Known for his athletic dancing style, Gene Kelly is considered one of the most successful stage dancers of the 20th Century. It wasn’t a coincidence. Ice hockey influenced his distinctive dancing style.
Born Eugene Curran Kelly in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Kelly excelled in multiple sports. Baseball was a favorite, and back then, Kelly imagined himself as a Major League Baseball player. “I wanted to be a shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates,” Kelly said in an interview. The Pirates had lost their shortstop, and Kelly wanted to replace him.
The incomparable Gene Kelly circa 1955 (photo courtesy Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images and The Grunge)
While that never came to be, the nearly lifelong relationship wth ice hockey did. By age 15, Kelly played on a semi-professional ice hockey team, and he later credited hockey with his vigorous, lively, and unparalleled masculine choreography.
“Some of my steps come right out of that game; wide open and close to the ground,” Kelly once remarked. He was referring to how ice skaters, especially hockey players, skate with bent knees and legs wide. That positioning helps produce maximum power when a skater, or a hockey player, takes a stride.
To prove that point, Kelly hosted and choreographed a program called Dancing: A Man’s Game (1958). He invited legendary athletes of the day to perform their signature moves, which he later turned into dance steps. Guests included Mickey Mantle, Johnny Unitas, Bob Cousy, Sugar Ray Robinson, and Dick Button.
He borrowed moves from the game and parlayed them into a legendary stage and screen career. Among other things, Kelly starred in multiple musicals, including For Me and My Gal (1942), Cover Girl (1944), Anchors Aweigh (1945), Ziegfeld Follies (1946), The Pirate (1948), Words and Music (1948), On the Town (1949), Summer Stock (1950), An American in Paris (1951), Singin’ in the Rain (1952), It’s Always Fair Weather (1955), Invitation to the Dance (1956), Les Girls (1957), That’s Entertainment (1974), and Xanadu (1980).
Gene Kelly lived a rich and amazing life. He died in 1996 at the age of 83.
