Jack Cole (born John Ewing Richter; April 27, 1911 – February 17, 1974) was an American
dancer
Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...
,
choreographer
Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which Motion (physics), motion or Visual appearance, form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A chor ...
, and
theatre director
A theatre director or stage director is a professional in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production such as a play, opera, dance, drama, musical theatre performance, etc. by unifying various endeavors a ...
known as "the Father of
Theatrical
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communic ...
Jazz Dance
Jazz Dance is a performance dance and style that arose in the United States in the early 20th century. Jazz Dance may allude to vernacular Jazz, Broadway or dramatic Jazz. The two types expand on African American vernacular styles of dance that ...
"
for his role in codifying African-American jazz dance styles, as influenced by the dance traditions of other cultures, for
Broadway and Hollywood. Asked to describe his style he described it as "urban folk dance".
His work as a dancer and choreographer began in the 1930s and lasted until the mid-1960s. Beginning in
modern dance
Modern dance is a broad genre of western concert dance, concert or theatrical dance which includes dance styles such as ballet, folk, ethnic, religious, and social dancing; and primarily arose out of Europe and the United States in the late 19th ...
, he worked in nightclubs, on the Broadway stage, and in Hollywood films, ending his career as a teacher. He was an innovative choreographer for the camera and a hugely influential choreographer and teacher, training
Gwen Verdon
Gwyneth Evelyn "Gwen" Verdon (January 13, 1925October 18, 2000) was an American actress and dancer. She won four Tony Awards for her musical comedy performances, and she served as an uncredited choreographer's assistant and specialty dance coach ...
,
Carol Haney, and
Buzz Miller, among many others, and influencing later choreographers, such as
Bob Fosse
Robert Louis Fosse (; June 23, 1927 – September 23, 1987) was an American choreographer, dancer, filmmaker, and stage director. Known for his work on stage and screen, he is arguably the most influential figure in the field of jazz dance in th ...
,
Jerome Robbins
Jerome Robbins (born Jerome Wilson Rabinowitz; October 11, 1918 – July 29, 1998) was an American dancer, choreographer, film director, theatre director and producer who worked in classical ballet, on stage, film, and television.
Among his nu ...
, and
Alvin Ailey, all of whom drew heavily from his innovations.
Early life
Born as John Ewing Richter to a working-class family in New Brunswick, New Jersey in 1911, he later adopted his stepfather's surname, along with the nickname he was known by, to become Jack Cole. Cole attended Columbia University for a time, but dropped out in 1930 after seeing a performance by
Ruth St. Denis
Ruth St. Denis (born Ruth Dennis; January 20, 1879 – July 21, 1968) was an American pioneer of modern dance, introducing eastern ideas into the art and paving the way for other women in dance. She was inspired by the Delsarte advocate Gene ...
and
Ted Shawn, founders of the
Denishawn School of Dancing and Related Arts.
Formal training and influences
Once Cole left Columbia he joined St. Denis' and Shawn's school and dance company.
He was entranced by the Asian influences they used in their choreography and costuming, although he was unimpressed by the surface-level imitation of eastern dance traditions St. Denis put forth.
His fascination with Asian dance inspired him, however, to incorporate more authentic elements of other cultures' dance traditions into his work through studying a number of foreign dance forms.
Cole became well-versed in
bharata nāṭyam, India's oldest dance technique, first by studying with dancers
Uday Shankar and
La Meri and later by sharing rehearsal space with Bhaskar Roy Chowdhury.
Cole used the crisp arm movements and other features of classical South Asian dance he acquired through his studies throughout his career, both in those numbers in movies such as ''
Kismet'' that explicitly evoked exotic Asian themes
and in performances as far removed from them as "
Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" by
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe ( ; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; June 1, 1926 August 4, 1962) was an American actress and model. Known for playing comic "Blonde stereotype#Blonde bombshell, blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex ...
in ''
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes''.
