“Fancy Free” was one of Jerome Robbins’ earliest most successful and appealing ballets—and since he’s choreographed many successful and appealing ballets, that says a lot. I’ve been looking for some footage of the original cast from 1944, and I’m happy to say that I’ve found a little bit.

The ballet about three sailors on leave in New York (later expanded and made into the musical “On the Town”) must have been particularly affecting when it first came out during the war. The following John Kriza (original cast) solo is interesting to compare to a modern version. I’ve cued up a segment of about 30 seconds here:

And here’s a version of the same segment from 1986. Not bad, but not the same at all (I’m not sure who this is, but it’s the New York City Ballet):

Kriza has a breezy easy flow that might just be of its times, never to come again. Take a closer look at the part with the slide at the beginning. He does much more with it than the later guy, but it doesn’t seem that Kriza is dancing for the audience or posing. He really seems to be what he is supposed to be: a sailor out on the town, showing off for the girls in order to win them (or at least one of them), not even a trained dancer (which Kriza of course actually was) but just a guy who loves to dance.

The 1986 dancer is good, quite good, probably better than most these days. But there’s a tension there compared to Kriza’s loose and seeming ease. The later dancer seems to be performing for the greater theater audience, and you are always aware he’s a professional dancer who’s strutting his stuff for us.

[CORRECTION: It turns out that in that first video, the variation starts with a short bit of Kriza but then it switches to Barishnikov. Here’s a longer clip of Kriza, but it’s a different part of “Fancy Free.”]