CYD CHARISSE, the best female dancer in Hollywood history
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- Опубликовано: 2 янв 2021
- Just a few among many of Cyd Charisse's best movie dances, in SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, THE BAND WAGON, DEEP IN MY HEART, BRIGADOON, IT'S ALWAYS FAIR WEATHER, and SILK STOCKINGS, featuring Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, and James Mitchell, in films directed by Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly, Rouben Mamoulian, and Vincente Minnelli. Choreography by Gene Kelly, Michael Kidd, Eugene Loring, and Hermes Pan.
This montage was first shown, along with costume sketches (by Mary Ann Nyberg, Walter Plunkett, Helen Rose, and Irene Sharaff) of the above-mentioned musical numbers, in the exhibition I curated in Paris in 2018: COMÉDIES MUSICALES, LA JOIE DE VIVRE DU CINÉMA (MOVIE MUSICALS, A GLORIOUS FEELING) at the Philharmonie de Paris. 
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I was her personal assistant and dresser for a theatrical production many years ago. She was such a lady. Gracious, and so kind to me. A real beauty. My favorite dancer and I got to know and work with her while in my 20’s. It was wonderful.
I always thought that of her. Just from some of the interviews I saw of her. Always one of my favorites. The dance scene in the green dress with the boxers. Yes.
She was 86 when she died in 2008. So how old are you?????
@@alixp3411 I’m 67. I was maybe 20 when I worked with her.
wow🤩
@@alixp3411Wikipedia says her last works were in the early 90s so say this person could have been in their 20s around the time - not that old!
If you didn’t know, she recovered from polio as a child, which is insane, because her fluidity and strengthen her dance is out of this world
I didn’t know that! Thank you for the wonderful inspiration. I’m trying to recover from a pretty nasty injury, and that little bit of knowledge will help me push through.
she dances as if she has had plenty of ballet lessons - such a good idea for strength and everything. Her mother's money was not wasted.
True story: they auditioned a dancer who was still inside an iron lung, but she kept running over gene Kelly’s foot
Used to binge on old movies with my grandma and mom, in Spanish and English. Cyd Charisse was one of moms favorite. She was truly poetry in motion, and so beautiful with a body of a goddess!
@@elinannestad5320
Honestly yeah dance would be good to help build strength and flexibility,
Shes so beautiful, im so happy she got to be able to dance again
That piece with long flowing chiffon was exquisite ✨
Singing in the rain I believe
Period!
Yes it was 👏
Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen.
Which one
It’s amazing how she can just hold her leg in the air for extended periods of time without shaking. It’s something that looks minor but takes insane strength
Yes! The choice of costumes hides her amazing strength and control... and spins. I wish we could time travel with Baryshnikov and watch them do duets in their prime. How amazing would that be?
Core strength like mad
We were blessed to have a figure model like that at art school.
@@jennywarren
Oh man that sounds amazing
Her core strength is amazing, but she makes it look like it's nothing at all. Must have had at least a little bit of background in ballet perhaps, judging by some of those movements.
The timing with Fred Astaire is astonishingly good - so precise and together.
According to her husband, he could always tell who she'd been working with by how bruised up she was when she came home. Astaire was gentlemanly and restrained, but when she worked with Gene Kelly, he was so athletic and physical she'd come home all bruised like she'd been playing football.
Yes, it's not as ethereal, soft nor sweet as it seems.
I am thinking Brigadoon. She leaped into Kelly's arms a number of times, which would be rough on the body if performed exactly correctly, and could result in a fall if the two get it a little wrong.
As a former dancer?I can attest there were days when my daughter said I looked like a battered woman. Lol had to wear pants to ride a bike with her, cause she was embarrassed..lol (shorts showed a lot of bruises)
@@susjf8644Dancing is hard work. Try it for fun - but if you try to emulate this kind of thing, bruises ensue. Even alone. Furniture checks you. 😊
the greats always make it look easy
She along with Audrey Hepburn truly exuded talent, class, and elegance.
