Fred Astaire: The Conference
ORIEL COLLEGE OXFORD
21–24 JUNE 2008

Timetable of Events

Saturday 21 June (Oriel College)
14.00-15.0 Registration and check-in
15.00-15.45 Afternoon tea and welcome (Hall)
15.45-17.0 Screening: Needle in a Haystack (2001), an award-winning romantic comedy short, written and directed by Eva Saks and starring Stephanie Gatschet; Parkinson interview with Fred & Ava Astaire (1975)
17.00-19.0 Free time
19.30-21.00 Dinner (Hall)
   
Sunday 22 June (Harris Lecture Theatre, Oriel)
8.00-9.0 Breakfast (Hall)
9.00-9.15 Opening remarks
9.15-10.30 Keynote Presentation: John Mueller, ‘The Choreography of Fred Astaire’
10.30-10.50 Morning coffee (Harris Seminar Room)
10.50-11.50 Kathleen Riley, ‘“Nothing like them since the Flood”: Fred and Adèle Astaire on the London Stage’
11.50-12.30 Betsy Baytos, ‘Footage from the Fred Stone Collection of the Broadway show Gay Divorce (1933)’
12.30-13.10 Paula Marantz Cohen, ‘The Cinematic Astaire: Astaire’s Use of Interior Landscape’
13.10-14.0 Lunch (Hall)
14.00-15.30 Special Guests: Ava Astaire McKenzie & Richard McKenzie discuss ‘Fred, the Private Man’
15.30-16.0 Afternoon tea (Hall)
16.00 -17.0 Chris & Robert Bamberger, ‘Astaire as Actor Within and Outside of
Dance: The Sky’s the Limit
17.00-17.40 Patricia Carley, ‘Yolanda and the Thief: An Under-Appreciated Astaire Oddity’
19.00-19.30 Drinks reception (Second Quad (if fine) or Champneys Room (if wet))
19.30-21.0 Banquet (Hall)
21.0 Screening: The Sky’s The Limit (1943)
   
Monday 23 June (Harris Lecture Theatre, Oriel)
8.00-9.0 Breakfast (Hall)
9.00-10.0 Keynote Presentation: Beth Genné, ‘“He is like Bach”: Astaire, Balanchine and Ballet’
10.00-10.30 Michael Morley, ‘Dancing Feet and Metric Feet: A Note on the Number “Slap That Bass” from Shall We Dance
10.30-11.0 Morning coffee (Harris Seminar Room)
11.00-11.40 Patricia Eliot Tobias, ‘Fred Astaire’s Greatest Partner: The Camera’
11.40-12.20 Peter Evans, ‘Foils for Fred: The Supporting Roles in Top Hat
12.20-13.0 Andrew Klevan, ‘Internalizing the Musical: The Uneventful, The Missable and the Suspended in Fred Astaire’s Performance’
13.00-14.0 Lunch (Hall)
14.00-14.45 G. Bruce Boyer, ‘The Triumph of Style: Fred Astaire as the New Man’
14.45-15.30 Alessandra Garofalo, ‘“Austerlitz sounded too much like a battle”: Fred Astaire’s Austrian Roots’
15.30-16.0 Afternoon tea (Harris Seminar Room)
16.00-17.0 Philip Davey, ‘The Greatest Cross-Cast of Our Time!: Fred Astaire in On the Beach
17.00-18.0 Panel discussion: ‘Fred & Ginger’ with Peter Evans, Hannah Hyam, John Mueller and Catherine Surowiec (includes special Astaire-Rogers compilation)
19.30-21.0 Dinner (Hall)
21.0 Screening: Swing Time (1936)
   
Tuesday 24 June (Holywell Music Room)
8.00-9.0 Breakfast (Hall)
9.30-10.30 Keynote Presentation: Ken Barnes, ‘Fred Astaire: Singer and Recording Artist’
10.30-11.15 Todd Decker, ‘“Jack the Bell Boy”: Fred Astaire and Other Jazz Musicians’
11.15-11.45 Intermission
11.45-12.45 Ben Sears & Brad Conner, 'Top Hat: Songs of Fred Astaire'
12.45-14.00 Lunch (Wadham College)
14.00-15.0 Janie Dee
15.00-16.0 David Benson, ‘The Way He Changed My Life: A Performer Reflects on Astaire's Influence’
16.00-17.30 Jack Gibbons, ‘Fred Astaire, exponent of the famous Harlem Stride Piano style (as made famous by James P. Johnson, Fats Waller, Gershwin and others)’

Finale


"The Astaire Conference" is an organization which contracts with the College for the use of facilities,
but which has no formal connection with The University of Oxford.

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