Cole also paid particularly close attention to the dances that African-Americans were inventing in the dance halls of the twenties and thirties, such as the
Camel Walk, the
Charleston, and the
Lindy Hop
The Lindy Hop is an American dance which was born in the African-American communities of Harlem, New York City, in 1928 and has evolved since then. It was very popular during the swing era of the late 1930s and early 1940s. Lindy is a fusion of ...
. As Cole once wrote, "Whatever is danced in the name of jazz dancing must come from the Lindy, necessarily theatricalized and broadened for the stage, of course."
He also drew inspiration from professional African-American dancers such as the
Nicholas Brothers and the
Berry Brothers, who featured the high-flying splits and acrobatic knee slides that Cole later made a hallmark of his choreography.
During the 1930s his interests expanded to Latin American and Afro-Caribbean dances. The large Cuban migration to New York in the late 1940s brought the
mambo
Mambo most often refers to:
*Mambo (music), a Cuban musical form
*Mambo (dance), a dance corresponding to mambo music
Mambo may also refer to:
Music
* Mambo section, a section in arrangements of some types of Afro-Caribbean music, particul ...
,
rumba, and
cha-cha-cha to the dance halls, and Cole drew from these vocabularies as well.
He also studied
Flamenco
Flamenco () is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the Gitanos, gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and Region of Murcia, ...
with
Paco Cansino, film star
Rita Hayworth
Rita Hayworth (born Margarita Carmen Cansino; October 17, 1918May 14, 1987) was an American actress, dancer, and Pin-up model, pin-up girl. She achieved fame in the 1940s as one of the top stars of the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of ...
's uncle.
Cole also studied classical ballet with Luigi Albertieri, the adopted son and student of
Enrico Cecchetti, while he was still part of the modern dance movement. Cole was introduced to the
Cecchetti ballet technique, a rigorous training program that established the model of standardised teaching which is the basis of all professional ballet teaching today. He later incorporated the Cecchetti method in his teaching.
Cole's career trajectory was unique for an American dance artist. He started at the very roots of modern dance, then segued into a commercial career in nightclubs across the nation, first at Manhattan's Embassy Club, then opening the
Rainbow Room
The Rainbow Room is a private event space on the 65th floor of 30 Rockefeller Plaza at Rockefeller Center in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Run by Tishman Speyer, it is among the highest venues in New York City. The Rainbow Room was design ...
on its inaugural evening in October 1934. His career spanned three major arenas: nightclub, Broadway stage, and Hollywood film. He ended his career as a popular coach to Hollywood stars and an innovative choreographer for the camera.
Professional career
Modern Dance
Modern dance is a broad genre of western concert dance, concert or theatrical dance which includes dance styles such as ballet, folk, ethnic, religious, and social dancing; and primarily arose out of Europe and the United States in the late 19th ...
Cole made his professional dance debut at
Lewisohn Stadium
Lewisohn Stadium was an amphitheater and athletic facility built on the campus of the City College of New York (CCNY). It opened in 1915 and was demolished in 1973.
History
The Doric-colonnaded amphitheater was built between Amsterdam and Conv ...
at the
City College of New York
The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a Public university, public research university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York ...
with the
Denishawn Dancers, led by St. Denis and Shawn, in August 1930, only six weeks after beginning his training with them. After that dance company collapsed in 1931 because of personal differences between Shawn and St. Denis, Cole became a member of Shawn's new troupe, "Ted Shawn and His Men Dancers", and helped Shawn found the renowned summer dance hub,
Jacob's Pillow
Jacob's Pillow is a Dance studio, dance center, school and performance space located in Becket, Massachusetts, in the Berkshires. The facility itself was listed as a National Historic Landmark District in 2003.
History
The site of Jacob's Pi ...
,
in 1931.
He later studied and performed with the pioneering modernists
Doris Humphrey and
Charles Weidman, who had earlier managed the Denishawn school's New York City operations before leaving to form their own troupe.
["Jack Cole biography"]
filmreference.com, retrieved April 6, 2010 Cole was still barely getting by, sleeping in Humphrey and Weidman's studio as well as taking classes there.
