{"id":114625,"date":"2026-03-08T08:00:22","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T12:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=114625"},"modified":"2026-03-07T12:24:30","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T17:24:30","slug":"speaking-of-ladies-i-love-happy-birthday-cyd-charisse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=114625","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Have you ever noticed how a cat stretches after a nap? We can learn from watching animals.&#8221; &#8212; Cyd Charisse"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/003-singin-in-the-rain-theredlist.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/003-singin-in-the-rain-theredlist.jpg\" alt=\"003-singin-in-the-rain-theredlist\" width=\"1200\" height=\"920\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-114627\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/003-singin-in-the-rain-theredlist.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/003-singin-in-the-rain-theredlist-100x77.jpg 100w, https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/003-singin-in-the-rain-theredlist-200x153.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/003-singin-in-the-rain-theredlist-400x307.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Legs for weeks, not days.<\/p>\n<p>While there are so many classic and unforgettable dance numbers to choose from, the &#8220;Girl Hunt&#8221; number from <i>Band Wagon<\/i> is my favorite.  <\/p>\n<p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/T8QmkDzD8Sk\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Please read this <a href=\"http:\/\/www.slantmagazine.com\/house\/2008\/06\/dancing-in-the-dark-cyd-charisse-1921-2008\/\" target=\"blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">wonderful tribute to Charisse by my friend, Dan Callahan<\/a>. Dan has a detailed eye, and is intuitive and tireless in attempting to describe the sometimes-ephemeral gifts of a performer.  Please read Dan&#8217;s whole piece, it&#8217;s wonderful, but his bit on the &#8220;Girl Hunt&#8221; number is thrilling:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>During &#8220;Girl Hunt,&#8221; when Astaire enters a dive and sees Charisse seated at a bar, she hesitates for just the right amount of time before doffing her greenish cloak and revealing the reddest damn scarlet woman red dress in movie history, with unapologetic little tassels hanging from her beautiful breasts. When the music speeds up, we&#8217;re in a kind of no man&#8217;s land: I really don&#8217;t know how Charisse does what she does here. Part of the magic is her technical skill, of course, but a huge part of it comes from her, and it has to do with a kind of taunting yet witty sexuality that actually makes the icy Astaire look randy in response. At the height of their pulsating, &#8220;are we being serious?&#8221; interplay, Charisse extends her epic legs out to Astaire on five horn blasts: one, two, three, four, five, and on the fifth beat she turns. Then, one, two, three, four, five, and on that crucial fifth beat, she flings her whole upper body backwards to the rhythm. That&#8217;s math, maybe, or dance. But the way that she throws her head back on that second beat of five is quite possibly the most thrilling single moment I&#8217;ve ever seen in a movie.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Yup.  Look for that moment. Goosebumps every time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Legs for weeks, not days. While there are so many classic and unforgettable dance numbers to choose from, the &#8220;Girl Hunt&#8221; number from Band Wagon is my favorite. Please read this wonderful tribute to Charisse by my friend, Dan Callahan. &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=114625\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7,4,39],"tags":[1692,2197,424],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114625"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=114625"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114625\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":185799,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114625\/revisions\/185799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=114625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=114625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=114625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}