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Why Is Bob Fosse Important To Dance

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Tony Award-winning dancer, choreographer, and director, Robert Louis Fosse, most famous for his Broadway work, revolutionized the way dance in musicals was viewed around the world. His distinct and thought-provoking dance technique challenged the most advanced dancers and his work helped pave the way for musical theater choreography for the decades that followed his death. Fosse’s work depicted influences by major figures in dance: including Jack Cole, Fred Astaire, and Jerome Robbins.
Robert Louis Fosse, born in Chicago, Illinois on June 23, 1927, started his dance career at an early age. His dance story began when he attended dance schools as a child and his journey as a student quickly became his journey as professional when he began dancing …show more content…

Most notoriously, Fosse invented the “jazz hand” and some of his signature movements include turned-in knees, rolled shoulders, and sideways shuffles. Attention to detail played a prominent role in his choreography and his dance technique; each movement he created was supported by a remarkable amount of detail. A movement as miniscule as a head nod—which was often used— and other diminutive gestures required extreme conscientiousness: a factor behind why his choreography challenged even the most advanced of dancers. Small details made Bob Fosse’s choreography so distinct in essence. The theatrical essence he has as he stood on stage during silent moments, such as the way he walked or simply held his teacup, utilized his attention to detail, illuminated the stage, and made him stand out among his …show more content…

His most notable work, however, was not on a live, professional stage. Instead, he was behind the camera, in 1972, as the director of the iconic work Cabaret; this film, to this day, holds the record for most number of Academy Award wins in a single year without the accolade of “Best Picture”. In the box office, the film collected approximately $42,765,000. Years later, he directed the musical film All That Jazz, a semi-autobiographical movie about Bob Fosse’s

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When you are dancing, there are many things you can channel; emotions, memories, people, experiences, stories, the list goes on and on. These properties can be portrayed through movements, facial expressions, and music. Dancing can also portray conflict; such as the conflict between Ponyboy Curtis and Darry Curtis in S.E. Hinton’s beloved novel, The Outsiders. In our dance piece, titled, Hard to See, both the music and movements work in harmony to illustrate Darry and Ponyboy’s maturing relationship.

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Robert “Bob” Fosse was a man of many talents, skills, and before passing on in 1987; made a tremendous impact on dance, especially the mixing of dance styles for other choreographers to come. The performances he created for Broadway along with his reach in the movie industry formed a “Fosse” image that others hoped to reach on their journey through the dance industry. His own life lived up to the style, level of dance he required his dancers to perform at, demanding and physically exhausting, yet powerfully enough to capture an audience all around the world. His personality may have been a bit too aggressive for some, but this personality is behind works such as, Redhead, Sweet Charity, and Chicago. If the man came off strong, it was for good

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Research Paper for Alvin Ailey Biography Born in Texas, on January 5, 1931, Alvin Ailey was one of the greatest black modern dancer-choreographer in the United States whose works continue to resonate with audiences worldwide. His mother was only 17 years old when he was born, and his father left the family soon after his birth, so Alvin grew up poor in Navasota, the small Texas town with his mother. Despite the racism and poor economic conditions, Ailey enjoyed the abundance of entertainment available to blacks, and inspired by the black church services he attended as well as the music he heard at the local dance hall. At the age of twelve, after finishing the school year in Texas, Ailey moved to Los Angeles, California, with his mother.

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Bob Fosse, one of the most influential choreographers of the 20th, was born on June 23, 1927, in Chicago, Illinois. He was born to a vaudevillian, a person who from Chicago. At a young, age he began dancing and was considered a child prodigy. By the time he was in high school, he danced professionally on the vaudeville stage. He began emceeing at burlesque houses at the age of 15 and at age 13 he joined a dance group called the Riff Brothers.

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Alvin Ailey Alvin Ailey was an iconic symbol for modern dance during the 20th century. He broke barriers for African American performers and inspired many others. From being raised by a single mother in poverty, to establishing his own company, Alvin Ailey really made an impact in the world of modern dance. When Ailey passed away, The New York Times said of him, “you didn’t need to have known [him] personally to have been touched by his humanity, enthusiasm, and exuberance and his courageous stand for multi-racial brotherhood.” Ailey was born January 5, 1931 in Rogers, Texas to seventeen year old Lula Elizabeth Ailey.

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Marie Loïe Fuller was heralded as perhaps the most intellectual artist of the 19th and 20th centuries. Her intelligence has sparked curiosity in peoples living in the past, present, and future, questioning: how did Marie Loïe Fuller influenced today’s American entertainment industry, and what contributions did she make in the sphere of modern dance and theater throughout her lifetime? This highly influential individual was outspoken and bright from birth. Dance was not her first enjoyment, but with her wit and passion for entertaining, she undoubtedly won the hearts of many with her dance ability and style as her life progressed. Fuller went beyond the triple threat connotation; she undertook acting, singing, inventing, dancing, renowned stagecraft

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However, the start of Kelly’s career grew slowly but steadily, beginning his broadway debut much later than Astaire with a small dancing role in Leave It To Me (1938), which led to a spot in One for the Money (1939), then a summer-stock job as choreographer, into auditions and choreography commissions, and eventually to his biggest break as an actor: Pal Joey (1940) (Library of Congress). Next up, Gene would make his film debut in For Me and My Gal in 1942 (Library of Congress). On The Town (1949), An American in Paris (1951), and of course Singin’ in the Rain (1952) would one day become staples of both his career, and within the world of movie musicals as a whole. Yet, as stated above, his last film appearance in 1980, Xanadu, proved to be a box-office dud as well; however, it would prove to be a cult classic decades later

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These ideas arise from many instances such as: freely moving, inner experience, improvisational moving developed from the rock era, concepts developed from Merce Cunningham, Anna Halprin, and Erick Hawkins, as well as concepts from the creator of this art form, Steve Paxton. Honestly every day that I step into class, I feel as though I am working on engaging these concepts as illustrated in Sharing the Dance, which leads to me furthering my language in contact improvisation. First of all, when we work on our improvisational skills at the beginning of class and jams, we are applying our “subjectivity”. This “subjectivity”, as coined by Anna Halprin illustrated in Sharing the Dance, allows us to “expand our range of movement rather than confining it to a codified vocabulary” (Novack, 1990, p.30). Novack (1990) also states that Halprin, “emphasizes direct experience of movement sensing the body’s changing dynamic configurations” (p. 30).

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