Nightclubs
Cole's career as a dance artist then took a unique trajectory. Eager to make a living as a dancer during the Depression, he left the modern dance world in 1934 and opted for opportunities in nightclubs, initially partnering with Alice Dudley, another former Denishawn student.
He began his commercial dance career at Manhattan's Embassy Club, owned by
Dutch Schultz
Dutch Schultz (born Arthur Simon Flegenheimer; August 6, 1901October 24, 1935) was an American mobster based in New York City in the 1920s and 1930s. He made his fortune in organized crime-related activities, including bootlegging and the n ...
, then opened the
Rainbow Room
The Rainbow Room is a private event space on the 65th floor of 30 Rockefeller Plaza at Rockefeller Center in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Run by Tishman Speyer, it is among the highest venues in New York City. The Rainbow Room was design ...
on its inaugural evening in October 1934. For years he danced in a trio with Anna Austin, whom Cole had met while she was teaching South Asian dance, and Florence Lessing, one of Austin's students, who met Cole in one of Paco Cansino's classes.
Cole's early nightclub acts, such as ''Dance for a Pack of Hungry Cannibals'', ''Japanese Lanterns'', and ''Love Dance'', combined the exoticism of Denishawn with jazz. In ''Swing Impressions of an East Indian Play Dance'' Cole used the
mudra
A mudra (; , , "seal", "mark", or "gesture"; ) is a symbolic or ritual gesture or pose in Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. While some mudras involve the entire body, most are performed with the hands and fingers.
As well as being spiritual ges ...
s and other features of the classical Indian lexicon to create intricate routines, which he set to big band swing arrangements to create a style the press called "Hindu Swing".
Cole went in a different direction in 1939, forming "Ballet Intime" with dancers Ernestine Day, Letitia Ide, Fe Alf, George Bockman, and Eleanor King. They adapted the rumba to
Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became Standard (music), standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway the ...
's ''
Begin the Beguine'' in ''West Indian Impressions'' while using the characteristic arched stance and rapid-tapping heels of flamenco dance in ''Babalu''. In 1942 he focused on African-American themes in ''Wedding of a Solid Sender'', ''Reefer Man'', and ''Reefer Joint, 4:00 A.M.'' Yet even though his dances now referred overtly to American and Latin cultures rather than Asian ones he continued to use the sharp dynamics and clarity of line characteristic of bharata nāṭyam.
After moving to Hollywood in the early 1940s, Cole returned to nightclubs at the end of the decade when a studio strike left him free to take his troupe of Columbia Pictures dancers, which included Florence Lessing, Rod Alexander,
Carol Haney,
Buzz Miller, and
Gwen Verdon
Gwyneth Evelyn "Gwen" Verdon (January 13, 1925October 18, 2000) was an American actress and dancer. She won four Tony Awards for her musical comedy performances, and she served as an uncredited choreographer's assistant and specialty dance coach ...
, to Chez Paree in Chicago in 1947. Several months later the group, now known as "Jack Cole and His Company", played the
Latin Quarter
The Latin Quarter of Paris (, ) is an urban university campus in the 5th and the 6th arrondissements of Paris. It is situated on the left bank of the Seine, around the Sorbonne.
Known for its student life, lively atmosphere, and bistros, t ...
in New York City, offering a suite of East Indian dances, a
jitterbug
Jitterbug is a generalized term used to describe Swing (dance), swing dancing. It is often synonymous with the lindy hop dance but might include elements of the Jive (dance), jive, east coast swing, collegiate shag, Charleston (dance), charlesto ...
-inspired dance to
Benny Goodman
Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader, known as the "King of Swing". His orchestra did well commercially.
From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing bi ...
's ''
Sing, Sing, Sing'', followed by a jazz arrangement for six dancers, and ending with a suite of Latin American dances to a Latin-swing arrangement.
