As Bob Fosse Dance

Fosse began his dancing career by getting opportunities to dance in Burlesque clubs. At a young age he was exposed to and had to deal with crass men treating women as sexual objects on stage. As his career advanced Fosse received fewer and fewer opportunities, he began to doubt his abilities and grew more and more depressed with each disappointment. Because of his lack of self-confidence he became a choreographer. Fosse created a unique style which audiences loved. He used his own insecurities as a dancer and turned them into strengths. Fosse’s style was rooted in jazz. He was devoted to minute details, precision, repetition, isolation and gestures. A signature of Fosse’s choreography was the turned in feet. Fosse created this signature because turnout was difficult for him. In addition to movement contributions, Fosse’s choreography also created dancers who could act. Fosse wanted his dancers to show what they were thinking and saying clearly through movement. Every detail had a purpose and said something. Fosse’s highly talented choreographic skills and style was craved by audiences. This popularity took Fosse into the realm of film and direction (biography.com). Within the article “Bending the Genre: The Stage and Screen Versions of Cabaret” by Randy Clark, the differences between the stage and screen version are shown. For my purposes, I am going to focus on the points discusses in the Fosse and the

The ever so sharp, showbiz man himself, Bob Fosse, strategically choreographed his personal movement styles on his dancers in order to achieve his meticulous vision. This flashy man was not looking to put something on the stage that is easy; he wanted the audience to experience the realistic, graphic, and relatable scenarios that life throws at you, on a stage and in 3D. Fosse misrepresented cultural styles, which he included into his pieces and even altered most of the styles he was trained in. The basis of his work was shown through comedy, and in his translation, he tweaked the movement of his technical training in order to attain the comedic center of his work. He never truly meant to make fun of distinctive cultures by utilizing their forms, but because of the circumstance that he never formally trained in these various cultural practices or studied their form and meaning, he used them in his choreography, which almost always used either sexual content or comedy, his choreography is a misrepresentation because it does not properly embody the cultures.

There are many important contributors to the jazz genre that have changed the way it is performed today. Two of the most famous jazz choreographers are Bob Fosse and Katherine Dunham. They introduced unique techniques that are recognized in today’s theatrical jazz productions. Although, there are many contributors to modern jazz, Fosse and Dunham dominated the culture of the mid 1900s Broadway productions and left a lasting impact on producers and choreographers of and after their time.

Graeme Murphy, past artistic director of the Sydney Dance Company is known to be Australia’s greatest and most productive choreographer, of all time. Through the 30 years of being artistic director, Murphy has created outstanding pieces and inspired

Rick Bragg’s “French Quarter’s Black Tapping Feet” takes place in New Orleans in the year 1998. The story talks about young children and their tap dancing feet. Many of the children come from very little and they have learned how to make a living by tap dancing to support their families. People think that it is a way to exploit children and have them work at such a young age for so little, but others think that it is a way that the children enjoy themselves and it is another way to keep the French Quarter tradition alive. Rick Bragg wanted to shed light on the children and stories about having to do such a grown-up thing like supporting their families at a very young age. The author uses personal stories from the children, including how they feel about tap dancing and the backgrounds in which the children were brought up, to educate people on the subculture and tradition, and he brings in professors from two different schools to get professional views of the children tap dancing to support their families.

Alvin Ailey was a famous choreographer/dancer also founder of his own dance company (AAADT). Inspired by many, (including Katherine Dunham and Horton) he began dancing at the age of 15 where he found his love for dancing. Ballet, jazz and Broadway were the three main dance styles Ailey loved. These styles can also be recognised in nearly all of his choreographies. As choreographic styles identify the constituent features, when it comes to Ailey’s work we can clearly recognise them, through the movement used.

Sally Banes is an American writer and dance historian and critic. She is also a professor of theater history and dance studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Banes has written multiple books and contributed to many documentaries and films. The book Moving History / Dancing Cultures, which Banes contributed to, includes the article “Choreographic Methods of the Judson Dance Theater”. This book was published in 2001.

Petipa’s production of Swan Lake is a beautiful example of the structure movements that dancers must perform; in the clip titled Odile entrance & Black Swan pas de deux, you see “The Black Swan” perfect posture and balance, dancing on en Pointe all the while managing to gracefully seduce the prince through her seductive movements and entrancing expressions. In contrast Modern dance focus is on the dancer expressing their inner most emotions and feelings through free flowing movements. The modern dancer uses their whole body more naturally and fluidly to convey what their current emotional state is, unlike classical ballet where the ballerina at all times keeps an upright posture, and performs with structured, angular lines. Martha Graham’s “Frontier” is a great example of the free movements of Modern dance; In this performance Martha Graham uses her whole body to move to the rhythmic sounds of the drums and music, you can clearly see that there is no confined structure in this performance, she is completely moving organically to how she is feeling and what she is trying to convey through her movements.

