Michael Jackson's Moonwalk watch. Michael Jackson Moonwalk
Michael Jackson
Moonwalk, or Moonwalk: Michael Jackson about himself
You want to touch the truth and be able to express this truth through what you have experienced and experienced - be it joy or sorrow - then your life will gain more meaning and maybe you will be able to touch the hearts of others. This is the highest content of art. It's moments like these that I live for.
Michael Jackson
Just kids with a dream
I've always wanted to learn how to tell stories, you know, stories that come from my soul. I would like to sit by the fire and tell people stories - to captivate them, to make them laugh and cry, so that I can take them anywhere with just deceptive words. I would like to tell them stories that would move their souls and transform them. I've always been drawn to this. Just imagine how great writers must feel knowing they have such power. Sometimes it seems to me that I could do the same. I would like to develop this ability in myself. In some ways, songwriting requires the same skills, creating emotional highs and lows, but a story is a sketch. This is mercury. Very few books have been written about the art of storytelling, how to captivate an audience, how to bring people together and amuse them. No costume, no makeup, nothing at all - just you and your voice, and your powerful ability to lead them anywhere, to transform their life, at least for a few minutes.
As I begin to tell my story, I want to repeat what I usually tell people when they ask me how I started in the Jackson 5 group: I was so small when we started working that I basically don’t remember anything. Most people are lucky: they start their careers when they are old enough to understand exactly what they are doing and why. But of course it wasn't like that with me. They remember how everything happened, but I was only five years old. When you step onto the stage as a child, you are still too young to understand much of what is happening around you. Most decisions that affect your life are made in your absence. So here's what I remember. I remember that I sang like a catechumen, danced with great pleasure and gave my best for a child. Of course, I don’t remember many details at all. I only remember that The Jackson 5 really started to take over the scene when I was only eight or nine years old.
I was born in Gary, Indiana, one evening in the late summer of 1958, the seventh of nine children in our family. My father, Joe Jackson, was born in Arkansas and in 1949 married my mother, Catherine Scruse, originally from Alabama. On next year my sister Maureen was born, who had the difficult fate of being the eldest child. She was followed by Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Latoya and Marlon. And after me came Randy and Janet.
Some of my earliest memories are of my father working in a steel mill. It was hard, mind-numbing work, and to distract himself, he played music. And my mother worked at that time in a department store. Thanks to my father, and because my mother loved music, it was constantly played in our house. My father and his brother created the group “Falcons” (“Falcons”), which performed R&B for us. His father, like his brother, played the guitar. They performed famous songs early rock and roll and the blues of Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Otis Rodding - you can continue the list yourself. They were amazing styles, and each had its own influence on Joe and us, although we were too young to understand it at the time. The Falcons rehearsed in the living room of our house in Gary, so I was raised on R&B. There were nine children in our family, and my father’s brother had eight, so together we made up a huge family. We played music in our spare time - it united us and, as it were, kept my father within the family. This tradition gave birth to the Jackson Five - we later became the Jacksons - and thanks to this training and musical tradition, I began to develop independently and created my own style.
Almost all my childhood memories are connected with work, although I loved to sing. I was not forced to do this by parents who were in love with the stage, like, for example, Judy Garland. I sang because I liked it and because singing was as natural to me as breathing. I sang because I was encouraged to do so not by my parents or relatives, but by my own inner life in the world of music. There were times - and I want to make this clear - I would return home from school and, as soon as I left my books, I would rush to the studio. There I sang until late at night, in fact, when it was already time for me to sleep. There was a park across the street from the Motown studio, and I remember watching the kids playing there. I looked at them and marveled - I simply could not imagine such freedom, such a carefree life - and more than anything in the world I wanted to be so free that I could go out into the street and behave like them. So I also had sad moments as a child. But this happens with all children who become “stars”. Elizabeth Taylor told me she felt the same way. When you work when you're very young, the world can seem terribly unfair. Nobody forced me to be little Michael the lead singer - I chose it myself, and I loved it - but the work was hard. When we were recording for the album, for example, we'd go into the studio right after school, and sometimes I'd get a snack and sometimes I wouldn't. There just wasn't time. I returned home exhausted, at eleven, or even twelve at night, when it was already time to sleep.
Our world is full of illusions. Some of them frighten, others attract and fascinate. The art of creating illusions, as is known, is the prerogative of magicians and card sharpers. But good dancer, possessing the necessary qualities, is able to assemble movements into a dance in such a way that it will turn it into an unforgettable spectacle, bordering on fantasy. The King of Pop Michael Jackson was and will remain such a great Dancer. The “moonwalk” performed by him is forever etched in the memory of fans and even people far from dancing as the greatest illusion of choreography.
