Berkleyesque

English

A Berkleyesque dance sequence from Footlight Parade

Etymology

Berkley +‎ -esque, from Busby Berkley.

Adjective

Berkleyesque (comparative more Berkleyesque, superlative most Berkleyesque)

1. In the choreographic style of Busby Berkley, involving elaborate geometric patterns creating a kaleidoscopic effect, usually by large numbers of showgirls.
   • 1989, London Theatre Record - Volume 9, Issues 14-26, page 868:

     Best moments are reserved from Bernard Cribbins's endearing gangster finding a dog down his trousers and miffed by his position as Public Enemy No 13, and the rousing Berkleyesque close to the first half in which the title number gets a rousing, joyful rendition on Tony Walton's all-purpose nautical set.

   • 2006, Ian Conrich, Film's Musical Moments, →ISBN, page 187:

     At first glance, the Berkleyesque choreography in Revue um Mitternacht is somewhat reminiscent of Ufa revues of the 1920s and 1930s, with their emphasis on synchronised female body geometrics, their dynamic regimented motion and the audacity of a spatial imagination that dissolves the stage into a world of kaleidoscopic planes and patterns.

   • 2015, Tom Brown, Spectacle in Classical Cinemas: Musicality and Historicity in the 1930s, →ISBN:

     The apotheosis of this musical tendency as it was made "cinematic" is the (Busby) "Berkleyesque", the spatial dimensions of which I shall examine below.