When you hear the music of Beethoven's 7th Symphony, especially the fourth and final movement, it is impossible to sit still... the intensity of the rhythm makes you get up, shake your body, and tap your feet. Wagner called the 7th symphony as the "apotheosis of dance" which is the highest or ultimate form of dance. The music here is charged with energy and is overflowing with uninhibited joy. It is not likely that Beethoven composed this symphony so that people could dance to it, but if they were to dance to it, Beethoven has so infused the composition with syncopated beats that the dancers of his era would not know what to do!

I was fortunate to find clips of the gifted dancer-choreographer Fred Astaire and his equally gifted dancing partners along with the clips of other wonderful dancers that match the overflowing energy of Beethoven's masterpiece.

Music: Beethoven Symphony No.7 in A, Op.92: IV. Allegro con brio
Karl Böhm, Conductor: Vienna Philharmonic
Visual excerpts taken from these videos:
Lisa Miles and Tim Balfour - A Variation on Fred and Ginger for the third act of Opera Australia's production of Die Fledermaus at the Sydney Opera House.
Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell: "Begin the Beguine" -- Film: Broadway Melody (1940)
Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth: "So Near and Yet So Far" -- Film: You Will Never Get Rich (1941)
Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers: "Pick Yourself Up" - Film: Swing Time (1936)
Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell: "Jukebox Dance" -- Film: Broadway Melody (1940)
Rajasthani Banjara (gypsy) folk dance -- Film: Latcho Drom directed by Tony Gatlif (1993)
Mikhail Baryshnikov -- Film: White Night (1985)
Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth: "I'm Old Fashioned" -- Film: You Were Never Lovelier (1942)