Fred Astaire VS. Gene Kelly

So who’s the better singer, dancer, actor, choreographer, comedian? —It seems that these two can do just about everything yet they are constantly being compared to one another. In an interview with Gene Kelly, he said, “Fred and I, disliked the fact that we were often thought of as dancing similarly. We danced completely differently. His style is intimate, mine is broad. When we worked together we always had to accommodate each other. No, our styles aren’t alike at all” (Baer). I suppose if you were not an expert on these sorts of things it would be hard to tell the difference.
Gene Kelly’s dance style was the mixture of athletic ability and pure charisma. Unlike Fred Astaire’s fluid movements, he was all pizzazz and many of his characterizations have their roots in vaudeville and Commedia dell’Arte, a form of improvisational theatre (PBS). He also developed both ballet, which he tried to incorporate in many of his films, and the ‘flash’ further Astaire. Song and dance were Astaire’s means of entering a lady’s heart, whereas for Kelly they were the expression of companionship. This in turn allowed room for comic sidekicks like Donald O’Connor.
Fred Astaire grew up dancing in vaudeville but his style leaned towards the ballroom dancing, and ‘class act’ side of classical tap. Astaire was the epitome ‘classy’ because of his grace and elegance, not to mention he always dressed up; he was known for wearing top hat and tails in many performances. Kelly on the other hand preferred to wear street clothes; he thought it brought out his personality more and that people couldn’t always take him seriously in top hats and tails. Astaire set the standards against which later musical films would be judged. Much like Kelly, his perfectionism was legendary, and his relentless insistence on rehearsals and retakes was a burden to some (Wiki). But there is no doubt that these two were the heart of musical films.
I suppose you can’t choose who’s better because they’re so different and both equally incredible and there are so few that can equal this talent. Fortunately for you, you can learn to dance like Fred Astaire in 6 comprehensive and obviously very easy steps thanks to eHow.com.

Here's a great little clip:


-------
Links:
http://www.freewebs.com/geneius/readyforyourshow.htm
http://www.movietreasures.com/Astair___Rogers/astair___rogers.html
http://themave.com/Astaire/FredBio.htm
http://www.movietreasures.com/Gene_Kelly/gene_kelly.html
Sources:
Kelly, Gene. Interview with William Baer. Classic American Films : Conversations with the Screenwriters 27 Sept. 1978.