Dancing on Astaire

2000 quotations about the world's greatest dancer: Fred Astaire.

“I have been called the greatest dancer in the world. That is unbelievably complimentary and undeniably erroneous. It rocks me when someone says it. What I have done is stand the  test of time in my field - musical comedy and movie dancing.”

 Fred Astaire (1957)

Ask George Balanchine. Ask Mikhail Baryshnikov. Ask James Cagney. Ask Bob Fosse. Ask Rita Hayworth. Ask Michael Jackson. Ask Gene Kelly. Ask Rudolf Nureyev. Ask Donald O’Connor. Ask any man or woman in the street. Most, if not all, would agree that Fred Astaire (born 1899 in Omaha Nebraska) was the greatest dancer the world has ever seen.

Name another dancer, from any era, who’s dance career - on stage, film and TV - could sustain such a book as this. The astonishing fact is not that there are 2000 specially chosen quotations by and about Fred, but that so many of these ‘quotributes’ come from peers and those performers that were inspired by him. That is the true test of the epithet ‘greatest.’

As well as tributes from the dance world as a whole, Fred has received glowing references from U.S. presidents, Prime Ministers, Knights of the Realm, Nobel prize winners, Pulitzer prize winners, Oscar winners, Tony winners, Grammy winners … even Heisman trophy winners. Such is the breadth and depth of the highest regard that Fred Astaire is forever held.

As the book’s title suggests, the focus is the dancing aspect of Fred Astaire. The emphasis of the 2000 quotations is on Fred’s dancing rather than his singing or acting abilities … or on his private life.

Dancing On Astaire follows Fred’s early stage career - as a teenager - with sister Adele; runs through all his movie musicals with partners such as Ginger Rogers, Cyd Charisse and Ann Miller; finishing with his award-winning performances on TV (in his late 60s).

 “When you talk about Fred Astaire,

you talk about heaven.”

For more information about Dancing On Astaire, go to:

www.createspace.com/3434375