Audrey would have done better as a fashion model, great face and no figure. And she really could not act. She just cycled through her portfolio of facial expressions. She was the same old, same old in every role.
@@valkyriesardo278no
@@valkyriesardo278 terrible opinion
@@valkyriesardo278Blame the Nazis for her not following her real dream of becoming a ballerina
I absolutely love Charisse. I would say Ann Miller was even better. Ann was too good to dance with Kelly, really, and Gene would not want to partner with a better dancing really doing her thing.
First time I saw "Singing in the Rain" I told my parents I wanted to be her when I grow up. I didn't get the long legs, but I still dance :)
😸
Good on you
I didn't even know she was *in* "Singing in the Rain".
@@robertbrandywine Debbie Reynolds was but I don't recall Cyd.
@@Julia-fo4tk Well, we're wrong. I just looked and she was in it and danced with Gene Kelly. I also learned that the title is "Singin' in the Rain".
Her arches are insane
Incredible
The dresses in this were stunning! She is very beautiful.
Aside from her accomplished technique, Cyd Charisse was perfect for Hollywood as she had been trained in many different Western dance traditions; had regular features that could transform from an all-American girl to something more exotic if required; and she had a lovely figure, great legs, & beautifully-shaped feet. There is a certain air of mystery about her: she projected an allusive, intangible and silent allure that makes us want to discover more. Very feminine, Charisse always complemented the skills of her partners, easily echoing their movements in perfect accord with the music. A dear friend of mine was fortunate enough to have studied with her: he told me that she had an impeccable presence, dressed well but not theatrically, and quietly commanded the attention of him & his fellow students with charm and grace.
Your elaborate response right here makes me question whether she was a woman or a guy. This was just three days ago, why would you care? Now because of you, I really wonder.
She was 86 when she died in 2008. How old are you???
Lotta sexism in the way you described her
@@whatever3145 haha how?
that was a lot of words for saying aside from her talent she was hot and fit the beauty standardds
And those legs!! Every once in a while I think, "Aww, were Cyd Charisse's legs really all that?" Then I run a few clips like these and realize that, yep, they really were all that.
Even when she was much older, she still had those legs, a lot of women can loose their looks on their face, or other parts but those legs continue to look good and hers did.
She had IT. Moved like a jaguar or something. Her fantasy scene in SITR was brilliant. The moves belong only to her.
She's so perfectly in control of her body, and her technique is amazing - those fouettes in the last clip are excellent!
I’m old but when I was young,if you wanted to give a girl a compliment, you would tell her that she had legs like Cyd Charisse,the best legs ever ❤.
That white dress with the long train was downright dreamlike and deeply emotive. Absolutely captivating.
Love her precision. Every move is clean and she can stop on a dime.
The glamour of old Hollywood is missed. She was amazing!
Cyd has perfect balance and awareness of her positions and her partners positions at all times and she was very beautiful to boot!
I always thought she must be from some exotic country. She was Tula Finklea from Amarillo, Texas. I think that’s absolutely adorable. ❤
Thank you algorithm. Discovering Cyd Charisse changed my life. BRB, going down a rabbit hole! ✌🏾🙃
She was beyond compare. Beautiful. She was so strong, she made it look effortless .
Brigadoon is one of my favorite movies of all time. She was amazing!
Love that movie!
It was her seamless fluidity and flawless partnering that still makes her the Queen!❤❤❤
Totally!
Just wow. Love watching her. They dont make 'em like that anymore!
No they don't. 👏🏼👏🏼
So simple but awe inspiring. Hollywood of today can't match this, no matter the CGI, flashy scenes or costumes or inflated egos of the dancers. Something has been lost in time...
Yes - dedication and skill. So called 'stars' of today, can't hold a candle to this ladys' talents. She's so precise and flowing - like water I guess. Simply amazing to watch. Glad such art was captured on film.
