Bob Fosse made a career and a dance style out of his life. As a choreographer who dramatically revolutionized dance on Broadway, Bob Fosse is worthy of both praise and reproach. From "Steam Heat" to the "The Pajama Game," Fosse injected the musical-theater style with more sensuality than it had previously known, but it was hardly tame; Fosse preferred his theater to be down-and-dirty, burlesque style. As Bill-Bob always says his movements were fresh and fused with Jazz. .
Fosse's dance style is instantly recognizable. It's a dance for the eye, a dance about the body. The curve of the hips against the slope of a shoulder and the elongated neck, the arm and wrist out to the splayed fingers. The hunched upper back and the swinging bumping pelvis. The slinky walk that sinks into the floor. The gestures that stay tight around the body, the feet that slide in curves along the floor. And the provocative way the dancers project it all, full into the face of the audience or in sharp, angular profile. There was almost always tension in his choreography. Longtime Fosse dancer Anne Reinking points to "Hey, Big Spender" from Sweet Charity in which the ladies of the evening are lined up at a bar. From the chest up, the pose references the posture of classical ballet, but beneath the bar the legs are akimbo. "It's called the Broken Doll," she says. "It's beauty but it's busted."(Demaline).
People say Fosse developed the style as a defense counter his self-consciousness about not being a perfectly turned-out dancer.
Perhaps one of my favorite Fosse numbers of all time is "Rich Man's Frug". The whole mood of this movement is absolutely breathtaking, from the costumes to the cigarettes and the long ponytail that swing from Charity's head. Ann Reinking described a perhaps definitive Fosse number: "Rich Man's Frug." .
"It's very chic, all these gorgeous people at a cocktail party, well-dressed. It's quite comedic as well as sexy and fun.
