene Kelly when dancing. The Hollywood movie star danced his way into our hearts in such musical classics as \on the \town, An American in Paris and of course the enormous hit musical, Singing in the Rain. The umbrella scene must be the most watched dance extract of all time. You can watch it here. Go on my friend, spoil yourself.

1 Michael Flatley

Well at last we come to the climax of my list of the top ten greatest dancers. Having seen the man storm the stage in Manchester in Lord of the Dance for my 40th birthday treat, there was never any doubt that he would be my number one. The man is a giant in the world of dance. He created a worldwide phenomenon from Irish dancing. He choregraphed and performed in Riverdance, Lord of the Dance, Feet of Flames and Celtic Tiger Live.  What an incredible repertoire. There can be only one and that one reigns supreme. He is simply the greatest dancer. 

You can see the maestro perform in Riverdance here. 

No poem today - I hope that you enjoyed the blog. If you did please leave a comment.

Thanks for reading. Keep dancing. Adele 

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How I remember it

By Ashley Lister

The first time the Dead Good Poets got together was in a college classroom on 29^th January 2009.  I was there. I’ve written down the way things happened exactly so that there’s no danger of these recollections being affected by fading memory.

INT. DAY: Corridor outside THE CLASSROOM.

ELIZA DUSHKU and HERMIONE GRANGER are talking in the corridor. Both are holding flyers for a Dead Good Poets event. Both are wearing bikinis and their skin glistens with crystal-like raindrops from a recent downpour.

Eliza Dushku

[Holding up a flyer]

Hello, Hermione Granger. I’m looking for the room where Ashley is reading one of his wonderful poems.

Hermione Granger

[Glancing at the doorway for THE CLASSROOM. We see a glint in her eye that says, ‘If I can’t have him, then no one can have him.’

She pushes her own flyer behind her back so that ELIZA DUSHKU cannot see what she is holding.]

I do not know of any poetry reading or any wonderful, sexy poets called Ashley. But I’d heard they were doing a reading on the other side of Blackpool. He might be there.

Eliza Dushku

I do not believe you, Hermione Granger, and I think we should wrestle in custard until one of us proves to be the victorious winner of a girl-on-girl fight.

Hermione Granger

Very well, Eliza Dushku, although I should warn you that I intend to tear off your bikini before…

CUT TO:INT. DAY: Inside THE CLASSROOM.

The scene is busy and packed like Wembley Stadium ready for a JLS concert or a Nickleback concert or even a football match with lots and lots of fans. There are also some sandwiches.

David Cameron

[Shouting angrily at Ashley]

If you read that poem in front of these students, I shall leave here and form a government that screws over the country.

Ashley

[Heroically]

Don’t make me laugh, Cam-Moron. No one would vote for you.

David Cameron

[With obvious doubt]

Maybe not. But perhaps I’ll form a coalition government.

Ashley

[Suddenly worried – but still heroic and handsome]

You wouldn’t, would you?

CAMERON rushes from the room, chuckling maniacally and rubbing his hands together, and maybe stealing the pension book from an old person as he runs past them. And probably kicking a blind man’s guide dog.

ASHLEY looks like he is about to heroically pursue CAMERON and maybe do some bad-ass ninja moves on him.

Before ASHLEY can follow, DAVINA McCALL clutches ASHLEY’s arm and pushes a microphone in his face.

Davina McCall

Ashley – are we OK to have a quick chat with you live on camera before the inaugural event of the Dead Good Poets (who haven’t yet been named) begin their first reading?

Ashley

[Humbly]

Davina, whilst I’d love to chat with you about how brilliant I and the rest of the (as yet unnamed) poets are, don’t you want to do some interviews with Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Paris Hilton, Johnny Depp and all the other celebrity guests that we’ve got attending here for our inaugural event?

Davina McCall

[Looking disappointed]

You’re right, Ashley. And I hear the Pope and Jesus are about to enter the room with Michael Jackson (who is still alive because this is all happening in 2009) so I should go and have a chat with them.

Ashley

Very well, Davina. And I shall take a chair and sit with the other brilliant and wonderful poets who are going to change the face of North West poetry in the UK. And I shall wait for this event to begin. And then I shall contribute in a small and very humble way. And I’m not even slightly tempted to go outside and see what those two women are squealing about in the corridor.

CUT TO: INT. DAY: Corridor outside THE CLASSROOM.

ELIZA DUSHKU and HERMIONE GRANGER are wrestling in a vat of thick yellow custard.

FIN

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