Michael Jackson nu a avut niciodată vanitatea de a-şi asuma inventarea dansurilor sale, dimpotrivă - chiar celebrul Moonwalk este, în opinia sa, un melanj între mişcările "puştilor din cartiere" şi cele ale lui James Brown, ca să cităm din memorie. De asemenea, au fost depistate imediat influenţele din "West Side Story" - atât în "Bad", cât şi în "The Way You Make Me Feel", precum şi citatul aproape exact din "Singing in the Rain" - la finalul părţii video din "Black or White". De asemenea, nu este de neglijat nici faptul că multe din dansurile lui Michael Jackson au fost create în colaborare cu coregrafi de profesie (Michael Peters, Jeffrey Daniel, de exemplu).
Dar ceea ce, cu certitudine, este genial în realizările coregrafice ale lui Michael Jackson nu este doar îmbinarea formidabilă a unor mişcări din zone coregrafice diferite cât, mai ales, anularea barierelor temporale, unind într-un singur act anii 20-30, cu anii 50, apoi 60 şi anii 90 şi chiar mai mult (dat fiind că, de la el încoace, cam nimic nou sub soare). Aşadar, un parcurs de circa 70 de ani reuniţi mereu şi mereu, cu har inegalabil, într-un tot unitar. Adică: dacă ai talent, imaginaţie şi, mai ales, inteligenţă, nu există nimic vechi şi nimic perisabil.
Am descoperit - la adresa kaleidescopeeyes88.xanga.com - un articol excelent despre originile dansului (generic vorbind) lui Michael Jackson, articol semnat de, aţi ghicit, kaleidescopeeyes88. Drept pentru care, cu acordul autoarei, îl voi cita mai jos ca atare:
Dar ceea ce, cu certitudine, este genial în realizările coregrafice ale lui Michael Jackson nu este doar îmbinarea formidabilă a unor mişcări din zone coregrafice diferite cât, mai ales, anularea barierelor temporale, unind într-un singur act anii 20-30, cu anii 50, apoi 60 şi anii 90 şi chiar mai mult (dat fiind că, de la el încoace, cam nimic nou sub soare). Aşadar, un parcurs de circa 70 de ani reuniţi mereu şi mereu, cu har inegalabil, într-un tot unitar. Adică: dacă ai talent, imaginaţie şi, mai ales, inteligenţă, nu există nimic vechi şi nimic perisabil.
Am descoperit - la adresa kaleidescopeeyes88.xanga.com - un articol excelent despre originile dansului (generic vorbind) lui Michael Jackson, articol semnat de, aţi ghicit, kaleidescopeeyes88. Drept pentru care, cu acordul autoarei, îl voi cita mai jos ca atare:
The Genealogy of Michael Jackson's Dance
The articles I've read commemorating Michael Jackson's contributions to popular culture often refer to him as a genius, a born talent, a child prodigy who evolved into a megastar. These praises certainly speak to a truth-- Watching footage of him performing as a kid with The Jackson 5, one can argue that that kind of zeal and ease cannot be taught. However, watching his body of work as an adult makes one thing very clear to me: Michael Jackson must have also been a meticulous student who analyzed the work of his predecessors and spent countless hours carefully honing his craft, especially as a dancer. I don't claim to be a scholar of dance myself by any means, but I speak as a spectator who has always loved watching dance, on both the small and big screens.Michael Jackson (The King of Pop) was obviously influenced by Elvis Presley (The King of Rock) and James Brown (The Godfather of Soul). Many of Jackson's signature moves, including his spins, his pelvic thrusts, his kicks, the way he would arch his body and prop himself on his toes, can be seen in these two videos:
Both Presley and Brown embody a raw sexual energy combined with elegant physical dexterity that Jackson clearly channeled. But one of Jackson's biggest influences must have also been the legendary dancer/choreographer Bob Fosse, who can be seen in this weird clip from the film The Little Prince:
We can recognize how Jackson may have been inspired by Fosse in creating his iconic look-- the hat, the gloves, the too-short pants and white socks. At about 6:20 we can see bits of what looks almost like Jackson's Moonwalk. Fosse's dance style is perhaps best represented in the "Steam Heat" number from the 1957 film The Pajama Game, which he choreographed:
Perhaps what's most striking about this piece, and perhaps what also makes it somewhat revolutionary for its time, is the androgynous aesthetic: Carol Haney and her male co-dancers are dressed alike and perform the same choreography. The wide stances combined with hunched shoulders make for a body position that can't really be described as manly or womanly. Throughout his life, Jackson also created an androgynous image of himself, at once macho in its sexual energy but also feminine in its delicateness. Like Fosse, Jackson made us re-imagine how gender is to be represented through movements of the body.Jackson was clearly a fan of musical theater and old Hollywood. This makes total sense, given that Jackson arguably did for dance through the music video what the likes of Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire did for dance through the big screen. Fans have been editing their own mashup videos on youtube to present such comparisons:
We can see hints of West Side Story in the dancing for his video, "The Way You Make Me Feel" (in particular the bit at 8:00). The film, which was choreographed by Jerome Robbins, another legendary dancer/director/choreographer, was clearly the inspiration for his videos for "Bad" (which was directed by Martin Scorsese) and "Beat It." These videos are clear homages to the scenes for the song "Cool" and the rumble from West Side Story:
Jackson's video for "Smooth Criminal" is perhaps his most direct homage to old Hollywood, with its film noir setting. When the gangsters in the background place their bets (at about 2:50), we can see striking glimpses of Guys and Dolls. (Sorry, I can't seem to find the clip that I have in mind.) The video is said to be based on "The Girl Hunt Ballet" from the 1952 film The Band Wagon, staring Cyd Charisse and Fred Astaire.-Lore has it that when Jackson debuted his Moonwalk on the 25 Years of Motown special in 1984, Fred Astaire called him on the phone to personally praise him as a dancer. I can totally believe this story to be true, because Jackson so clearly belongs in the tradition that Astaire helped create. But like any truly talented dancer, Jackson took these recognizable influences and made them his own. We can take any of his moves and see them as uniquely his. He weaves together all of these influences seamlessly, too. It's obvious that he didn't try to simply blend into the trends and traditions that he was channeling, but put himself and his dancing front and center. Whereas most performers these days who have been influenced by him (from Justin Timberlake to Beyoncé) usually use dance as part of the overall spectacle, in any one of Jackson's performances, our eyes go directly to his feet. We become immediately mesmerized by his movement and the story he tries to tell through it. To be able to create that for mass audiences who may be otherwise unfamiliar with the art of dance is a pretty awesome accomplishment.kaleidescopeeyes88.xanga.com
Michael Jackson certainly had the talent to make his work look incredibly easy. And true, he may not have been a trained dancer in the traditional sense, and few of us can come close to emulating his movement even with training. But let's not forget that he must have worked incredibly hard to gain the skills that he did.
