Dancers Sidetracked by Other Careers

angela · **Posted:** Sat Nov 16, 2002 9:56 pm

OOPS.
Sorry guys...I'm using a Flintsone computer. :roll:

angela · **Posted:** Thu Dec 05, 2002 4:54 pm

Since the movie Chicago is coming out very soon,we might as well add Catherine Zeta-Jones to this list(if no one added her already).
And I just found out from a news show the Christopher Walken of Deer Hunter fame is/was a dancer. He was in a production of West Side Story and danced in the movie Pennies From Heaven

djb · **Posted:** Thu Dec 05, 2002 5:27 pm

Angela, for info on Christopher Walken's dancing, see the Those Who Should Have Danced thread. He's mentioned on page 1-3 of the thread.

Liscarkat · **Posted:** Thu Dec 05, 2002 7:41 pm

Christopher Walken danced and sang (dubbed or really his voice?) in the Steve Martin version of "Pennies from Heaven". Speaking of sidetracked by other careers, there's an interesting actor who has been sidetracked into playing mostly creeps in B movies (I mean Walken, not Martin.).

<small>[ 12-05-2002, 21:15: Message edited by: Liscarkat ]</small>

angela · **Posted:** Sat Dec 07, 2002 4:02 am

Thanks djb!
Liscarkat,Christopher Walken was talking on the interview I was watching how he started out as a child actor and went onto creepy-type roles as an adult.
By the way,he's also married to a dancer he met in that production of West Side Story.

Liscarkat · **Posted:** Sun Dec 08, 2002 2:39 pm

Oops, Angela, if I had been paying attention, I would've noticed that you already mentioned Chrisopher Walken dancing in "Pennies from Heaven" earlier.

Lucy · **Posted:** Sun Dec 08, 2002 3:48 pm

Don't know if I already said this on previous pages, but he went to Professional Children's School that I think is now called High School for Performing Arts in NYC.

Azlan · **Posted:** Tue Dec 24, 2002 9:59 am

Former diplomat Ella Russell Torrey?

Quote:

Conversations on War | With her experience in diplomacy, she has respect for dangers of war

Murray Dubin, Philadelphia Inquirer

I wanted to major in modern dance with Martha Graham, who taught [there]. She said I'd be better in English.

angela · **Posted:** Thu Dec 26, 2002 8:56 am

Azlan mentioned Brittany Snow from the show American Dreams in those who should have danced.....
Turns out she did! .
Trained in everything from ballet to clogging in her home towm Tampa Florida,and competed in competitions according to the Jan 2003 Dance Spirit mag.

Azlan · **Posted:** Sun Dec 29, 2002 9:38 am

Jean Claude! In the Miami Herald:

Quote:

[Jean Claude] Van Damme, who starred with the Australian pop star in the 1994 flop Streetfighter, says he taught [Kylie] Minogue special buttocks-firming exercises he learned while doing ballet.

angela · **Posted:** Sun Dec 29, 2002 8:28 pm

The Muscles from Brussells was a dancer too hey????

Lucy · **Posted:** Mon Dec 30, 2002 1:54 pm

Having spent the last week in bed with a cast on my foot and watching way too much TV, (love the biography channel) I have learned that Jacklyn Smith of Charlies Angels fame was in SAB ready to join the company when she changed paths and went into acting.

Also Sophie Rhys-Jones completed her RAD grade 4 exams and was cast as Cinderella in the students demonstration. Speaking of Princesses did we mention Princess Diana yet?

Malcolm Tay · **Joined:** Fri Aug 31, 2001 11:01 pm **Posts:** 962

Michelle Yeoh and Zhang Ziyi, cast members of the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, were mentioned thrice and twice respectively in this thread. But I should also mention that Cheng Pei-pei, who acted as the villanous Jade Fox in the same film, is also another dancer-turned-actress.

Those of us who have watched enough martial arts films will know that Cheng is a respected screen legend, being one of the first women to star in martial arts films -- some has gone as far as to say she was the Michelle Yeoh of the 60s. Her breakthrough film was, of course, King Hu's Come Drink with Me (1966), a new print of which has been re-released in 2002. There are plans for a sequel of this classic film.

Here is a recent interview:

Quote:

I was eight when I started ballet and I've always felt dance and martial arts are very similar--the ways in which you stretch your body, use your legs, there's something that's complementary about the disciplines. Some ballet dancers can't do any other kind of dance just like some martial artists are bound by one school, but with my background I was able to make a transition into the martial arts that was very comfortable and natural.

More...

<img src="http://www.brns.com/hkactors/picts/chngpei2.jpg" alt="" />
Here she is in the 60s.

[img]http://www.kungfucinema.com/images/news/2002-05-27-01b.jpg"%20width="430"%20height="300[/img]
And here she is with her daughter, Marsha Yuen (left) at Cannes 2002.

<small>[ 06 January 2003, 12:49 PM: Message edited by: Malcolm Tay ]</small>

angela · **Posted:** Fri Jan 03, 2003 11:23 pm

GEE, they look like sisrers!

Azlan · **Posted:** Sat Feb 15, 2003 4:45 pm

It seems that so many Chinese women of that generation, including my mom, were trained in both the Fine Arts and the Martial Arts.

But here's something from the other end of the spectrum, so to speak...

Quote:

Gere choreographs a new style of success
Narcissism of earlier work gives way to sensual grace in 'Unfaithful,' 'Chicago'

Carla Meyer, SF Chronicle Staff Writer

There's something special about Richard Gere's performance in "Chicago," as his Golden Globe -- his first major acting award -- attests. And it's more than just his tap-dancing. <a href=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/02/16/PK2437.DTL target=_blank>more</a>


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