With her new book Hippo in a Tutu: Dancing in Disney Animation, writer Mindy Aloff has recorded and dissected dance as an essential element in Walt Disney's creative output. She argues that the art form is integral to the Disney experience, whether it's the complex ballet in Fantasia's "Dance of the Hours" sequence, or Louis Prima's jump-n'-jivin' in The Jungle Book's "Just Wan'na Be Like You."
It's occasionally turgid, but always insightful, look at how the medium of dance inspired Walt Disney's animation genius, and vice versa.
Hippo in a Tutu: The History and Connotations of Dance in Disney Animation
From the first (and arguably, greatest) Silly Symphony – 1929's "The Skeleton Dance," a macabre choreography set in a graveyard – to the present day, dance has influenced Disney animation, and Disney animation has influenced dance.
In fact, they've become so intertwined in the popular culture that a common insult hurled at choreographers – especially award-winner Mark Morris, who wrote Hippo in a Tutu's foreword – is that they "Mickey Mouse the music." The implication being that the choreographer adheres too closely to the music when designing his dance, much like Disney's animators did.
This insult, allegedly coined by producer David O. Selznick (Gone With the Wind), not only underscores the massive influence that Disney has on modern choreographers, but dismisses the incredible effort involved in making movement match music. That's something Disney's animators did so often that they made it look easy.
This phrase is a cornerstone for Aloff's argument that dance is essential to the Disney experience, and vice versa. Morris proclaims Walt Disney one of the greatest choreographers of the Twentieth Century, and animation historian John Canemaker repeats Graham Greene's quote that legendary hoofer Fred Astaire was "the nearest thing we are ever likely to have to a human Mickey Mouse."
In promoting this theory, Aloff dissects the role of dance in countless shorts, feature films, going from "The Skeleton Dance" to 1996's The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Along the way, she interviews many people who were involved in those movies, including dancers Naomi Goldberg and Susan Castang, the choreographer and live-action reference for Esmerelda's controversial pole dance routine in Hunchback.
The biggest coup, however, is Aloff's interview with Marjorie Champion, who was the live-action role model for Snow White, The Blue Fairy in Pinocchio and Hyacinth Hippo in Fantasia, among others. Her memories of working with "Uncle Walt" and the rest of the Disney crew are one of the highlights of this book.
While Aloff discusses later films like Hunchback and (briefly) Lilo and Stitch, Hippo in a Tutu doesn't examine the role of dance in Pixar's movies, such as the two routines in WALL-E – EVE's supersonic solo when she realizes that she is free from the robot spaceship that has dumped her on Earth, and the outer-space duet after WALL-E escapes the exploding escape pod.
Aloff was probably unable to include WALL-E in her book for reasons of time, but it's a shame that she doesn't give Pixar's output its due since they're probably the most obvious heirs to the Disney tradition.
Another omission is the role of dance in some of Disney's live-action features, such as Mary Poppins. In fact, many animation books include that movie in their analysis, since it features a massive animated section, featuring Dick Van Dyke tap dancing with a quartet of Frank Thomas-designed penguins.
The Final Analysis
If you're a fan of dance and Disney, Hippo in a Tutu is a wonderful addition to your collection. Certainly, any further insight into some of the greatest animation ever produced in the Twentieth Century is always appreciated. It occasionally is heavy-going, but there's no doubt that Aloff knows and loves both animation and dance. Naturally, Aloff includes many gorgeous images from Disney animated films that lighten the sometimes heavy going of her prose.
Beautifully illustrated and bursting with insight, Hippo in a Tutu: Dancing in Disney Animation is a no-brainer for fans of dance and Disney. It gets an 8/10.
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