FRED ASTAIRE
Many dancers, including such greats as Mikhail Baryshnikov, have been quoted as regarding Fred Astaire as the greatest dancer who ever lived. As a great fan of his movies and television shows, I certainly wouldn't disagree. How could anyone be any better? His dance numbers with Ginger Rogers as a partner look like the dancers are floating on air. When I hear people go beyond praise for his partners as great dancers and credit them for his success, I remind them that, while he looked great with many partners, they only looked great with him. However, the purpose of this column is not to engage in dance criticism or comparisons, but to honor the personal qualities of Fred Astaire, especially his humility.
Now I didn't personally know Fred Astaire, I'm applauding the qualities I've seen in movies and on television and read about in books. That doesn't make them any less real to me. I know everything I need to know. I try to emulate the man I know from the press and I believe that is the real man.
To my untrained eye, his dance sequences with various female partners were perfect. I have read how hard he worked to make it look easy and he succeeded wildly in my view. You can imagine how surprised I was to hear him say in an interview that he didn't like parties because, among other reasons, every woman at the party wanted to dance with him and he wasn't a particularly good ballroom dancer. When I thought about it later, I realized that this was the essence of humility, the complete lack of arrogance or self-importance. Notwithstanding his great importance to others, his unsurpassed skill, either his perfectionism or a desire to be kind to other dancers or a feeling that he shouldn't boast or accept the boasts others made on his behalf kept him from saying, implicitly or explicitly, that he was a good ballroom dancer, let alone great.
Skill is apparent. We don't need to point to our own skills in a boastful or arrogant way. In fact, the more we boast, the more insecure in our skills we appear. Be like Fred Astaire: No matter how good you are (or believe you are), let others praise you. Don't become arrogant and boastful no matter how well you do. Be happy in your achievements which are less than perfect. But think also of Fred Astaire's perfectionism: no matter how skilled you are, continue to strive for perfection. You may be the best without being the best you can be. In that case, there's always more work to do.
7-30-01
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