“Happy Feet”
By Joe
Donato, all rights reserved, © 2008
This movie is not like other dance movies. I counted
five, yes FIVE passions of mine working together to serve the story: Great animation, great storytelling, great
music, great dancing, and an awesome setting:
I’ve always felt that there is an undefined connection
between music, the arts, and nature.
Movies like this help to affirm that feeling. Dancing and singing amongst the pristine
backdrop of the Antarctic, and away from the “City Lights” and stage is one
thing unique about this movie, yet is not unique to mother nature. Singing whales, penguins, and other birds, as
a part of the fabric of life, is something that happens all around our planet,
with or without the artistic expressions of mankind. This movie captures that.
Yes, I know it’s a cartoon, but still.
It rings true to me.
From the onset, you will hear the penguins singing
melodies and harmonies of many classical as well as not-so classical songs
melded together. As the penguins sing as part of their mating ritual, you will
find yourself thinking, “I never would have guessed those two songs go
together.” As the movie progresses, you will find yourself melding other
worlds. For example, who would have guessed that within the great Antarctic
wasteland, you could find both Hispanic Ego-driven Macho men, and Charismatic
African-American preachers. Now you may not find preachers on the Latin dance
floor, but within their own arenas, you find both personalities bringing their
own unique messages of hope and inspiration to a flock in need.
The movie gets even deeper in reflecting real human
points of tension. One of the underlying themes dances around how the
partial-Amen has been given to the well weathered musical traditions of the
religious community, while dancing remains a taboo.
Within the flock, music is embraced as a vital
necessity for both physical and spiritual survival, while dancing is feared and
demonized due to it being so “different”.
(Don’t worry, they learn their lesson).
But what makes this movie special for Ballroom
afficionados? It was the DVD extra
features. In particular, there is one section where Savion Glover talks about
what it takes to learn to dance. He breaks it down elementally, in order of
importance. He starts with Balance. Then he adds rhythm. That’s right ladies
and gentlemen. Rhythm is NOT the most important thing! It comes after balance and coordination. Savion
then breaks down the different parts of the feet: Toe-Heel, Toe-Heel. Where
have we heard that mantra before?
One other cool extra I must mention, is an older
cartoon that tells the story a perfectionists Owl musician who gives birth to
four children: an Opera singer, a violinist, a flutist, and lastly, a Jazz
singer! I hadn’t seen this cartoon in
years and appreciated it just as much as I did when they included the Hoboken
Penguin Bugs Bunny cartoon on the “March of the Penguins” DVD.
This movie made me desperately want to Stop Global
warming by dancing in the Arctic Tundra.
Sounds weird, but if I could do that, I’d quit my day job and fly down
there in a heartbeat. All that ice and open space would surely make a great
dance floor; until I began to melt it underneath me. But where else but in a
secluded space like that can you truly dance like nobody is watching? I’d lie right down in the puddle, resting in
peace, ready to die, knowing I’ve truly lived!
If anyone knows of any other instances of great
dancing in Feature Animations, please email me.
-Ballroom
Joe
Watch the
Singing-Dancing
Courtship finale scene on
Youtube
learn more
about this film at the internet
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