Jazz Blog - 1st Year 2019/20 School Year.

In this blog I will be researching into three jazz choreographers, Bob Fosse, Jack Cole and Jerome Robbins. I will be showing the several reasons on how their choreography is so unique as well as explaining how the qualities of their choreography can be seen in the jazz dances we perform in class.

Firstly, I will begin with Bob Fosse. Bob Fosse was a director and a choreographer of jazz dance in the 1900’s. He changed the perception of dance and paved the way for other choreographers through his unique movement. His chorography was provocative and physically demanding on the dancers. Bob claimed to have struggled in dance class with turnout and extensions. This led to him focusing on other components of the movement such as the rhythm and the style to hide his physical limitations. This is how his style came about (Davis,2020, A). His unique style and choreography went onto win him 8 Tony awards (Nickolaou,2019). Fosse’s movement contained angular and odd-looking poses which makes his choreography to stand out from most. His choreography was extremely detailed. Often, he would spend an entire rehearsal on one or two movements, and he would angle dancers to precisely it would often be down to the placement of the fingers. Often in his works the hands would break the line of the movement due to them flexing upwards or downwards. This was unusual due to long lines being aimed to be created when dancing (Davis,2020,A).Three of his trademarks included turned in knees, rolled shoulders and sideways shuffling (Bedinghaus,2019).These are usually unflattering on the dancer and these movements had never been seen before at the time therefore his style caught attention quickly. In Fosse’s choreography small movements seemed large due to the isolation and emphasis on the step. This is unusual as dance often contains large movements which travel far and use many levels. The costuming he would enforce the dancers to wear was also obscure which caught attention due to them being minimalistic. For example, they would wear all black with a hat and gloves. This was unusual due to the flashy costumes often worn in jazz dance (Davis,2020, A).

The Fosse style is an easy style to recognise when performing movement. For example, I can clearly see qualities of Bob Fosse’s style in the dance Wild Party-Jugganaught we have been learning recently. We perform steps with leant back posture and bent knees which is often unflattering however it is very physically demanding and unique. We also perform many small movements which are sharp and quick which reminds me of the Fosse works I have watched. In the Jugganaught dance I can also see the sexual side to Fosse’s works. For example, we often have our legs on an open line to the audience which is unusual in other styles of jazz due to its provocative feel.

Now I will go onto explaining the unique style of Jack Cole. Similarly, to Fosse, Jack Cole was also a choreographer of jazz in the 1900’s. Jack Cole is remembered to be the creator of theatrical jazz dance due to him blending American jazz music with different ethnic dance forms. Jack Cole was not as well known as Fosse or Jerome due to him preferring to present his work in night clubs therefore he never had a broad way hit (Davis,2020, B). Due to him training in many dance styles such as modern dance and bharata Natyam (an east Indian dance style) he was able to mix many styles together to create his unique style. His style prevails the dominant look of technical jazz today (Rizzuto,2013).His rapid change in direction, isolations of the hands, arms and head, his huge leaps and deep plies were unseen at the time causing his works to be different from the rest of choreographer’s works at the time. His style contained a low and grounded stance giving the work an explosive feel. He created the jazz fourth as it is known today due to him introducing the inward rotation of the foot as well as the angled foot. Also, the integral part of jazz class today, isolations, was a big part of his works. Often, they would be isolations of the hips, ribs and shoulders. He used a lot of floor work in his pieces due to his mix of acrobatic experience in the past. He used complex rhythms in his works which gave the work a spontaneous feel. His dancers performed with a piercing gaze which was unusual from the cheesy smiles of the dancers in previous years. (Davis,2020, B)

I can see the qualities of Jack Cole in the Jason Derulo routine we have learnt. For example, we often use a low and grounded position. This can be seen all throughout our Jason Derulo dance. An example of a grounded movement is a turn with feet together on bent legs. We also use many isolations within the dance. Often being isolations of the upper body. For example, we sharply form the number two with our fingers isolating the arm as it extends to the front. I can clearly see this use of isolation is inspired by Jack Cole. Similarly to Cole’s work, we use complex rhythms throughout our dance. Often these to not correlate with the music which makes it challenging for the dancers. For example, we begin movement on 8 which is tricky to time and feels weird with the music is playing. The last movement in the Jason Derulo routine which seems to me that is inspired by Jack Cole is the sharp and isolated change of directions in the choreography. For example, we sharply change directions as we slide around our partners. This rapid change of movement is exciting to watch which reminds me of Jack Cole’s choreography as his pieces are exciting for the audience.

Lastly, I will be researching into the style of Jerome Robbins. Also in the 1900’s, Robbins was a dance choreographer. He made ballets in many different styles such as abstract and modern (Anom, 2019). He brought an American style to the art form as he helped to elevate musical theatre from an opportunity for entertainment to a way to show a story to the audience. His works which were on Broadway were dramatic and included imagined worlds in which he would sell to the audience. Robbins had a unique way on making men dancers look masculine within their movement without allowing them to lose their lyricism. He also made the best use of non-dancers in his choreography which was a gift of his. His movement was made to look easy and natural however the dancers still looked engaged with the movement they performed. Robbins studied a range of dance styles including ballet and Spanish which helped him create his unique styles. Robbins style worked in close relation to the music. For example, he emphasised the movement on key rhythms in the tune. Robbins often used gestures in this works as well as often using pedestrian movements such as normal walking. He liked to use a narrative in this works often being phyco-drama (Davis,2020, C).

Jerome Robbin’s style of movement can be seen within the Billie Eilish routine we have learn in Jazz lessons. A key step I can see which stands out to me as the Robbins style is the several use of gestures within the piece. For example, in the beginning of the dance we each perform 12 sharp gestures before melting into the ground. Another movement I see which reminds me of the Robbins style in the Billie Eilish routine is the dramatic feel to the dance. We use a stern gaze towards the audience within the dance to create an eerie vibe similarly to how Robbins likes to create a narrative within his works. Within the routine we follow the feel of the music. For example, we begin sharp but as we get to the improvisation section at the end we follow the softer, more fluid beat in the music. This is like the Jerome Robbins style as his movement works closely with the music.

Reference list:

Davis, C (2020), A. 1^st Year – Bob Fosse. https://missdavisbtuk.blogspot.com/2020/02/1st-year-bob-fosse.html [Accessed 27th March ,2020].

Nikolaou, E(2020). You can thank Bob Fosse for your jazz hands. https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2019/04/229334/what-is-bob-fosse-dance-style-jazz-moves [ Accessed 27^th March,2020].

Bedinghaus, T (2019). A profile of dancer and choreographer Bob Fosse. https://www.liveabout.com/bob-fosse-biography-1007062 [Accessed 27th March,2020].

Davis, C (2020) B. 1^st Year – Jack Cole. https://missdavisbtuk.blogspot.com/2020/02/1st-year-jack-cole.html [Accessed 27th March,2020].

Rizzuto, R (2013). History lesson plan: Jack Cole. https://www.dance-teacher.com/history-lesson-plan-jack-cole-2392429308.html [Accessed 27th March,2020].

Davis, C(2020) C.1^st Year – Jerome Robbins. https://missdavisbtuk.blogspot.com/2020/02/1st-year-jerome-robbins.html [Accessed 27th March,2020].

Anom (2019). Jerome Robbins. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jerome-Robbins [Accessed 27th March,2020].