@@jamesbarbour8400 it's so funny how you old people act like talented artists all went extinct or something.
@@Chibbykins they did !
Except they didnt, you're just not paying attention OUTSIDE of Hollywood. Plenty of talent like this eveywhere, but especially still on the large (and small) stages of Broadway York as well as Atlanta and spots of NC I hear @jamesbarbour8400
@@Chibbykinsright?! There's plenty of quality talent, some taught by the very stars or pupils of said stars they praise so much.
Really good. So versatile, so graceful, so effortless.
That long white train blowing around being directed in what looks effortless, but isnt!!! Stunning!!!
I loved seeing her dance with Gene but she was so exceptional always!
Her ballet training gave her the exquisite form and grace she showed in all of her performances.
This cleared my brain fog instantly. My eyes popped out of socket watching this ecstatic display of graceful movement. Gene and Fred oh boy. They all sure knew how to do it.
Wow... such talent! Shes so light on her feet, it's like she's floating...🥹
She was Fred Astaire’s favourite partner.
Met her and hubbie in '96 in LA. So smart and just plain nice, like instant friends. A very classy couple.
She's such a fantastic dancer, so many different styles and yet you can see her personal artistic voice I. All of them. And can we talk about how her costumes move so beautifully with her?! Such artistry.
Exquisite dancing and choreography, I so love the glamour of these old films.
I swear…that woman had legs up to her chin!Beautiful woman…❤❤❤
She was my grandpa’s favorite dancer. When he and I would watch her dance he would slug me and say “that dame has legs that go ALL the way up!”
@@risa122276 And he was right..😉
I don't even know when I started noticing this but womens legs are getting shorter. You rarely see a woman with long legs anymore.
A couple of Cyd clips I’d never seen before! Thank you!
She was stunning. Her partner work is breathtaking. Wow, wow, wow.😮
I had the good fortune to see Cyd Charisse in person. I agree that she was the best ever. And she had the best legs ever.
CYD CHARISSE, IS the best dancer in Hollywood history --- 100% IN AGREEMENT!!!
The more I see her the more I wish I could have had just one dance with her.
They are all spectacular…..it was a golden era.
Golden era of deceit.
@@alixp3411👏🏼👍🏼
My dad took me to my first movie it was singing in the rain with gene Kelly from the on he took me to many movies including cyd Charisse dancing. I'm eighty two now and have many lovely memories of these movies. Nothing like that nowadays unfortunately
Incredible! No athlete has her agility and grace disguising strength and skill. Just beautiful!
Yup she had core strength.
Even when compared to all the other great dancers, her legs were really beautiful.
Talented & beautiful. Wonderful female dancer ❤
This girl is just fantastic, amazing performer! ❤❤❤❤
I dont know if the best, but the most classy, elegant, graceful, sensual, and beauty
Oh yes
She’s fantastic even by today’s standards. 100% relevant even now.
What a gal! Beautiful, talented, and smarter than the average Hollywood type. Hard work was the thing that made her who she was.
The lady paid her dues and left us a collection of glorious treasures.
The little cartoon wolf in my imagination howls and pounds the table with his fist whenever I watch her dance.
What a gal!
Kenny, she was a LADY!
@@e.conboy4286your response right there makes me question whether she was a lady or guy.
Those magnificent things and wonderful music, it definitely made you believe in the illusion of love! I miss that music and those good shows
Talented, beautiful, and the best legs in the business!
She is my favorite, too!
I just watched "Meet Me in Las Vegas" again where she showed off her beautiful ballet skill perfection.
Thank you for these wonderful clips!
@Berlin Saint Clair. She's lovely, but I love Vera Ellen more.❤️
By far! Absolutely gorgeous ! The most beautiful legs of Hollywood’s history. Unforgeatable!
The theatre, the atmosphere, music, and movements. Sigh~~~❤
If i dance like her i won't look crazy and possessed
Cyd was so smooth and honestly, grace defined.
