BOB FOSSE
by Bob Boross

cabaret
Bob Fosse was a dancer/choreographer who took movements and images from burlesque halls and niteclubs, crafted them into a signature movement style, and conceptualized Broadway shows, television specials, and movies that relied on that signature style to razzle-dazzle his audience. Fosse was a genius at creating entertaining dances filled with hunched shoulders, limp wrists, turned in legs, and thrusting hips. What many people do not give Fosse credit for is the way in which he assimilated those movements and dances into his theatrical creations. Fosse, particularly in his later career, synthesized movement, music, and concept to create works of musical theatre along the lines of Jerome Robbins and Michael Bennett.


fosseflip
Fosse was born in 1927 in Chicago, Illinois. As a child he began dancing as a way to gain attention from family and friends, and soon became an accomplished tap dancer. Fosse picked up jobs tapping in burlesque halls and strip clubs, and where he was imbued with the provocative gestures and poses of strippers. These influences were recalled for choreography he created in Sweet Charity, Chicago, Cabaret, and other shows.





fossegwen
After a stint as a performer in the armed service, Fosse picked up work dancing in films, and at one point had a dream to be the next Fred Astaire. While in the movie Kiss Me Kate, Fosse was given the opportunity to choreograph a short section of a dance for Carol Haney and himself. The section was a hit, and Fosse was asked to choreograph the new Broadway show The Pajama Game in 1954. His dance Steam Heat was a showstopper, and led to other work choreographing the shows Damn Yankees, New Girl In Town, and Redhead.



dancin
During this time, Fosse met Gwen Verdon, a fresh new Broadway dance star of the show Can-Can. Verdon had previously danced with Jack Cole in movies and niteclubs, and brought a highly trained dancer's sensibilty to Fosse's self taught dance look. As Fosse's creativity began to grow, he started directing and writing his own shows. Verdon became his star and muse, particularly in the smash hit Sweet Charity.



bigdeal
In 1973, Fosse accomplished an incredible feat by winning a Tony award for the Broadway show Pippin, an Oscar award for the film Cabaret, and an Emmy award for a Liza Minelli television special. His choreography became secondary to his writing, and he continued to create the Broadway show Chicago in 1975 and a semi-autobiographical film, All That Jazz, in 1979. In 1978, Fosse staged Dancin', a dance concert in his unique Broadway style that ran for years. Dancin' helped establish the careers of dancers Ann Reinking, Wayne Cilento, Hinton Battle, Sandahl Bergman, and Chris Chadman.





pippin
Fosse's last original show on Broadway was Big Deal in 1986. In this, he used selections of jazz and tin pan alley standards as his score. Big Deal was not a financial success, but was praised as a folk opera, a story of the common people told with the music and dialogue of the people. For this reason, the show, as most of Fosse's work, did not receive acceptance from the artistic critical establishment. As he once said, "Just once in my life I would like the New York Times to say one nice thing about me!"





fossecolor
This dismissal of art created from low class or common origins is a recurring thread in the history and acceptance of jazz dance. Critics often looked past Fosse's work, seeing it as only sexual or razzle dazzle. In my opinion, Fosse is exceptional for his use of movements from the dance clubs of the wrong side of town as material for expressing his brutally honest outlook on life in a graphic and shocking way. He was a master of creating a concept. Maybe his building blocks were not vast in scope or cut from the traditional notion of art, but he used them to tell his story in ways that were unique, informative, and exciting. The Leading Player from Pippin, for example, is an instance of taking the time honored theatrical use of a narrator, but making that character the essence of Fosse's jazzy movement and musical style. It comes from the minstrel tradition by way of the burlesque and vaudeville halls of the 1910s-1930s.


Fosse demanded the most out of life - from himself and from those who worked with him. He advanced the art of stage choreography with his many successful shows, as well as show direction and conceptualization. He maintained the tradition of the niteclub entertainer on Broadway when this genre had disappeared from clubs. And he created a signature movement style that is known over the world as jazz dance.

For additional information on Bob Fosse, read:
Razzle Dazzle - The Works of Bob Fosse by Kevin Boyd Grubb,
All His Jazz - The Life and Death of Bob Fosse by Martin Gottfried,
Hoofing on Broadway - A History of Show Dancing by Richard Kislan, or search Dance Magazine and the Library at Lincoln Center for many articles in periodicals.