Birth of a legend
The first performance of the movement now known as " moonwalk", belongs to the American jazz singer Cab Calloway and dates from 1932. Later, other famous showmen, including the famous French mime Marcel Marceau, used similar elements in their performances. It is believed that it was his dance performance “Walking Against the Wind” that provided the prerequisites for the performance of this movement by Michael Jackson in his 1983 performance on the program “Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever”, which became a legend. His unique performance style has glorified this element for centuries. Since then, the name of Michael Jackson, the title of the song “Billie Jean” (to which the dance was first performed) and the “moonwalk” are inseparable and symbolize the era of great dance achievements, just like the constant attributes legendary singer and a dancer: a black hat, a white glove on one hand and socks with silver threads.
origin of name
This dance received the name “moonwalk” due to the visual lightness and smoothness of the dancer’s movements. After all, science has long known that the Moon has much less gravity than our planet Earth. Therefore, a person’s steps on the Moon are light, weightless and barely touch the surface of the planet. This can be observed in the footage of the first filming of the landing of people on the Moon and, by comparing what was seen with the dance movement, in Once again make sure that Michael Jackson’s “moonwalk” has no analogues and is rightfully considered “unearthly”.
Moonwalk technique
The “moonwalk” as a dance element is footwork that imitates walking forward. But as a result of a special technique of performance, it looks like sliding backwards, as if the dancer is being pulled into something reverse side. The movement consists of an alternating change of foot positions: from the toe to the full foot and vice versa. To achieve a smooth sliding effect, you need to move your foot back without lifting it off the floor or lifting your heel. When the toes of the sliding leg are at the level of the leg standing on the toe, the latter lowers onto the entire foot, and the first rises onto the toe. This change of position occurs throughout the entire movement. To hone your technique you need good flexibility and speed. After practicing this element, movements of the shoulders and head are added. Now this is a real “moonwalk”. But in order to achieve a decent level of its implementation, you will have to spend more than one month in training room in front of the mirror.
Who is the founder of the “moonwalk” that brought fame to Michael Jackson? "Moonwalk" performed by Cab Calloway, James Brown, .
It is also known as “sliding backwards”, “glide” (eng. moonwalk) - a dance technique when the dancer moves backward, while imitating the movements of the legs as when walking forward.
The technique became popular around the world after Michael Jackson performed dance moves during his performance of "Billie Jean" on Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever on March 25, 1983. It later became his " business card", and on this moment one of the most famous technicians in the world.
The illusion is to create a smooth backward slide of the dancer. At the initial moment, the leg in front rests with the entire plane of the foot on the floor, while the leg behind is in the “on the toe” position. The front leg pressed to the floor remains on it, but slides easily and smoothly back behind the leg standing on the toe. Now the leg in front lowers to a full foot, and the back one rises to the toe. Thus the steps are repeated again and again. Variations of this movement allow you to perform a “moonwalk” by sliding forward, to the side, and even in a circle.
Moonwalk by Michael Jackson
There are many recorded examples of the moonwalk. Charlie Chaplin demonstrates walking backwards and sliding in a restaurant scene in the film Modern Times (1936).
Moonwalk by Charlie Chaplin
In 1932, the “moonwalk” was demonstrated by the American jazz singer and showman Cab Calloway.
Moonwalk by Cab Calloway - Zaz Zuh Zaz
In the 1945 film Children of Paradise, the moonwalk was used in the pantomime "Marche sur place" created by Etienne Decroix and Jean-Louis Barrault.
In 1955, it was recorded at a performance by tap dancer Bill Bailey. He performed tap dancing moves, and at the end of the performance, he slid backwards backstage.
French mime Marcel Marceau used it in his career from the 1940s. to the 1980s, as part of a production, performing as a mime. IN famous dance Marceau "Walking Against the Wind", he pretended to be pushed back by a gust of wind.
James Brown used the moonwalk in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers and in his stage performances.
Moonwalk by James Brown (James Brown - Best Dance)
David Bowie was the first to moonwalk while standing still.
The original version of the dance appeared in Bowie's pantomime plays in the 1960s - he studied pantomime with Etienne Decroix, Marcel Marceau's teacher, and also with Lindsay Kemp, who coached Marceau.
During the Diamond Dogs Tour David Bowie in 1974, Michael Jackson was among those who attended his Los Angeles shows, and later spoke out about interesting movements Bowie.
Moonwalk by David Bowie
Singer Jeffrey Daniel moonwalked during Shalamar's "A Night To Remember" performance on Top of the Pops in England in 1982, and was famous for backsliding at public events (including weekly episodes of Soul Train) in 1974.
Also in 1982, Debbie Allen performed the moonwalk during a scene with Gwen Verdon in Season 1 Episode 10 ("Come One, Come All") in the 1982 television series Fame.
Moonwalk by Debbie Allen
However, the moonwalk only gained widespread attention in 1983, when Michael Jackson performed it during the TV special Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever on March 25 of that year.
Dressed in his signature black pants, silver socks, silver shirt, black sequined jacket, with one rhinestone glove and black felt hat, Jackson spun around, got into a pose and began a backward moonwalk. The audience applauded Michael Jackson's gait.
Michael Jackson's first moonwalk
And since then, the “moonwalk” has become Jackson’s distinctive sign in the song “Billie Jean” and his calling card. Michael Jackson's autobiography was titled, and he also starred in a 1988 film called "Moonwalker".
On May 16, 1983, Michael Jackson performed "Billie Jean" in a televised concert to celebrate Motown's twentieth anniversary. At the end of this television show, in which fifty million viewers saw the moon walk, the audience gave the magnificent Jackson a standing ovation. Let's find out how this dance came about.