Very nice compilation of the most beautiful, talented, and athletic dancer! I like how you ended with Silk Stockings...Cyd doing what she loved most; ballet!
I don’t think that ballet was the style of dance she loved most. If it was, she would have continued on in ballet companies and never danced onscreen. She was an excellent ballerina, but she wasn’t a stand out among the other female dancers in the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. She became famous because besides being a technically excellent dancer, she exuded more sensuality than any other dancer had before. She excelled at duets where she is quite obviously twisting her male dance partner around her little finger. Cyd Charisse’s talent would have gone to waste if she decided to keep dancing classical ballet. I’m 53 and remember seeing “Singing In The Rain” when I was probably 11. And I absolutely remember seeing Cyd dancing with Gene Kelly and thinking 🤔 ‘I want what she has!’
@@katrinaolsen2444 it was her favorite, it just didn't bring in money and eventually ALL musicals died out
@@abevillanueva1974 Did she say that in her autobiography? I’m not arguing with you, I’m just genuinely curious. I did a search of it. The only thing I could find was that she thought dancing ballet in ballet company was incredibly restrictive. And that seeing all kinds of dances being choreographed on the MGM back lot was incredibly inspiring for her. She didn’t mention that she preferred dancing ballet in anything I could find. But I haven’t read the co-autobiography she wrote with her husband. So I thought perhaps you read it and she mentioned it there.
@@abevillanueva1974 You cannot trust anything in 'The Two of Us', one of the most gruesomely inaccurate memoirs Hollywood celebs ever put their names to. Ghostwriter Dick Kleiner shares the blame.
@@katrinaolsen2444 She had as uphill an apprenticeship to stardom in movies as Betty Grable or Lucy. Cyd was making soundies and doing uncredited bits on film from when she was 19 or 20, soon after eloping with Nico Charisse. Metro contracted her but used her only for specialties like a lesser Ann Miller. They tried her in straight parts, but her acting was very stilted and she never managed to carry a tune, so Judy had no worries.
Twice Cyd lost good openings bc of injuries, notably to Miller in 'Easter Parade'. Previously she had missed the chance of a duet with Fred in 'Ziegfeld Follies' when the bubble machine went haywire and most of the finale, 'Beauty' had to be cut.
By 1952, despite some good 'exotic' turns using her dark coloring, she must have felt she was jinxed. She was 30, with a kid and another on the way: a moment when many ballerinas would have felt it was time to quit.
Her wordless appearance in 'Singin' in the Rain' was only another specialty spot, bc Debbie was not up to balletics; but Cyd had matured sensually with stunning looks which gave her six years in the limelight, before musicals lost their mojo and took her with them. Fortunately she had come in with Technicolor, which would make her pix repeatable on TV and give her a whole new fan base in the 1970s.
It's interesting how those colors seem to be back in style again! I see them everywhere!
juste magnifique, des danseurs hors normes!!!!!!
Enigmatic lady! She makes you forget the time and space you're in while dancing!
Cyd Charisse is also my all time favorite dancer. Juliette Prowse comes after her.
There isn't anyone in Hollywood/cinema today anywhere near her talent & beauty.
Yes, she was! Always magnificent - incorporating ballet & modern dance! She was always splendid!! Always!
Beautiful! They don’t make movies like this anymore! 😢
The strength needed to do all those moves… and she makes it look so graceful
✨Just WOW 💥 Beauty, talent and grace in one. I could watch her for hours … ✨
Talk about someone that has it ALL !! The face, the legs, the grace, control, power…..
This is art.the music, the clothes the settings!Iam impressed by the dances❤
The "Dancing In the Dark" number, the best ever choreographed! Simply beautiful!
I loved those fluffy flowing skirts to echo her graceful moves; so glamourous.
What an awesome dancer. A diva of dance.
Wow, you can see the ballet training through and through. And her arches!!
