My Favorite Choreographers/Dance Educators (Part 6)

(I should be honest with you...the past five choreographers were in no particular order, but this choreographer is my number 1!)

He was an actor, dancer, choreographer, director, screenwriter, and film editor.  He pushed the envelope of creativity and used that creativity to literally create a new style of dance that is instantly recognized by most audiences.  He is ...

Bob Fosse!

8 Tony Awards for choreography and 1 for direction, 1 Academy Award, and 1 Emmy.  He was the first person to win all three awards in the same year and he still never thought he had reached perfection.

His story is very similar to many male dancers, going with his sister to ballet class; however, his teachers did not think much of his skills as a dancer, his arms and legs did not possess the natural ability for ballet.  Instead of admitting defeat, he developed a style of dancing that embraced what were deemed earlier as “flaws” and jazz dancing will never be the same. 

The comments from his teachers did stick with him and pushed him in a way to always desire perfection never believing he achieved it. 

Why I Love Him

Choreography: I will always love musicals and the musicals he has given us and the choreography that he created is legendary. Theatre credits: The Pajama Game, Damn Yankees, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Sweet Charity, Pippin, Liza with a Z, Chicago, Dancin’ and Film credits: The Pajama Game, Damn Yankees, Sweet Charity, Cabaret, and All That Jazz, to name a few.  Here is a number from his first show: 

Work Ethic: His work ethic is also formidable.  If he was ever performing, he rehearsed incessantly never believing he was good enough.  For example, he had to do a back flip in choreography once and flew to New York to work with his friend to learn how to do this back flip.  He flew back to perform, then having perfected the flip.  He brought that 1000% (yes I meant to type 1000) work ethic with him into every project he did.  Here is an interview with dancers commenting on working with Fosse. 

Humility: He always worked to better himself and his work.  He was never complacent or arrogant.  That type of success usually changes people.  Not Fosse.  Here is a rare interview to give you an idea of who he was.

I will leave you with a clip from his first on screen, professional choreography debut.  He was cast in the film version of Kiss Me Kate and the choreographer let him choreograph his duet.