The mix of styles went beyond the eclectic list of dances: Cole's choreography for ''Sing, Sing, Sing,'' for example, had its roots in African-American vernacular dance, but was also "informed by East Indian, Latin American, and Caribbean musical traditions and dance forms, as well as by the modern American dance traditions of Denishawn and
Humphrey-Weidman".
At the same time, works such as ''Sing, Sing, Sing'' celebrated jazz dance styles, such as the Lindy, that were changing radically with the switch from
swing to
bebop
Bebop or bop is a style of jazz developed in the early to mid-1940s in the United States. The style features compositions characterized by a fast tempo (usually exceeding 200 bpm), complex chord progressions with rapid chord changes and numerou ...
, as dancers created "a 'modern' style of jazz dance in which rhythms, previously reserved for the feet, were absorbed and reshaped in the body".
Cole followed their lead, while adding innovations of his own.
Broadway
Cole had begun his
Broadway career as a performer in 1933 in the two-act ballet, ''The Dream of Sganarelle'', which Humphrey and Weidman choreographed and danced in. He had a few Broadway roles over the next decade, the most prominent being "The Groom" in ''The Wedding of a Solid Sender'' and the lead in the ''Hindu Serenade'' segment, both featured in the ''Ziegfeld Follies of 1943''.
His first Broadway credit as a choreographer was ''
Something for the Boys'' in 1943, starring
Ethel Merman
Ethel Merman (born Ethel Agnes Zimmermann; January 16, 1908 – February 15, 1984) was an American singer and actress. Known for her distinctive, powerful voice, and her leading roles in musical theatre, musical theater,Obituary ''Variety Obitua ...
with music and lyrics by
Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became Standard (music), standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway the ...
and
Dorothy Fields
Dorothy Fields (July 15, 1904 – March 28, 1974) was an American librettist and lyricist. She wrote more than 400 songs for Broadway musicals and films. Her best-known pieces include " The Way You Look Tonight" (1936), "A Fine Romance" (193 ...
. Cole remained active on Broadway throughout the 1940s and 1950s, maintaining a Manhattan ''pied-à-terre'' even while working in Hollywood,
and choreographing the Broadway musical ''
Kismet'' in 1953.
Cole returned to New York and Broadway after his film career ended in 1960. His first two productions, ''Donnybrook!'' and ''Kean'', which he directed as well as choreographed, were both flops, but he followed them by choreographing ''A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum'' in 1962 and ''Man of La Mancha'' in 1965.
Hollywood
.
Cole first came to Los Angeles in 1940 when offered a nightclub gig at
Ciro's
Ciro's (later known as Ciro's Le Disc) was a nightclub on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, California owned by William Wilkerson. Opened in 1940, Ciro's became a popular nightspot for celebrities. The nightclub closed in 1960 and was reopen ...
. Cole was hired to provide a specialty dance for the
20th Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...
film, ''
Moon Over Miami'' (1941), choreographed by
Hermes Pan
Hermes Pan (born Hermes Joseph Panagiotopoulos, December 10, 1909 – September 19, 1990) was an American dancer and choreographer, principally remembered as Fred Astaire's choreographic collaborator on the famous 1930s musical film, movie musica ...
. His performance was cut, however, as he showed "a little bit too much pelvis and too much bare chest—just too much male sensuality" for the studio's taste.
Cole continued to push the boundaries of what the censors would allow throughout his career in Hollywood. He played with homoerotic images in both
Betty Grable
Elizabeth Ruth Grable (December 18, 1916 – July 2, 1973) was an American actress, pin-up girl, dancer, model, and singer.
Her 42 films during the 1930s and 1940s grossed more than $100 million, and for 10 consecutive years (1942–1951) she p ...
's number "No-Talent Joe" in ''
Meet Me After the Show'' and "Ain't There Anyone Here For Love" sung by
Jane Russell in ''Gentlemen Prefer Blondes'', both of which featured scantily clad young men stoically ignoring those two
bombshells. Censors also insisted on the removal of some of the lyrics and dance moves from the
Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became Standard (music), standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway the ...
number "Ladies in Waiting" in ''
Les Girls (1957)'', which nonetheless remains quite racy, even in redacted form.
