Jazz Blog - 1st Year 2019/2020 School Year

The first choreographer I will be discussing is Jerome Robbins, who was one of Broadway’s and Hollywood’s greatest choreographers, as he took the traditional modern dance and made it his own with incorporating ballet with modern. One of his most famous works include: ‘West Side Story’ which was a musical conceived, directed and choreographed by Robbins, inspired by Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. (Nycballet.com, n.d.)

Robbins choreography and style enabled to promote dance in musical theatre and helped entertain the audiences when watching. He was able to create something no one had ever seen before as he brought an authentic American style and was able to make it his own, his choreography and the ballets displayed a wide variety of styles especially dramatic content in his Broadway dances. (Jeromerobbins.org, n.d.)

Nevertheless, Robbins choreography allowed the performers to use characterization as well as story-telling in the piece such as comedy and drama they were always pushed towards a style that looked very effortless and natural however, still engaged and clean. (Vaill, 2009)Another quality that makes Robbins work unique, is the running theme of nature of communities, such as: gangs, villages, tribes, intimate groups of friends and loose urban societies. This contrasted to his own personal life as he faced many challenges, including his feelings with his religion, family background, financial struggles as well as his sexuality, these were very complicated and really emotionally hard moments of Robbins life as he struggled with his own identity. However, he was able to turn this around with his work as he been able to create moving portraits of friendship, courtesy and happiness within his pieces. (Thefamouspeople.com, n.d.)

The qualities that Jerome Robbins displays in his style and choreography is portrayed in our Billie Eilish routine as the style of the piece is very authentic and different. The routine also gives dramatic content like Robbins work, as the music is very intense and we have to hit movements on certain beats to allow the dramatic effect to come across to the audience. This also has to come across in our performance and facial expressions, much like Robbins dancers as this enable us to tell a story and play a role whilst performing the routine. Nevertheless, when holding positions and standing still in the piece we have to be very held and still engaged very with the audience, as this is a massive and important part of the routine.

The second practitioner is Bob Fosse who was an American choreographer for the style of musical theatre on stage and on screen. Fosse was one of the most influential and creative choreographers in the jazz field and introduced a completely new style of dance. (Cross, n.d.)

Fosse’s style was very unique, whilst many choreographers strive for their dances to create long lines when performing, Fosse’s style was more about creating angles this could be achieved with turning in the knee, the idea of the hand breaking at the end of an arm line and being really far back with the weight placement. Fosse also used a lot of isolated movements in his work, with the idea of moving different body parts at different times and this was really effective to an audience as the dancers would be performing different isolations and every other body part would remain still as that isolation is performed. Even when the dancers would roll their hips or shoulders and click their fingers, all these movements would still be so sharp and effective within the piece.(Witkop, n.d.)

 Fosse’s pieces were always theatrical and had a performance element to them, his dancers had to be able to tell a story to the audience and it was crucial that his dancers developed the ability to control their movement while still maintaining a strong performance level and intention when dancing. (Dance Spirit, 2011)

For our assessment we are performing a piece from the musical ‘The Juggernaut’ this is a very theatrical piece inspired by Bob Fosse. We have used movements from Fosse’s choreography such as the use of the hands breaking at the end of an arm line to put a stop to the movement and make it more effective as well as the idea of the elbows pinching behind the back so the arms are hidden, nevertheless we create angles with our bodies when walking as our weight is very far back and we use the extension of the leg to help us walk off the stage. Additionally, we use a lot of isolations in the piece including the use of the head, rolling the shoulders and hips, the use of contractions in the piece as well as clicking the fingers. The performance quality is also very important, as through the piece the idea is, we have a secret that we can’t tell but the audience should want to know by the end of the routine

Jack Cole was an American choreographer who set the bar high with a great and wide understanding of dance and where it originated from, he was able to incorporate the styles of modern jazz and ballet to create his own personal and unique style. He describes his passion for dance by drawing from other cultures as well as having the ability to choreograph for both male and female dancers.  (Choreographer, 2018)

