Ruth Leon recommends… Gregory Hines Tribute to Gene Kelly
Ruth Leon recommendsGregory Hines Tribute to Gene Kelly
This is one of my favourite dance sequences. It’s from the 1982 Kennedy Center Honors and this is my old friend the late Gregory Hines paying tribute to Gene Kelly.
He performs Gershwin’s “I Got Rhythm / Fascinating Rhythm” as a tribute to Kelly, who sang and tapped them in the 1951 musical film “An American in Paris.”
It was an inspired choice, asking Hines to honour his great hero Gene Kelly, as in this performance he demonstrates how far tap had advanced since Kelly’s time and how much contemporary dancers owe to the past.
There aren’t nearly enough adequate superlatives to describe and appraise Gene Kelly’s artistry … Thank you for this loving reminder.
It’s doubly nice that Gregory Hines tribute to Gene Kelly includes two Gershwin tunes on this anniversary of George Gershwin’s birthday. How Gregory Hines’s grave ended up in a Ukrainian cemetery is an interesting story itself.
If you haven’t seen it, check out White Nights with Hines and Baryshnikov.