Fred Astaires iImpact on the Great Depression Essay

Famous choreographer George Balanchine once said, â€Å"He is the most interesting, the most inventive, the most elegant dancer of our times† and noted dancer Rudolph Nureyev also said, â€Å"He was not just the best ballroom dancer, or tap dancer, he was simply the greatest, most imaginative, dancer of our time.† These famous dancers were referring to Fred Astaire, who has been known as one of the greatest dancers of all time. His light, artistic joyful style of dancing has impacted dance in an extremely unique way. Astaire used techniques in films as well as in dance that have shaped society. Astaire was mostly prominent throughout the 1930s during the Great Depression. Everywhere, Americans were looking for some joy in their lives, and Astaire†¦show more content†¦When people danced or even just watched dance it provided them with a physical and psychological energy that impassioned people and gave them optimism. Fred Astaire conveyed this inspiration and ho pe during the Great Depression through his film and his dancing. Morris Dickstein, in his article Facing the Music, states, â€Å"they gradually promoted dance into a plot device, enabling a bickering couple to achieve not only perfect harmony but a rarefied ease and elegance, something missing from the audience’s encumbered lives†. Astaire had a style that displayed elegance and class and therefore reassured and inspired people. His films with Ginger Rogers especially helped to provide a distinctly up-lifting spirit and harmony that was hard to convey during a time of great struggle. Fred Astaire had a distinct dancing style- one of lightness and grace. Astaire himself describes his own way of dancing in his autobiography Steps in Time; â€Å"I have no desire to prove anything by dancing. I have never used it as an outlet or a means of expressing myself. I just dance. I just put my feet in the air and move them around.† Astaire never wanted to convey a dramati c emotion behind his dance, he just wanted to move, to experience motion and this is one of the reasons that his dancing style is so distinct and he created such a style of grace. Astaire’s choreography is unique because he took steps from ballroom dancing, tap dancing, and many other