Michael Jackson's dance technology

#1

Michael Jackson's dance technology

Posted: 11/9/09 at 5:46pm

Jackson, during his heyday, helped to invent, design and patent pieces of "dance technology" to augment performances. These included special shoes that made his famous "anti-gravity leans" possible, and a "toaster" elevator that catapulted dancers and himself onto the stage in a dramatic leap.

Have these been used on Broadway, or anywhere other than in Jackson events, or were they his exclusively?

#2

re: Michael Jackson's dance technology

Posted: 11/9/09 at 5:51pm

His "Special Shoes" were nothing more than shoes with a hole in them to which a nail would come up from the stage & lock him in place.

#3

re: Michael Jackson's dance technology

Posted: 11/9/09 at 5:54pm

On Boadway the CATS set had a trap door that worked as you described. Can't remember which character used it to make their entrance but it was a nice trick. (I want to say that it was called a panto trap or something like that.)

#4

re: Michael Jackson's dance technology

Posted: 11/9/09 at 5:56pm

^ Rumpus Cat

#5

re: Michael Jackson's dance technology

Posted: 11/9/09 at 6:09pm

That piece of stage machinery (the actor launcher, don't remember the actual name) is used in Japanese super Kabuki, if I remember my History of Design and Tech class properly from grad school.

#6

re: Michael Jackson's dance technology

Posted: 11/9/09 at 6:25pm

Madonna used the toaster on Drowned World. But don't let that take away from you internalizing all of the inflated statements by the Jackson industry. Why, if it weren't for the pre-existing MGM musicals, I might believe that Michael invented the art of dance itself!

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#7

re: Michael Jackson's dance technology

Posted: 11/9/09 at 6:47pm

The trap door entrance described likely goes WAAAAAY back to the early days of theatre. The mystery plays of the Middle Ages used stage machinery, including a trapdoor, or a hellmouth, for the emergence of devils and flying machines for angels. But the art did not reach its zenith until the Italian Renaissance.

#8

re: Michael Jackson's dance technology

Posted: 11/9/09 at 7:10pm

Wasn't the trap door entrance in Cats eventually cut? I vaguely remember reading an article that it was deemed unsafe at some point during the run when the safety regulations were updated.

Updated On: 11/9/09 at 07:10 PM

#9

re: Michael Jackson's dance technology

Posted: 11/9/09 at 7:11pm

They used it for the taping. Unless it was some sort of similar contraption.

#10

re: Michael Jackson's dance technology

Posted: 11/9/09 at 7:14pm

But was the Pekes and Pollicles number ever on Broadwayt? I'm sure it was cut, am I wrong?

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Listen, I don't take my clothes off for anyone, even if it is "artistic". - JANICE

#11

re: Michael Jackson's dance technology

Posted: 11/9/09 at 7:18pm

It's listed on IBDb.

http://ibdb.com/ProductionSongs.aspx?ShowNo=2449&ProdNo=4186

#12

re: Michael Jackson's dance technology

Posted: 11/9/09 at 7:23pm

To my knowledge it was never cut for Broadway. It's rarely included on cast recordings, though it is on the DVD, Australian cast recording and a few foreign language cast recordings. The current national tour is the first production that I'm aware of that has cut the number.

#13

re: Michael Jackson's dance technology

Posted: 11/9/09 at 7:25pm

Maybe I thought of that because it wasn't recorded. I don't remembered much of the number itself until I saw it again on DVD.

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Listen, I don't take my clothes off for anyone, even if it is "artistic". - JANICE

#14

re: Michael Jackson's dance technology

Posted: 11/9/09 at 7:28pm

The thing that I hate about the DVD is the lack of Growltiger's Last Stand!

#15

re: Michael Jackson's dance technology

Posted: 11/9/09 at 7:32pm

That and all the other cuts bother me, there was a desire to keep the show under two hours which I'll never understand. I wish they had allowed Trevor Nunn to direct the film as he later did such an admirable job with the Oklahoma! DVD. But, for what it is it's not bad. I do like the cast.

Updated On: 11/9/09 at 07:32 PM

#16

re: Michael Jackson's dance technology

Posted: 11/9/09 at 7:35pm

I really don't think that they could have chosen a better cast for the DVD. Except maybe giving Marlene Danielle her dues & letting her be Bombalurina.

#17

re: Michael Jackson's dance technology

Posted: 11/9/09 at 7:40pm

Elaine Paige is freaking FIERCE in this. I really think her voice was at its peak from SUNSET to the ALW 50th CELEBRATION to CATS. She's still good now and was before, but there was a window of time in which she was ELECTRIFYING and also a little world-weary and ragged in JUST the right way. Her voice on the CHESS album is the only recording of her to come close to those appearances for me.

P

#18

re: Michael Jackson's dance technology

Posted: 11/9/09 at 7:48pm

I think that Elaine's Memory is one thing that everyone agrees on as being the best rendition of the song.

#19

re: Michael Jackson's dance technology

Posted: 11/9/09 at 8:29pm

Although, I still wish we'd gotten a recording from Judi Dench with the voice she had in her prime.

#20

re: Michael Jackson's dance technology

Posted: 11/9/09 at 9:09pm

It's quite possible, probable even, that he did not invent the "toaster launcher," although it is often attributed to him. However, was the "toaster" used all the way back in the Italian renaissance, or just a standard trapdoor entrance from an elevator of some sorts?

#21

re: Michael Jackson's dance technology

Posted: 11/9/09 at 9:13pm

Yes, dear, the Jackson hype machine was never exactly married to the truth. He did not, in fact, invent the toaster.

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