Angela Lansbury's Positive Moves
Moving freely in our pastel jumpsuits
Who was your first Angela Lansbury? Mrs. Lovett? Jessica Fletcher? Mrs. Potts? Mine was admittedly Mrs. Potts, but I was definitely aware of Jessica Fletcher because of the promos for “Murder She Wrote.” I was never interested though because it looked like a boring show for old people and I just wanted to watch “The New Adventures of Lois & Clark” so I could drool over Dean Cain. (That sure didn’t hold up.) I have some catching up to do.
I would like to dream that for someone, somewhere, their first exposure to Dame Angela Brigid Lansbury was Positive Moves, her 1988 VHS “personal plan for fitness and well-being.” I’m sure that most people who purchased this VHS did so because they were already Ang Lans fan, but imagine somebody randomly picking this up at a yard sale or local library and having their first exposure to her be this sensual pastel lullaby??
Of course I had to talk about this. It has “Moves” right in the title! I highly recommend watching this whole thing, but if you don’t have 49 minutes to spare, not to fear: I am here to share her best moves.
Part of the treat of this video is that it all takes place in her home1, like we are a trusted friend who has been invited over for low-impact cardio and a low-fat lunch. We learn a lot about Angela’s healthy lifestyle throughout these 49 minutes—stretching, diet, baths—but of course I’m here to talk about her moves. They make up just a small portion of the video, but they are great.
After some extensive floor stretching—on her very nice rug, while wearing a superb peach-colored jumpsuit—she invites us to join her in what she calls “moving freely” and what I would call “stoned ballet.” Here’s a little taste:
We start with a little jaunt around her living room:2
Then we move into the garden for some graceful balancing:
And end with this fun move, which looks like an improv scene where the suggestion was “unpacking the nice plates:”
It’s also worth watching the full “Feeling Free” sequence, which I’ve queued up here. It’s about four minutes long, which is both short and way longer than you think it should be:
If that hasn’t inspired you to put on your finest loose-fitting cotton-poly blend and go out into your garden and gracefully balance in a ray of sunlight, I don’t know what will.
I also like her advice for not worrying how you look as you’re “Feeling Free,” which doubles as general life advice:
You can picture someone graceful in your mind’s eye, then feel yourself moving as they do.
I think I do this every day of my life, since despite being an almost-40-year-old who theoretically knows how to move through the world, I sometimes still feel like a bumbling teenager. But if I can channel someone more graceful than me, I can do anything.
Also, I must know more about this:
Oh in the sixties I rocked with the best of them….
Name some names, Angela! Are we talking Robert Morse and Duke Ellington? Or were you one of the naked mud people at Woodstock? (I’m guessing just the former, but WHO KNOWS.)
The other highlight of this video is of course her superb pastel wardrobe. Here are the things I want to live in for the rest of my life:
The aforementioned peach jumpsuit:
And check out these cute lil flats she’s paired with it! At least they look cute in the two blurry seconds we can see them:
Perhaps they are flower print? Will Ang Lans be the one to finally influence me into getting Rothy’s? These are pretty close! Flats are back, ya’ll!
I also like this lilac number, which seems like another version of the peach outfit but now with a sassy belt:
This bold denim-on-denim (or maybe it’s navy-on-denim) look, paired with this insane watering can that has a spout on the bottom and pours like a shower and is blowing my mind:
This whole video truly is a relaxing experience. There is some light body-shaming and diet talk that doesn’t completely hold up today, but it’s honestly much better than you would expect it to be for 1988. Dame Angela is all about eating food to fuel her day, taking naps, and even taking very synth-y and sensual baths. The podcast Maintenance Phase explores more of this in their very excellent episode about Positive Moves. They also get into the history of Angela Lansbury herself and how she was already a legend in 1988. Give it a listen!
I wish you all a lovely end of summer, and all the breathable jumpsuits of your dreams. And remember, if you can’t get to a body of water, you can always on-land swim.
Love and jazz hands,
Molly
At least I assume it’s her home? Could it actually be a well-decorated fake home that they are pretending is hers? I’m so naive about these things that I truly never thought about it until just now. Like how I thought the people in the Honey Bunches of Oats commercials were the real factory workers until I took a commercial audition class and the instructor was like “Uhhh no those are ACTORS and those are the kind of jobs I am teaching you to get.” Incidentally, I have never been in a commercial.
Or her fake living room!!