August 12: Today in Dance

Born Today: Michael Kidd

Born Today: Although choreographer Michael Kidd (1915–2007) had some spectacular dancers to work with in the movies — Fred Astaire (1899–1987) in The Band Wagon (1953) and talented ballet dancers in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954), he proves in the movie version of Guys and Dolls (1955) that true brilliance is using the dancers you have, not the ones you wish you had. The number in the Havana nightclub is sensuous and funny and the leads (Marlon Brando and Jean Simmons) weren’t fabulous dancers, but Kidd made them look great amongst the group of highly-trained dancers. Kidd was a talented dancer himself — he performed the lead in Eugene Loring’s ballet, Billy the Kid and tap danced with a metal trash can lid on his foot in the movie It’s Always Fair Weather (1955).

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Open Mind, Insert Dance