For the last eleven blogging months, I’ve shared a series of dance scene from historically-set movies.
It’s now December, and we’ve come to my Number 1 favorite dance scene.
As a recap, here are links to the movies to this
point:
Movies to this point:
January – Cat Ballou
February – The King and I
March – Easy Virtue
April – Shakespeare in Love
May – Chocolat
June – Beauty and the Beast
July – Dirty Dancing
August – Cinderella
September – The Mask of Zorro
October – Gone with the Wind
November – Pride
and Prejudice
December
Name of Movie: The
Sound of Music
Historical Time Period: World War II
Location: Austria
Occasion/Purpose: Party at the Von Trapp mansion
Types of Dance: Laendler / Austrian Ländler
Disclaimer: I acknowledge the reality of the story of the actual Von Trapp family is significantly different from how their story is portrayed in the music The Sound of Music. With that bit of business out of the way, I’ll move forward.
The Sound of Music is a musical with music and lyrics by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. The basic plot involves a young woman named Maria who is hired as a governess for several siblings whose mother has died. Maria takes this job during a time in her life when she is uncertain whether she wants to take her final vows as a nun. The widowed father, Captain Georg von Trapp, vehemently opposes the Nazis, a position which puts him and his family in peril considering this story is set in Austria in the midst of World War II.
Maria falls in love with the children and they with her. She and Georg marry and the family flees Austria, so that Georg will not be persecuted by the Nazis due to his refusal to take a commission in the German navy.
The Dance
This dance is a called the Laendler or Ländler. It is a traditional Austrian folk dance performed as a partner dance that involves hopping and stepping. I have pitifully little musical knowledge, but I’ve read the dance is ‘a waltz-like dance, typically in ¾ time’.
The Dance Scene
This dance scene shows us better than dialogue ever could that Maria and Georg have fallen in love. The immediate set-up to the scene comes about at a party at the von Trapp mansion when Kurt, one of the children, asks Maria to teach him to dance the Ländler. Maria and Kurt dance, but Kurt has trouble with a particular set of steps, so Georg steps in to demonstrate.
What follows is cinematic magic.
In the YouTube clip, we see the chemistry building between Maria and Georg as the dance progresses. What is so well done is Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer play their respective parts so well, that they don’t allow their characters to acknowledge what we already know: They are in love.
At 1:35 in the clip, their mutual love hits them both right between the eyes. We grin. We sigh. We’re so smug, because we saw this coming, and we absolutely love it.
At 1:53, Georg is seeing Maria through ‘love lenses’, and he’s completely taken aback. For the first time, he’s seeing Maria as a woman and not a governess.
Incidentally, you will also notice that Baroness Elsa Schrader, the woman who plans to marry Georg, has witnessed what has transpired between Maria and Georg. She knows as well as we do that Maria and Georg are in love. Eleanor Parker portraying the Baroness does a marvelous job of conveying her displeasure in body language, facial expression, and her comment, “That was beautifully done. What a lovely couple you make.”, which translates to, “Of course you know, Maria, this means war.”
This has to be the perfect ‘show us what it looks like when
people fall in love’ movie dance scene ever filmed.
It is the Mary Poppins of romance dance scenes: It’s practically perfect in every way. ;-)
I simply love this scene.
Thank you for accompanying me on this twelve-month series of historically-set movie dance scenes. I enjoyed writing them.
See you in 2024.
Kaye Spencer
Lasterday Stories
writing through history one romance upon a time
www.kayespencer.com
Very romantic, Kaye, and a sweet end to your delightful dance series.
ReplyDeleteWishing you and yours a happy Christmas and a glad new year.
Thank you, Lindsay, and a merry tidings to you, too.
DeleteAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.........I love that scene, and the one where they do "Somewhere in my Youth"--that just solidifies what we already know that began in this scene. I loved all your blogs, Kaye. You did a great job of getting it all together for us and putting the "hot points" in the text for us so we know right what to look for and when! Thanks for a great blog series!
ReplyDeleteI think the name of that song was "Something Good" not "Somewhere in my Youth"...both fabulous scenes. I love all the actors in this movie. Perfect casting.
DeleteI had a good time coming up with the dance scenes. There are others that I left out. Maybe I'll revisit this topic someday and look at the other worthy movie dance scenes. Yes, the song is Something Good, and I adore that scene, too. Who knows, it might show up in another year-long series. ;-)
DeleteI just love that movie, and that scene was so pivotal. The whole dance was so beautifully performed by every measure. As an aside, I once went to one of those 'singalong' shows of The Sound of Music, the ones where everyone dresses up. I went as a goat.
ReplyDeleteOh that is fabulously funny and appropriate to show up as a goat to a Sound of Music singalong. I love it.
DeleteOh, this brings back memories. Enjoyed the music and as a side, my first show after moving to Colorado was a complilation of R&H music. I sang "Edelweiss" solo. (It was also the first show I auditioned for. LOL)
ReplyDeleteI've so enjoyed this series. Doris