Moving in Measure can never pass up a chance to post any clip of Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, and the 106th anniversary of Ms. Rogers’ birth is certainly as good an excuse as any.
While uptempo numbers like Swing Time‘s “Pick Yourself Up” are great demonstrations of technical ability and connection in the purest dance sense, more dramatic tux-and-tails pieces like Swing Time‘s “Never Gonna Dance”
and Top Hat‘s “Cheek to Cheek”
highlight another sort of chemistry — the dance-centric romance of the pairing, the element that Rogers could so effectively deliver. But make no mistake; she was a pretty phenomenal mover in her own right, as showcased in this clip from an early draft of 1942’s Roxie Hart (AKA the third rendition of the story that would later become musical theatre staple Chicago):