Cole created his own style of dance called the ‘Cole Style’ his movements originated from ballet steps and he then adapted these to become a completely new style of dance he would use huge leaps, deep pliés and long knee slides in his choreography often featuring a female soloist with male dancers to represent female strength in his work. (Rizzuto, 2013)

The majority of his work included a technique called power blocks, this was when dancers would be surrounding the main performer in the piece and movements such as over-the-head claps and the use of parallel movements that were very low to the ground with the use of resistance were used in the piece.(Durkee, 2016)

 Cole also used isolations a lot in his pieces, especially with the head, arms and fingers this allowed his pieces to be very sharp and dynamic with the movements always having a stop to them instead of the movement carrying on for a while. (Rizzuto, 2013)

Cole used many other styles and influences to inspire his work, in particular the use of the style Lindy Hop, as his pieces had a swinging rhythm and he often used some of these steps in his work. (Durkee, 2016)

Our commercial Jason Derulo piece is inspired by Jack Cole’s choreography and style, in the piece we use a lot of isolations with the body, the arms and head these have to be very sharp and dynamic and performed on a certain beat in the music. Even the use of the head is so important in the piece, as this is also counted as a movement and is just as crucial that it is performed with sharpness and meaning within the piece. We also incorporate the use of the ‘Cole Style’ as we are very low to the ground in the piece really using our pliés, this makes the movements look a lot more effective and enables us to perform the piece with a lot more energy as well as enthusiasm. 

References: 

 Choreographer, A. (2018). A Look at the Amazing Jack Cole: Dancer, Choreographer for Broadway and Film. [online] L.A. Dance Chronicle. Available at: https://www.ladancechronicle.com/a-look-at-the-amazing-jack-cole-dancer-choreographer-for-broadway-and-film/ [Accessed 4 Mar. 2020].

Cross, L. (n.d.). Bob Fosse | The Official Masterworks Broadway Site. [online] The Official Masterworks Broadway Site. Available at: https://masterworksbroadway.com/artist/bob-fosse/ [Accessed 3 Mar. 2020].

Dance Spirit. (2011). Legendary Moves. [online] Available at: https://www.dancespirit.com/tag/bob-fosse [Accessed 3 Mar. 2020].

Durkee, A. (2016). ‘All that Jack (Cole)’ Film Series - CriticalDance. [online] CriticalDance. Available at: https://criticaldance.org/jack-cole-films-jack-cole/ [Accessed 4 Mar. 2020].

 Jeromerobbins.org. (n.d.). Jerome Robbins | Jerome Robbins - Jerome Robbins Foundation - Jerome Robbins Rights Trust. [online] Available at: http://jeromerobbins.org/ [Accessed 4 Mar. 2020].

 Nycballet.com. (n.d.). Jerome Robbins. [online] Available at: https://www.nycballet.com/Explore/Our-History/Jerome-Robbins.aspx [Accessed 4 Mar. 2020].

 Rizzuto, R. (2013). History Lesson Plan: Jack Cole. [online] Dance Teacher. Available at: https://www.dance-teacher.com/history-lesson-plan-jack-cole-2392429308.html [Accessed 4 Mar. 2020].

Thefamouspeople.com. (n.d.). Famous People - Famous People in History, Famous People List & Biography. [online] Available at: https://www.thefamouspeople.com/ [Accessed 4 Mar. 2020].

Vaill, A. (2009). Jerome Robbins | About the Artist | American Masters | PBS. [online] American Masters. Available at: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/jerome-robbins-about-the-artist/1099/ [Accessed 4 Mar. 2020].

Witkop, L. (n.d.). Choreographer Bob Fosse. [online] Dance.lovetoknow.com. Available at: https://dance.lovetoknow.com/Main_Page [Accessed 3 Mar. 2020].