Italian singer Raffaella Carrà dancing on Alitalia planes at the airport is one of those things that can never be unseen. It has been burned indelibly into my brain and I might be all the better for it.
I have no idea why this took place, but permission was granted and take place it did. Someone has uploaded it to YouTube for us all to experience and I guess a thank you would be in order… I think!
Dancing On Alitalia Planes
In 1977, disco was all the rage and it seems Raffaella leaned wholeheartedly into every trope around. There are five minutes of this dazzlingly enthusiastic performance, which I guarantee you will find hard to forget.
Everything begins with a closeup of the beautiful lady and all seems calm. Panning out, we get a view of… what’s that?… yes, it’s an airport. The beat drops here and it becomes a frenetic disco extravaganza!
To her scream of “Volare”, she tiptoes down the steps from a Boeing 747. Once at the bottom, she is in front of the wing and twinkle toed dancers perform a routine up above. After some more dancers bust some funky moves on the apron, we’re treated to Raffaella vamping it up in an engine.
In the mid-section there is an extended dance break, where you get to see the rest of the Italian airline’s fleet, such as the Douglas DC-10, the smaller Douglas DC-9 and even the older Douglas DC-8. Towards the end, our heroine dances along the wing of an Airbus A300, with dancers preening and prancing underneath. It’s definitely something!
Overall Thoughts
The fabulousness of Raffaella Carrà and her dancing minions is not to be underestimated! They managed to do a song and show pretty much every aircraft type in the airline’s fleet all at once. No mean feat!
Energetic dancing was a staple of late 1970s television when dancers were required, so it’s not particularly unusual. Through the lens of 2023 it’s amusing as anything and I have to say they must have kept healthy.
What do you think of this artist dancing on Alitalia planes? Have you seen anything like it before? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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Featured image by Aldo Bidini on Airliners.net via Wikimedia Commons.
HOLY MOLEY! I just flashed back to countless US variety shows from that era. That number would have fit right in on Cher, Donny and Marie, Pink Lady and Jeff, etc…”can’t unsee” is putting it mildly! Good find.
Hahaha! Yes, it really is a slice of the 1970s, because everyone was at that kind of thing on TV at the time. Well said 🙂