Most people don’t know he studied dance as a child.
Our world is grappling with critical issues: climate change, a surge in authoritarianism, and potential military conflicts. Amid these challenges, finding joy becomes essential, and actor Christopher Walken's dance moves offer a delightful escape.
A few years ago, an inspired editor at HuffPo Entertainment compiled a montage of Walken dancing across 50 of his films. Although initially removed, it resurfaced in 2014, brightening the world once again.
Walken gained renown through his compelling roles in “Annie Hall" (1977) and “The Deer Hunter" (1978). Thus, his tap dancing performance in 1981’s “Pennies from Heaven” with Steve Martin surprised many.
But Walken actually started his career in entertainment as a dancer. He took his first dance lessons at the age of three. “It was very typical for people—and I mean working-class people—to send their kids to dancing school," he told Interview Magazine. “You'd learn ballet, tap, acrobatics, usually you'd even learn to sing a song," he later explained to Interview magazine.
As a child, he also studied tap dance and toured in musicals. He even danced with a young Liza Minelli. “I'd been around dancers my whole life, having watched my parents make musicals at MGM, and Chris reminded me of so many of the dancers I knew growing up," Minelli said, according to Entertainment Weekly. “He's talented in every way."
Craig Zadan, Executive Producer of “Peter Pan Live!," agrees with Minelli. “I think that if he had been around in the heyday of MGM, he would have been a big star of musicals on film," he told Entertainment Weekly.
His dance moves were put center stage in 2001 in Spike Jonze's video for Fatboy Slim's song “Weapon of Choice." Walken says he did it because one day he'll be too old to cut a rug. “You think, 'Well, do it now!' You know, you get too decrepit to dance," he told Entertainment Weekly.
This article was originally posted on 06.29.21.
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