Dancers Posters, Prints & Photographs, “C...-”
for performance arts, music, social studies and language arts classrooms, & theme decor.

James Cagney
Leslie Caron
Vernon & Irene Castle

Marge & Gower Champion
Cyd Charisse
George M. Cohan

James Cagney, Photo

James Cagney
b. 7-17-1899; NYC, NY
d. 3-30-1986; NY

James Cagney, who is most remembered for his film roles as “a tough guy”, started his show business career as a stand-in for his brother and then as a dancer (actually dressed up as a show girl) in vaudeville.

Leslie Caron, 1955, Photographic Print

Leslie Caron
b. 7-1-1931; Boulogne-sur-Seine, France

Leslie Caron, whose mother was a dancer, was first trained in ballet. She is best known for her musical films such as “An American in Paris” and for an Academy Award nomination for “Lili”. She said of herself, “I am not a ballerina. I am a hoofer.”

Irene and Vernon Castle, in Dancing Position, 1916, Giclee Print

Vernon & Irene Castle
fl. early 20th century

The husband and wife dance team of Vernon (1887-1918) and Irene Castle (1893-1969) are credited with popularizing ballroom dancing.

Vernon Castle died of injuries suffered in a plane crash while serving as a flight instructor during WWI. Irene Castle went on to star in silent movies, model, and to be called “the best dressed woman in America”.

FYI - The Castles developed the foxtrot step to the music of W.C. Handy's St. Louis Blues.

Marge & Gower Champion, Photographic Print

Marge (b. 9-2-1919) & Gower (1921-1980) Champion
fl. mid 20th century

Marge and Gower Champion were a popular dance team in the late 1940s through the 1950s, appearing on TV and in movies.

After the couple divorced Marge continued working as a dance teacher and choreographer, last appearing in a 1982 segment of the TV program Fame. As a teen she was hired by Disney as a dance model for animated films such as Snow White, Pinocchio and the Dancing Hippo in Fantasia. Marge's half sister was actress Lina Basquette, and the step mother of Katey Sagal (Married with Children).

Gower Champion was a Tony Award winning director and choreographer for musicals such as Bye Bye Birdie, Hello Dolly!, Carnival, and I Do! I Do!

Cyd Charisse Photographic Print

Cyd Charisse
b. 3-8-1922; Amarillo, TX
d. 6-17-2008; Los Angeles, CA

Cyd Charisse, neé Tula Ellice Finklea, studied ballet and danced in the Ballet Russes under the stage name Siderova. She is noted for her movie dancing with Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly in such musicals as The Band Wagon, Silk Stockings, Singin' in the Rain, and Brigadoon.

George M. Cohan
b. 7-3/4-1878; Providence, RI
d. 11-5-1942; NYC

Cohan, considered the “father of American musical comedy”, was an entertainer, playwright, composer, lyricist, actor, singer, dancer, director, and producer, and known as “the man who owned Broadway” in the decade before World War I. Cohan started his career performing vaudeville with his family. In the biopic musical Yankee Doodle Dandy James Cagney played George M. Cohan.

• more composer posters

Lotta Crabtree, née
Charlotte Mignon Crabtree
b. 11-7-1847; NYC, NY
d. 9-25-1924; Boston

Lotta Crabtree was one of America's most beloved and wealthiest entertainers of the late 19th century.

Her career began as a six year old singing and dancing in the gold camps of California.

• Lotta Crabtree, Gold Rush Girl