page_title: Dream ballet
section_title: Dream ballets in film
hierarchical_section_title: Dream ballet / Dream ballets in film
caption_attribution_description: English: Gene Kelly in An American in Paris Ballet - trailer (cropped screenshot)
context_page_description: A dream ballet, in musical theater, is an all-dance, no-singing production number that reflects the themes of the production. The plot, themes, and characters are typically the same—although the people playing the characters may be different, as the roles of the dream ballet are usually filled by well-trained dancers rather than actual actors.
  Dream ballet sequences exist mainly for clarification, foreshadowing, and symbolism, and occur outside the continuity of the production. They also advance the plot of the story through dance. Dream ballets also provide the opportunity to impress the audience with advanced dancing techniques and elaborate staging that would otherwise be impossible or dramatically inappropriate.
  The dream ballet is thought to have originated in Rodgers and Hammerstein's 1943 musical Oklahoma!, which includes an 18-minute first-act dream ballet finale choreographed by Agnes de Mille. The technique has since become a routine theatrical practice.
context_section_description: After Oklahoma! debuted onstage, some movie musicals began to incorporate dream ballets into their creations. One notable example is An American in Paris (1951). Directed by Vincente Minnelli and choreographed by both Minnelli and Gene Kelly, the last twenty minutes of the movie is a dream ballet where Kelly's character Jerry Mulligan examines his relationship with Lise Bouvier, played by Leslie Caron. The dream ballet is supposed to stylistically move from painter to painter as Jerry thinks about his relationship in terms of different painters from Paris.
  Another Vincente Minnelli film to feature a dream ballet is The Band Wagon (1953) starring classic film dancers Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse. Based on the musical of the same name, the dream ballet number "Dancing in the Dark" featured choreography by Michael Kidd. In 1954, Stanley Donen directed Seven Brides for Seven Brothers which featured a "Barn Dance" where the seven sisters are fought over by the seven brothers and their rivals. As he was popular at this time, the choreography was by Michael Kidd.
  Oklahoma! debuted as a film in 1955, keeping Agnes DeMille's choreography for the dream ballet intact. Many additional musicals made the transformation from stage to the big screen including Brigadoon (1954), Guys and Dolls (1955), Carousel (1956), West Side Story (1961), and The Wiz (1978). These film versions tended to have big names as stars such as Gene Kelly, Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra, Rita Moreno, and Diana Ross.
  Since then other films have used the conceit of a dream ballet including the Coen Brothers' The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) which has an unexpected dream ballet number choreographed by Wesley Fata and performed by Tim Robbins and Pamela Everett and The Big Lebowski (1998) featuring Jeff Bridges.
caption: A moment from An American in Paris' dream ballet.
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