Free Summer Film Series / MAC

The Museum of Arts & Culture will once again present a free summer film series, Thursday nights in July and August. This year’s schedule offers five classic films that focus on dance, from ballet to hip hop.The film series is offered in conjunction with the MAC’s exhibit Harlem? Harlem! Dance Theatre of Harlem 1969-2010 and is being co-sponsored by the New Rochelle Public Library. The Museum is open to the public on Thursday evenings at 7 pm; all films begin at 7:30 pm in the air-conditioned Linda. E. Kelly Auditorium in the new wing of New Rochelle High School, located on North Avenue at Braemar. Come early to enjoy the exhibit, then stay for films guaranteed to inspire.

Thursday, July 1^st  The Turning Point (1977) stars Shirley MacLaine and Anne Bancroft as dancers and former best friends who become rivals over a young ballerina’s career. The film also features ballet superstar Mikhail Baryshnikov in his screen debut as a womanizing dancer. Written by Arthur Laurents (The Way We Were, West Side Story) and directed by Herb Ross (Steel Magnolias, Footloose) The Turning Point was nominated for 11 Academy Awards.

 Thursday, July 8^th Shall We Dance? (1937) Starring the peerless Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, this film features an all-Gershwin score and some of the duo’s best dancing, including their famous duet on roller skates. Both classical ballet and popular tapdance moves are on display as Astaire plays an American hoofer, Pete Peters, who has become famous as the Russian ballet star Petrov; Rogers is the tapdance star he woos and wins.

(No film on July 15^th)

Thursday, July 22^nd Save the Last Dance (2001) is a high school coming-of-age story about an aspiring ballerina who is traumatized into giving up on her dream, only to rediscover her love of dance through hip-hop. Julia Stiles, Kerry Washington and Sean Patrick Thomas star. This film was popular at the 2001 Teen Choice Awards and MTV Movie Awards, where Stiles and Thomas won for “Best Kiss.”

Thursday, July 29^th All That Jazz (1979)   is Bob Fosse’s semi-autobiogaphical fantasy about a dance/choreographer.director who sees his whole life as a Broadway show. The film stars Roy Scheider, Jessica Lange, Broadway dancer Anne Reinking and the inimitable Ben Vereen; nominated for nine Academy Awards, it won four (Best Art Direction, Best Editing, Best Costume Design and Best Original Score)

 Thursday, August 5^th That’s Dancing! (1985) is a retrospective documentary on the history of dancing in Hollywood films from The Wizard of Oz and Oklahoma! to Flashdance and Saturday Night Fever. Packed with a dazzling array of classic movie dance sequences, the film’s celebrity narrators include Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Liza Minnelli and Sammy Davis Jr.