Dancing Stars

I have saved this article for several months--now it's time to release it in honor of my daughter, Anna, who is graduating this week from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. Previously, she graduated from Lawrence University with a liberal arts degree.

This time she is specializing as a Medical Technologist. I explain that as someone who analyzes blood samples.

I looked it up in Wikipedia. A Medical Technologist (MT) is a health care professional who performs chemical, hematological, immunologic, microscopic and bacteriological diagnostic analyses on body fluids such as blood, urine, sputum, stool, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), peritoneal fluid, pericardial fluid and synovial fluid, as well as other specimens.

Recently I sat in on a quiz bowl--and I couldn't even comprehend the questions--let alone their answers! I guess I'll stick to macro-economics, a subject that is much easier for me.

So in honor of Anna, I'd like to share one of my very favorite movie scenes.

Arguably one of the best dance sequences in filmdom appeared in the Broadway Melody of 1940. This is the only on-screen pairing of Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell, who were considered the finest movie musical dancers of their time.

Near the end of the movie, they danced to Cole Porter's Begin the Beguine. The set for this number cost $120,000 to construct. It utilized a sixty foot multi-paneled mirror mounted on a revolving track to change backgrounds. The floor is made of glass, too.

Sit back and enjoy. It includes a lengthy passage in which they tap dance with no musical accompaniment. (Click in lower, left corner to start.)



In Fred Astaire's biography, he said there was only one dancer in his career that intimidated him. It was none other than Eleanor Powell.