Просто обожаю эту прекрасную актрису !👏🏻
I think of all the female dancers of that period, Ms Charisse was my father’s favorite. He seemed to adopt a relaxed and wistful appearance as the movie dragged on (for me as a kid).
Pure perfection spectacular dancer❤
My dad’s as well!
This woman was a class act
I looked Cyd up when I just found out she was in Janet Jackson's "Alright" video, Janet gave her props :)
Class act ,this woman was amazing and had the best legs ever seen in Hollywood.
С сегодняшнего дня хочу пересмотреть все эти фильмы. Очень красивые танцы!
Stunning! ❤ Beautiful and such an amazing dancer. Perfection ❤
Elegance meets exquisite beauty.
That white fabric knew the assignment 🔥🔥🔥 lol
Goodness even when stomping she still looked like she's floating on air, as if supported by an invisible harness. Absolutely graceful.
her technique & athleticism are off the charts, the way she moves is so charming
And she did all that in high heels. Brava!
The one and only 😍🤩
She so was the best brought tears to my eyes
My Mum taught me about Cyd memories x
Well .she trained to be a Prima Ballerina so it isn't suprising
At 14 she auditioned for the head of the famed Ballet Russe, and became part of the corps de ballet and toured the U.S. and Europe. To appear with the nearly all-Russian company, she was first billed as Celia Siderova, than as Maria Istromena
Astaire said in his autobiography: "That Cyd - when you've danced with her, you stay danced with."
Debbie Reynolds, who starred with Charisse in the 1952 classic “Singin’ in the Rain said ”Her beauty was breathtaking".
“If you were in an Air Force cinema, circa 1952, you’ll never forget the sound which greeted the appearance of Cyd Charisse halfway through the climactic ballet in Singin’ in the Rain. The audience to a man greeted the sinuous leggy beauty with a loud and prolonged ‘Ooooaah!’ As she slithered round an understandably bewildered Gene Kelly, there was uproar in the cinema".
❤You could add that your last quote is from Shipman’s THE GREAT MOVIE STARS-2.
Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, so she was one of the corps "baby ballerinas" in 1936! It's worth noting that yet another young American dancer, Yvonne Craig, was one of the corps "baby ballerinas", but about 20 years later. Craig is best known for playing Batgirl in the Batman television series ('67-'68) and also had a role in one episode of Star Trek, the Original Series.
Thank you for this fascinating info! Your body just develops in a certain way if you've been classically trained and I was wondering about her background.
I believe that she only took up ballet by chance and in response to contracting Polio and needing to strengthen her legs. @@minissa2009
This just makes me so happy ❤
Now this is pure talent and entertainment.
Her movements are captivating. Poetry in motion.💃🕺
Doesn’t get any better than Gene Kelly and Cyd Cherisse. The chemistry was magical. 💜
She had everything: grace, beauty, sexiness. I love Fred Astaire too. He seemed to float, move/dance so effortlessly. He was so smooth. This is more my mom’s era than mine, but I love old movies.
Goodness! She moves like water, lands as softly as a cat, and she's gorgeous as hell. ❤
I love the glossy dollhouse look of old movies. So bright and colorful!
BRAVO CYD CHARISSE FOREVER ❤🎉
A gracious and lovely lady; and simply exquisite dancer! As in music, she is The Virtuoso of the Dance!
I'd like to see the snow flakes today look and dance like that .They couldn't hold a candle to such grace and true beauty. God bless Cyd thank you ❤❤❤
Dude, shes amazing. Soo graceful, like you are in a dream...
She's one of my namesakes. This is my first time seeing anything about her at all. :D She was amazing!
Beautiful video. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you! This made me want to watch her movies. 😊
Wow the grace, the grace that she exudes is absolutly stunning and hipnotising to see ❤️ Besides she is very beautiful like her dancing skills ❤️ Thanks RUclips for this recomendation ✨✨