Choreographer Michael Kidd dies

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The award-winning choreographer Michael Kidd, known for his work on Broadway musicals, has died at his home in Los Angeles, aged 92.

On Broadway Mr Kidd won five Tony Awards and he also received an honorary Academy Award for his film work.

His nephew, Robert Greenwald, told The New York Times that Mr Kidd died on Sunday night of cancer.

His best-known film work was on Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, a 1954 musical about the American frontier.

He created movements for ballet dancers who were not supposed to appear balletic, including a famous barn-raising sequence.

Other film work included directing dances for Fred Astaire in The Band Wagon and teaching Marlon Brando his steps for Guys and Dolls.

Born Milton Greenwald in New York City, Mr Kidd was the son of a barber.

He studied chemical engineering at City College but left after three years, complaining it was "too impersonal."

He eventually won a scholarship to the American Ballet school, went on to dance for the American Ballet Theater and was first given a chance to choreograph in 1945.

His first major success was in 1950, when Frank Loesser's Guys and Dolls opened on Broadway.

In an interview Mr Kidd once defined his choreography as: "human behaviour and people's manners, stylised into musical rhythmic forms."