Cole found Hollywood's approach to shooting dance sequences frustrating. Studios at that time typically regarded choreography, set design and costuming as distinct operations, often coming together for the first time on the first day of filming. Cole, by contrast, sought control over the design of the sets and his dancers' outfits.
He also chafed at the often static camera setups used to film dance numbers. In his ''Ladies in Waiting'' number the point of view jumped from the audience's view of the dancers to the dancers' view of the audience—with the stage lights blinding the dancers, as they often did—then jumped again to backstage. Later director/choreographers, such as Bob Fosse, used the same technique to great effect.
As Cole established his reputation in Hollywood he worked with established stars—Rita Hayworth,
Betty Grable
Elizabeth Ruth Grable (December 18, 1916 – July 2, 1973) was an American actress, pin-up girl, dancer, model, and singer.
Her 42 films during the 1930s and 1940s grossed more than $100 million, and for 10 consecutive years (1942–1951) she p ...
,
Ann Miller, and Jane Russell—and with one actress on the verge of stardom—Marilyn Monroe. He built up their strong, self-aware and self-confident personas through his choreography.
Cole led the supremely talented Hayworth to give a tour de force performance in "
Put the Blame on Mame" in ''
Gilda''. As Cole wrote, years later, "I must say of all the things I ever did for movies, that's one of the few I can really look at on the screen right now and say: If you want to see a beautiful, erotic woman, this is it. It still remains first class, it could be done right now."
Seven years after ''Gilda'' Cole not only choreographed, but directed Monroe in "
Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" in ''
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes''. Ever the perfectionist, Cole dictated nearly every aspect of her performance, from the camera setups and the lyrics to her gestures and phrasing, turning the original Broadway version, which Cole considered "
square
In geometry, a square is a regular polygon, regular quadrilateral. It has four straight sides of equal length and four equal angles. Squares are special cases of rectangles, which have four equal angles, and of rhombuses, which have four equal si ...
", into something far more swinging and sensual.
Cole relied on the technique he learned in his years studying bharata nāṭyam, and had integrated with swing in his nightclub performances, to lead Monroe through small, sharp changes of direction as she performed her refined bump and grind.
Monroe's performance established her persona in her later musical and comedy roles. Although Monroe was acquiring a reputation for being difficult and undisciplined, she responded positively to Cole's controlling style on this shoot and insisted on language in her next contract with
20th Century-Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film production and distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Com ...
that required that he be hired to choreograph her in any movie in which she was called on to dance.
They worked together on five more films and remained close friends even after their working relationship ended.
Their last film, ''
Let's Make Love
''Let's Make Love'' is a 1960 American musical comedy film made by 20th Century Fox in DeLuxe Color and CinemaScope. Directed by George Cukor and produced by Jerry Wald from a screenplay by Norman Krasna, Hal Kanter and Arthur Miller, the f ...
'', which was also Monroe's last musical comedy role, was less harmonious, as Monroe was chronically late for rehearsals, if she appeared at all, and less focused.
This was also Cole's last film, as movie musicals had become less popular and profitable by the end of the 1950s and musical tastes changed. Cole returned once more to Broadway.
Television
Cole brought his dance groups to television throughout the 1950s, appearing in
Bob Hope
Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was an American comedian, actor, entertainer and producer with a career that spanned nearly 80 years and achievements in vaudeville, network radio, television, and USO Tours. He appeared ...
specials as well as ''
The Perry Como Show'' (1948–50 and 1955–59 seasons) and
Sid Caesar
Isaac Sidney Caesar (September 8, 1922 – February 12, 2014) was an American comic actor and comedian. With a career spanning 60 years, he was best known for two pioneering 1950s live television series: ''Your Show of Shows'' (1950–1954) ...
