Jazz Blog - 1st Year 2019/20 School Year

Exploring Three Jazz Practitioners

The three practitioners explored within this essay are Jack Cole, Bob Fosse, and Jerome Robbins. Who all had huge impacts on the jazz world due to their unique qualities.

Firstly, one quality of Jack Cole is that he choreographed hundreds of movies, television, nightclub and theoretical shows (Watsons, 2013). He was put under contract as the Dance Director of Columbia Pictures, one of the top studios at that time. This highlights how much of an in-demand choreographer he was; this was in comparison to when he first started when his work was not as profound. In the beginning he created his own company called "The Jack Cole Dancers" and performed in nightclubs from New York to Havana (Harss, 2016). He rapidly became a favourite of audiences across The United States. The dancers he picked for his company were seen to be legendary. This was mainly down to the technique he trained them in and how every movement he choreographed, had to be strong, powerful and with meaning. When he choreographed for films, he would work uncredited, meaning that his name would not appear in the credits.

Following on from this one of his unique qualities as a practitioner was the development of his own style called the "Cole style". This is a combination of modern, lindy hop, swing, ethnic, acrobatics, ballet and India’s Bharata Natyam, incorporating movements and emphasising elements such as; isolations, low center of gravity with deep plies, angled foot placements, quick directional changes and syncopation (Rizzuto, 2013). This is the main quality that links to the Jason Derulo routine, which we have performed in class because of the "Cole style" used in the choreography. There are set elements which Jack Cole uses within the routine; a low center of gravity with deep plies, quick directional changes and isolations. These elements are used throughout the routine highlighting the "Cole style" and the theme of commercial jazz.

The second practitioner, Jerome Robbins a choreographer who divided his time between two completely different styles, ballet and musicals. He had an important role in the development of both America Ballet Theatre and New York City Ballet. He has choreographed ballets which are in the repertoire of The Royal Ballet as well as numerous companies across the world (ROH, 2020). For Broadway, he has choreographed several musicals as well as dance sequences. Jerome won several awards during his time as a choreographer including four Tony Awards, two Oscars, five Donaldsons and an Emmy (Thomas, 2014). This highlights how incredible his work was within the dance world. Another reason he was seen as inspirational was because he created a charitable organisation called "The Jerome Robbins Foundation". Which was originally set up to fund both dance and theatre projects; however, it also supported projects combating the effects of the AIDS crisis (Encylopaedia, 2019). Having set up such a foundation, shows his passion for dance and how he is wanting to create an impact on the dance society.

Additionally, Robbins was a perfectionist and a demanding taskmaster. Just as he wanted the dancer’s onstage characters to be the versions of themselves, he wanted everything he made to be distinctive (Jowitt, 2018). His choreographic style was a blend of ballet, modern, jazz and social dance idioms. His work was sometimes with humour and presented issues and characters familiar to his audiences (Jowitt, 2020). He helped to elevate dance in musical theatre from pure entertainment into defining character and advancing the story. His Broadway dances always expressed dramatic content, he also had a gift for choreography that made the best use of non-dancers. By pushing his performers towards a style that looked easy and natural, but was completely engaging. Robbins was a perfectionist in his choreography and it sometimes led his dancers to tears making them rehearse endless variations of a step or phrase (Rizzuto, 2015).

Jerome Robbins choreography style links best within the routine ‘Bad Guy’. This is because the style of the dance is a mix of jazz and modern and the elements of his choreography are dramatic. Throughout the routine the story we are portraying comes across as intense. This highlights how the routine is trying to tell a story which links to his choreographic aims. Also, the movements are set to look easy and natural but are actually very precise and exact which coincides with the quality of Jerome Robbins choreography and highlights a clear link.

The third practitioner, is American choreographer and director Bob Fosse. He changed the way musicals were seen with his distinct style of dance. Which was including his frequent use of props, signature moves and provocative steps (Barson, 2019). The style he portrayed was one which you could point out as Fosse as it was characterized by its slow angular sensuality. His signature moves and elements included curved shoulders, turned in knees, bowler hats, punctuated hand movements, finger snaps, sideways shuffling, jazz hands and the Fosse walk (Nicolaou, 2019).