Lester Horton has been named, as one of the many founders of modern dance, whose style continues to be used in present day choreography. Although Hortons’ early technique was impacted by his interest in various cultures; his style eventually shifted towards a more theatrical technique. Horton used his versatile dance background and interests to develop the sub genre under modern dance, more formally known as choreodramas. His technique seen in earlier pieces and choreodramas such as “The Beloved” and “Salome” were effective in displaying the purpose of Horton’s style. Horton integrated his background in dance, props, costumes, and choreography to emphasize contemporary ideas and display the new genre of choreodramas.

Stewart’s choreographic revolution began when he combined movement with rapid and fast rapid techno music which modern audiences relate to. ‘Birdbrian’ has been described by Katy Evans an author as a “heart stopping, eye popping, tempo changing, absorbing one hour and fifteen minutes of pure genius amazement, a truly theatrical and demanding performance that’s funky, fast and furious”. The use of chorographic techniques used, Stewart persuades the audience to not look away. The slow motion, stillness, turns and jumps, cannons, duet works, contractions, high releases, dynamics and zombie like movement all give into gravity and this was shown throw the something floor work. This piece was the first of Stewart’s as Artistic Director to tour internationally. The intensely physical and powerful work represents his trademark modern style, which involves jerking, glitching, abrupt and fast powerful movement making the performance intriguing to watch, the dancers appear to have a sense of power as they come across to be strong. The dull lighting creates suspense and excitement that combined with images projecting over the dancers. The shell of the choreography reveals balletic and classical duet work. The costuming of ‘Birdbrain’ are black legging and simple white T-shirts. In the section where a lady is walking across the stage with point shoes. Is symbolistic of it being a reconstruction of a classical ballet

Harker, Brian. “Louis Armstrong, Eccentric Dance, and the Evolution of Jazz on the Eve of Swing.” Journal of the American Musicological Society, University of California Press Journals, 1 Apr. 2008, jams.ucpress.edu/content/61/1/67. Accessed 13 Apr. 2017.

always been known for the risky and powerful movements which are often why dancers retire from the company. The dancer’s movements were often very intense and emotive, such as the “throws” across the stage in which the dancers would, almost violently, launch themselves across the stage in different forms (leaps, falls and flips to name a few). Another section where the movements were emotive is where the dancers were thrusting their hips in different positions to perhaps show sexuality in “self”.

Bob Fosse still lives as the most prominent figure in the field of jazz dance. Fosse was an artist, his dances were a direct reflection of him: provocative, creative, motivated, driven, tough, ruthless, and full of humor. His choreography was sexual, highly demanding of even the most trained and skilled dancers, full of humor and at other times bleak cynicism. Throughout his works, Fosse tackled the full spectrum of human emotions. As an artist, Fosse was known for his uncompromising modern style. It grew to be unmistakable with his sexually suggestive forward hip-thrusts; the vaudevillian humor of hunched shoulders and turned-in feet; and the mime-like articulation of hands. It was through this unique voice and innovative style that Fosse

Throughout this course we discussed the Jazz Age, cultural appropriation, racial and gender differences, and African Americans and Parisians during the interwar years. We looked at many African American performers and performances that had a huge impact on France’s cultural identity. After learning about all of this in class, I wanted to take my research further. I decided to research female foreign performers who have had a major influence on the Jazz Age in Paris. I decided to focus specifically on three foreign females, and they are: singer and dancer Josephine Baker, dancer Molly Spotted Elk, and dancer Ada “Bricktop” Smith. Each of these female performers had a large impact on taking the Jazz Age in Paris to another level.

It was during this time that man who later came to be known as the “Father of Theatrical Jazz Dance”, Jack Cole, was busy developing his technique. Jack Cole had studied modern, ballet, and ethnic dance, had been a student at Denishawn and had done choreographic work in the nightclub scene. In the 1940’s there was a serious demand for groups of trained dancers for film work and Jack Cole was the one who started developing these trained jazz dancers for the Hollywood movie musicals. Also, during this time Gene Kelly, began making his mark as a dancer in Hollywood musicals. His impact on jazz was his individual, energetic dance style that combined athletic, gymnastic qualities with jazz and tap.