Actress LESLIE CARON has been paying tribute to the stars who helped her carve such a glittering dancefloor career.

Caron has danced with some of the "greatest male dancers of the modern era", notably FRED ALISTAIRE, GENE KELLY, RUDOLF NUREYEV and MIKHAIL BARYSHNIKOV.

She says, "Each was very different. Fred was the only one who, when he moved around off screen, you could immediately tell he was a dancer. Even the way he blew his nose had that grace. "Gene Kelly had an animal power - he always danced like it was sports for him, very muscular. He was like a leopard, the way he sprung at you. "Nureyev had a tenderness with his dancing partner; when we danced every step he took was part of a dialogue with my responses. Mikhail Baryshnikov was like a nymph. He made everything seem so effortless it was empowering."

(RP/WNBTE/RGS)

Source: WENN