Fosse was an artist in choreography as his work was always provocative, entertaining and unusual, in the sense it was abstract in comparison to what was usually seen (James, 2000). He was well known for portraying light comedic story lines for darker and more introspective plots (Barson,2019). Also, his dances were sexual, physically demanding of even the highly trained dancers, full of joyous humor as well as works that addressed the full range of human emotions (James, 2000).

Furthermore, Fosse’s most famous musicals include Sweet Charity, Cabaret and Pippin. He also changed the way audiences saw dance on stage and in the film industry (Biography.com, 2019). Through his films he changed the overall presentation of dance on screen and completed a way of showing dance through a camera lens as no one had ever done before. He won several awards for his work such as Academy Awards, Tony Awards and an Emmy (James 2000).

This choreographer links within the routine Wild Party- Juggernaut, this is because a lot of Fosse’s signature movements are included in the dance such as punctuated hand movements, Fosse walk and jazz hands. The style of the routine is Broadway and the way it’s performed portrays this along with the music genre. It also has a story line behind the dance which was an element of Bob Fosse’s choreographic aims and has the distinct characteristics of the Fosse style.

To Conclude, all three of the practitioners have strong clear links between their qualities and the routines we have studied in class.

References:

Barson, M. (2019). Bob Fosse. Available: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Bob-Fosse. Last accessed 2nd March 2020.

Biography.com Editors. (2019). Bob Fosse Biography. Available: https://www.biography.com/performer/bob-fosse. Last accessed 2nd March 2020.

Encyclopaedia Britanica. (2019). Jerome Robbins. Available: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jerome-Robbins. Last accessed 2nd March 2020.

Harss, M. (2016). ‘All That Jack (Cole),’ a Homage to a Forgotten Choreographer. Available: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/20/arts/dance/all-that-jack-cole-a-homage-to-a-forgotten-choreographer.html. Last accessed 2nd March 2020.

James. (2000). Bob Fosse. Available: https://www.pbs.org/wnet/broadway/stars/bob-fosse/. Last accessed 2nd March 2020.

Jowitt, D. (2018). How The Choreography Of Jerome Robbins Shaped Ballet And Broadway . Available: https://www.playbill.com/article/how-the-choreography-of-jerome-robbins-shaped-ballet-and-broadway. Last accessed 2nd March 2020.

Jowitt, D. (2020). Jerome Robbins. Available: http://www.artsalive.ca/en/dan/meet/bios/artistDetail.asp?artistID=59. Last accessed 2nd March 2020.

Nicolaou, E. (2019). You Can Thank Bob Fosse For Your Jazz Hands. Available: https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2019/04/229334/what-is-bob-fosse-dance-style-jazz-moves. Last accessed 2nd March 2020.

Rizzuto, R. (2013). History Lesson Plan: Jack Cole. Available: https://www.dance-teacher.com/history-lesson-plan-jack-cole-2392429308.html. Last accessed 2nd March 2020.

Rizzuto, R. (2015). Ballet and Broadway Genius (1918-1998):Jerome Robbins. Available: https://www.dance-teacher.com/jerome-robbins-2-2392628682.html. Last accessed 2nd March 2020.

ROH. (2020). Jerome Robbins. Available: http://www.roh.org.uk/people/jerome-robbins. Last accessed 2nd March 2020.

Thomas, R. (2014). Jerome Robbins:A master of both ballet and musical choreography. Available: https://www.roh.org.uk/news/jerome-robbins-a-master-of-both-ballet-and-musical-choreography. Last accessed 2nd March 2020

Watsons, S. (2013). Jack Cole | Father Of Theatrical jazz. Available: https://www.streetswing.com/histmai2/d2jcole1.htm. Last accessed 2nd March 2020.