How Did Fred Astaire Influence Dance

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Fred Astaire and his influence on film in the dance world Growing up at a studio where Broadway dance styles were heavily stressed, the name Fred Astaire was always brought up some way or another so I really wanted to use this to find out more about how he contributed to dance. While researching him I noticed that he had been in a lot of movies that were dance based so I decided to make my paper about how he influence dancing on film. He was an American entertainer and dancer, and his talents and presence will never be matched. Fred Astaire was born in Omaha, Nebraska on May 10, 1899 to Johanna and Frederic Austerlitz. Astaire's sister, Adele Astaire, early on revealed herself to be an instinctive dancer and singer. She planned a "brother and sister act," which was common in vaudeville at the time. Although Astaire refused dance lessons at first, he easily mimicked his older sister's steps and took up piano, accordion, and clarinet. When there father lost his job, they all moved to New York City in 1905 to start the career of their children. Once there their…show more content…
Astaire was very hesitant when asked to become apart of another dance duo. But he was persuaded buy the uproar the public had over the Astaire-Rogers pairing. The new duo and the choreography of Astaire helped make dance and important element in Hollywood film musicals. Rogers and Astaire had ten films made together such as “Top Hat” in 1935 and “ Shall We Dance” in 1936. Over half of these films produced the largest income for RKO. This new partnership escalated and made them stars. Because of this Astaire received a percentage off of the film profits. This was extremely rare for the time to be in a contract, as well as him having control over how the dances would be presented. This allowed him to revolutionize dance on

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