Gene genius as ballet stars step into the past with a screen legend
Scottish Ballet salute the pioneering choreography of movie star Gene Kelly who, on a working trip to Paris, would revolutionise dance forever
In the 1951 Oscar-winner An American In Paris, Gene Kelly, accompanied by a show-stopping hailfire of tap dance, sang I’ve Got Rhythm to some, eventually, impressed French youngsters.
Nine years later, this particular American was back in Paris and his influence this time was even more seismic as he revolutionised live dance. Now, Starstruck, a production by Scottish Ballet, aims to celebrate his famous sojourn on the Seine.
In 1960, Paris Opera invited Kelly to their city to create Pas De Dieux, a ballet about meddling Greek gods who visit a French beach and cause lighthearted chaos for the hapless mortals sunning themselves there. The dancer’s pioneering choreography, which mixed American jazz with classic Parisian ballet styles, “blew the dust off the chandeliers” according to one critic, and Kelly would be made Chevalier of the Legion of Honor by the French Government soon after.
Starstruck revives and updates Kelly’s ballet, paying loving homage to the legend’s talent and style by adopting his boundary-pushing versatility. Instead of sticking to the original production, Scottish Ballet’s artistic director, Christopher Hampson, has worked with designer Lez Brotherston and Gene Kelly’s widow, Patricia Ward Kelly, to create a show imbued with Kelly’s spirit. Just as Kelly would have approached a new project, the team has played with the dynamics of the original ballet and given its own artistic spin to it, even adding a playful new storyline in which a choreographer creates his own version of Pas De Dieux.
Ward Kelly said: “Gene would have adored Scottish Ballet because it embodies everything he admired and loved about dance. Chris Hampson is the next generation on from Gene and I see a deep connection between the two. My only regret is Gene is not here to work directly with Chris and the dancers; it would have been such a joyful experience for him to work with a company that is so accomplished, and that understands the storytelling of ballet. It was so important for Gene that movement told a story.”
Kelly moved to Chicago in the 1930s to be classically trained by accomplished masters of ballet and was even offered a role in the corps de ballet of a touring dance company but turned it down when he realised it would not offer enough money to support his family.
Despite this missed opportunity, ballet remained a passion for Kelly and was the bedrock of his dancing style for the rest of his life. He wanted to break down the highbrow gatekeeping that surrounded classical dance and make it accessible to and enjoyable for the public.
“Gene wanted to make dance accessible and popular – just look at American In Paris or Broadway Melody in Singin’ In The Rain,” explained Ward Kelly.
“He wanted to take it out of the polished dance floors and white tie and tails and literally bring it into the streets.
“In Pas De Dieux, he brought it to a French beach, and he said that the Paris Opera was not used to having these little costumes and wiggling bodies and wiggling movements, it
just hadn’t been done there before.” In preparation for Starstruck, Hampson and Ward Kelly worked through Kelly’s extensive notes from his time creating Pas De Dieux to understand his creative process.
Hampson said he learned a lot about Kelly during these sessions: “He was just so unafraid of mixing dance styles, and he didn’t hold one in higher esteem than another.
“He spoke many languages in his life, and I like to think he spoke many dance languages too. Kelly was a pioneer, and was pushing the idea of showing regular everyday characters dancing on stage and on screen. He believed the character informed the dance style. He laid a path for others to celebrate different cultures and styles. I’m sort of an additional choreographer on Starstruck because it really is all Gene Kelly’s work.
“What I’ve done is just to frame his ballet with the new story of the choreographer as an introduction to show what creativity is. The show is his original ballet with an additional prologue that sets the scene and pays homage to all creatives and all creative people.”
Starstruck was originally slated for Scottish Ballet’s 2023/24 season, but Hampson decided to pull it forward, knowing he needed a show that was overflowing with joie de vivre to kick off the company’s first live performances in over 18 months. “I felt that our return to the stage should be one that celebrates our art form and celebrates what it’s like for an audience to watch a live performance and for our dancers to perform for that audience. It is the perfect vehicle for that, it is just so much fun,” said Hampson.
Ward Kelly added: “It’s joyful, it’s fun, it’s sexy, it’s hot, it’s just alive and I think people will respond to that, especially after coming out of the dark period of the pandemic.
“Audiences are yearning for that joy and release and fun.”