Big Deal: Bob Fosse and Dance in the American Musical

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 226-227
Author(s):  
Lisa Woznicki
Keyword(s):  
Bob Fosse

Dancin’ Solo

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Winkler
Keyword(s):  
Musical Comedy ◽  
Bob Fosse

This chapter focuses on Fosse’s show Dancin’, an evening of numbers performed to preexisting music from a variety of composers. Having dismissed all collaborators and untethered to a narrative, Fosse was free to create dances around his favorite music, which included classical, swing, rock, and pop. Dancin’ had moments of startling eroticism, and his ability to sculpt stage pictures with bodies, space, and light remained unmatched. But there were also cringeworthy attempts at comedy and moments of maudlin sentimentality. By now, Fosse’s choreographic style had shifted from traditional musical comedy with touches of antic vaudeville to a more lyrical, self-serious approach that he could not always support. A sameness crept into much of his work, with similar steps, patterns, and groupings carried over from one show or film to another. Choreographing for character seemed no longer important, and all his dancers appeared to be performing the role of Bob Fosse.

Introduction

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Kevin Winkler
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Special Effects ◽  
George Balanchine ◽  
Equal Importance ◽  
History Of ◽  
Bob Fosse ◽  
The Way

The Introduction juxtaposes the musicals of Tommy Tune during the 1980s with the large-scale British extravaganzas that dominated Broadway in the same decade. These imported “megamusicals,” featured lavish spectacle, special effects, cookie-cutter casting, and booming, pop-rock soundscapes. By contrast, Tune’s shows were simple, elegant, and filled with unique personalities (including Tune himself). The special effects in a Tommy Tune show were ingeniously staged singing and dancing. Tune coined the term “guzzintahs” to refer to the seamless melding of song, dance, and story, as in “this goes into that, and that goes into this.” The Introduction also offers a brief history of the director-choreographer, including George Balanchine, who integrated ballet into Broadway dance and Agnes de Mille, who established her choreographic authorship as of equal importance alongside a show’s book, score, and direction. The creative use of “guzzintahs” by later figures such as Jerome Robbins, Bob Fosse, Gower Champion, and Michael Bennett is explored, pointing the way toward Tune’s especially unified staging concepts.

scholarly journals The work of an invisible body

2014 ◽  
pp. 79-93
Author(s):  
Lucy Fife Donaldson
Keyword(s):  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
Film Theory ◽  
Functional Element ◽  
The Body ◽  
Physical Work ◽  
Physical Action ◽  
Expressive Performance ◽  
Bob Fosse

On-screen bodies are central to our engagement with film. As sensory film theory seeks to remind us, this engagement is sensuous and embodied: our physicality forms sympathetic, kinetic and empathetic responses to the bodies we see and hear. We see a body jump, run and crash and in response we tense, twitch and flinch. But whose effort are we responding to? The character’s? The actor’s? This article explores the contribution of an invisible body in shaping our responsiveness to on-screen effort, that of the foley artist. Foley artists recreate a range of sounds made by the body, including footsteps, breath, face punches, falls, and the sound clothing makes as actors walk or run. Foley is a functional element of the filmmaking process, yet accounts of foley work note the creativity involved in these performances, which add to characterisation and expressivity. Drawing on detailed analysis of sequences in Cabaret (Bob Fosse, 1972) and Die Hard (John McTiernan, 1988) which foreground exertion and kinetic movement through dance and physical action, this article considers the affective contribution of foley to the physical work depicted on-screen. In doing so, I seek to highlight the extent to which foley constitutes an expressive performance that furthers our sensuous perception and appreciation of film.

Making Broadway Dance

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liza Gennaro
Keyword(s):  
Musical Theater ◽  
Character Analysis ◽  
Dance Studies ◽  
George Balanchine ◽  
Script Analysis ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
Art Design ◽  
Bob Fosse ◽  
Katherine Dunham

Musical theater dance is an ever-changing and evolving dance form, egalitarian in its embrace of any and all dance genres. It is a living, transforming art developed by exceptional dance artists requiring dramaturgical understanding; character analysis; knowledge of history, art, design; and, most importantly, an extensive knowledge of dance, both intellectual and embodied. Its ghettoization within criticism and scholarship as a throw-away dance form, undeserving of analysis—derivative, cliché ridden, titillating and predictable, the ugly stepsister of both theater and dance—belies and ignores the historic role it has had in musicals as an expressive form equal to book, music, and lyric. The standard adage, “when you can’t speak anymore sing, when you can’t sing anymore dance,” expresses its importance in musical theater as the ultimate form of heightened emotional, visceral, and intellectual expression. Through in-depth analysis author Liza Gennaro examines Broadway choreography through the lens of dance studies, script analysis, movement research, and dramaturgical inquiry offering a close examination of a dance form that has heretofore received only the most superficial interrogation. This book reveals the choreographic systems of some of Broadway’s most influential dance-makers, including George Balanchine, Agnes de Mille, Jerome Robbins, Katherine Dunham, Bob Fosse, Donald McKayle, Savion Glover, Sergio Trujillo, Steven Hoggett, and Camille Brown. Making Broadway Dance is essential reading for theater and dance scholars, students, practitioners, and Broadway fans.

scholarly journals Film zakulisowy jako gatunek i zwierciadło społeczne

2022 ◽  
pp. 190-212
Author(s):  
Wojciech Świdziński
Keyword(s):  
Bob Fosse ◽  
Krzysztof Kieslowski ◽  
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu

Artykuł jest próbą charakterystyki nieopisanego dotąd zjawiska – filmu zakulisowego. Jego schemat fabularny opiera się na śledzeniu procesu powstawania spektaklu teatralnego od castingu po udaną premierę, do której dochodzi pomimo licznych perypetii. Ważną jego cechą jest przedstawienie zespołu teatralnego jako mikrospołeczności o potencjale metafory społecznej. Za prototyp gatunku można uznać backstage musical Busby’ego Berkeleya. W kolejnych dekadach nawiązywali do niego lub dekonstruowali jego struktury między innymi John Cassavetes, Bob Fosse, Carlos Saura, a ostatnio Alejandro González Iñárritu. Krzysztof Kieślowski i Agnieszka Holland w filmach należących do nurtu moralnego niepokoju w autorski sposób wykorzystali formułę filmu zakulisowego, by opowiedzieć o utracie złudzeń i zakwestionować ideę zespołu. Sugerowali przy tym, by ich filmy odczytywać nie jako krytykę instytucji teatru, lecz uniwersalne metafory społeczne.

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