Invitation to the Dance (film)
| Invitation to the Dance | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Gene Kelly |
| Produced by | Arthur Freed |
| Written by | Gene Kelly |
| Starring | Gene Kelly Tamara Toumanova Igor Youskevitch Tommy Rall |
| Music by |
André Previn Jacques Ibert Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov Conrad Salinger John Hollingsworth |
| Cinematography |
Joseph Ruttenberg Freddie Young |
| Edited by |
Adrienne Fazan Raymond Poulton Robert Watts |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
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Release date
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Running time
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93 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $2,822,000 |
| Box office | $615,000 |
Invitation to the Dance is a 1956 anthology film consisting of three distinct stories, all starring and directed by Gene Kelly.
The film is unusual in that it has no spoken dialogue, with the characters performing their roles entirely through dance and mime. Kelly appears in all three stories, which feature leading dancers of the era including Tommy Rall, Igor Youskevitch, Tamara Toumanova and Carol Haney.
The movie was filmed in 1952, but its release was delayed until 1956 because of doubts at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer about its commercial viability. The movie was a failure at the box office, but is regarded today as a landmark all-dance film.
Kelly conceived the film as an all-ballet musical, building on what he had done in his previous films like An American in Paris (1951) and Singin' in the Rain (1952), integrating dance and film. He wanted to use MGM's European offices to give him access to the top European Dance companies. He secured some of the top ballet dancers of the time for the project. He hoped the movie would educate mainstream American audiences about dance as an art form. He himself intended to appear in only one of the sequences, but the studio refused to allow him to make the film unless he appeared in all of them. He and some of the other dancers in the movie felt this held them back from expressing the full potential of the talents involved. There was intended to be a fourth segment titled "Dance Me a Song," which would consist of several popular songs interpreted through dance. This sequence was filmed, but later cut.
The first segment, "Circus", set to original music composed for the film by Jacques Ibert, is a tragic love triangle set in a mythical land sometime in the past. Kelly plays a clown, who is in love with another circus performer, played by Claire Sombert. She, however, is in love with an Aerialist, played by Youskevitch. The Clown, after entertaining the crowds with the other clowns, sees his love and the Aerialist kiss and wanders into a crowd in shock. That night he watches them dance together, and after the Lady finds him with her shawl, he confesses his love to her. The Aerialist finds them and thinks she has been unfaithful and leaves her. Determined to win her, the Clown tries to walk the Aerialist's tightrope himself, only to fall to his death. Dying, he urges the two lovers to forgive each other.
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Wikipedia