#fuckyeah dancing

Fred and Gene each had a lot of different screen partners, but this has that sublime sync you can find from the best ice dancers with dedicated partners. Being married for 8 years by this point probably helps.

Writing level: the noticeable quality difference (which can't be helped by the actors) is a key part of the characterization and plotting.

Which isn't to say that George isn't still a top tier dancer! The gap is waaaay smaller than, say, the Sinatra/Kelly team-ups. George, after all, did pair with Eleanor (and Buddy) as the actual leading man in 1938.

Apologies for using the jargon, it is true that there is no such term specifically called the Astaire Protocols that anyone used at the time.

Fred had creative control over his dance numbers, and one of his insistences was that the camera stick to full-body framing, and do long takes (single takes if possible). Avoid cuts and weird angles (especially closeups), because it's all about watching the dancer dance, not the camera.

What's the point of the choreographer and performers putting in all of that work if we don't get to see it as they did when creating their art, full-body in the mirror? Cuts are distractions, as well as undercutting the performers' ability to pull off the entire number in one go.

This can generalize to e.g. martial arts or sword fights in film.

Poor James Mitchell was stuck being merely the jilted boyfriend in The Band Wagon, but he gets his full dance number with Cyd Charisse in 1954's "Deep in My Heart".