People Whose Work I Admire

Bob Fosse

The Choreographer I admire the most has to be Bob Fosse. Fosse has in my opinion, the most unique and instantly recognisable style of Jazz dance and this is why almost every professional dancer has studied his work at some point. Just the mention of his name makes his distinct style of isolated and angular movementS spring to my mind.
Fosse had a back condition, scoliosis, which is something I suffer from, but what I love about him is that he put that imperfection into his work, whilst most choreographers looked for long and lean lines, he preferred to use angles, opting for turned in knees and shoulders. He broke the mould with his innovative choreography and his use of props. Again putting his own imperfections into his dance style, he was self conscious of his bald head so he danced with bowler hats, he also used white gloves a lot because he didn’t like his hands, these are all things which I have admiration for, he based his choreography on whatever he wanted, what suited him rather than what was the norm at the time.
I love performing Fosse’s work as there is so much sensuality within his style, and his use of subtext is amazing. Other hallmark’s of Fosse’s work are finger clicking, hip and shoulder rolls, isolated movements and his famous backwards walk. Some of the shows he has worked on are Chicago, Sweet Charity and Cabaret, which are all favourite Musicals of mine. Whenever I have seen his work performed it always strikes me how clean and simple it looks but how effective it is. He was a perfectionist, and what comes across greatly in his style is his attention to detail, there is not a finger out of place when his dancers are on stage. Fosse put style before substance and used minimalist costumes, mainly opting for all black with the smallest touch of white gloves for effect. I will never tire of watching and performing the works of Bob Fosse, I love the sensuality his work brings, and the clean and precise nature of it.