's ''
Your Show of Shows
''Your Show of Shows'' is a live 90-minute variety show that was broadcast weekly in the United States on NBC from February 25, 1950, through June 5, 1954, featuring Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca. Other featured performers were Carl Reiner, Ho ...
'' (1950–54).
Teaching
When Cole started work at Columbia Pictures in 1944, he assembled his own company of dancers whom he trained in the style he sometimes called "jazz-ethnic-ballet" through daily classes on the Columbia lot. Cole drilled his students in classical ballet technique using the Cecchetti method, as well as flamenco, ethnic and modern dance, and gymnastics,
and brought in Uday Shankar to instruct them in the techniques of bharata nāṭyam during the six to nine months that preceded actual rehearsals for a film.
Among his students were Gwen Verdon and Carole Haney, both of whom achieved even greater renown working with Bob Fosse.
Cole continued teaching for the rest of his life, both in his role as choreographer in nightclubs and on Broadway and in Hollywood, and later at Jacob's Pillow and at the
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...
, where he had been teaching for two years before his death in 1974.
Cole was a perfectionist, who demanded the same of his students and those he was working with. As
Chita Rivera
Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero (January 23, 1933 – January 30, 2024), known professionally as Chita Rivera, was an American actress, singer, and dancer. Rivera received numerous accolades including two Tony Awards, two Drama Desk Awa ...
recalled "He dictated every last detail of how he wanted you to twist an arm or the exact shape you needed with your hands. I remember once he worked with us for hours on how a particular handclap should sound."
Cole could also be abusive; as he told ''
Dance Magazine
''Dance Magazine'' is an American trade publication for dance. It was first published in June 1927 as ''The American Dancer''. ''Dance Magazine'' is currently part of Dance Media, led by longtime arts publisher Joanna Harp as president, and has mu ...
'' in 1968, "Sometimes you have to slap them. Sometimes you have to kiss them."
He cursed at nearly everyone, even his long-term friends and collaborators, and once dragged a student by her hair across the rehearsal room floor and threatened to toss another out a second-story window.
Even so, he acquired a loyal following of students and collaborators. He could be extremely patient, as he was with Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe while filming "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend".
If not for Cole, it is unlikely Gwen Verdon would have gone on to achieve fame as a dancer; without his instruction, many stage and screen actresses probably would not be remembered as dancers today. Even so, Cole never attained the recognition enjoyed by the likes of Fosse and Robbins.
Legacy
Cole virtually invented the
idiom
An idiom is a phrase or expression that largely or exclusively carries a Literal and figurative language, figurative or non-literal meaning (linguistic), meaning, rather than making any literal sense. Categorized as formulaic speech, formulaic ...
of American show dancing known as "theatrical jazz dance." He developed a mode of
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
-
ethnic
An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, re ...
-
ballet
Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...
that prevails as the dominant dancing style in today's
musicals
Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movement ...
,
film
A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...
s,
nightclub
A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a Bar (establishment), bar and discotheque (usually simply known as disco) with a dance floor, laser lighti ...
revue
A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatre, theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance, and sketch comedy, sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural pre ...
s,
television commercial
A television advertisement (also called a commercial, spot, break, advert, or ad) is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization. It conveys a message promoting, and aiming to market, a product, service or idea. ...
s and
music video
A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...
s.
["Jack Cole"]
theatredance.com, retrieved April 6, 2010 According to Martin Gottfried, Cole "won a place in choreographic history for developing the basic vocabulary of jazz dancing—the kind of dancing done in nightclubs and Broadway musicals".
Cole-style dancing is acrobatic and angular, using small groups of dancers rather than a large company; it is closer to the glittering nightclub floor show than to the ballet stage. His style required a great deal of concentration; as Florence Lessing, one of his earliest partners, observed "So many parts of the body, so many muscles moving in opposition to each other, and each in isolation from the other!"
Cole derived many of his isolations from bharata nāṭyam, and used them to show rhythmic flow throughout the body,
just as African-American dancers did after swing gave way to bop.
Cole's dancing was often described as "animalistic" or "cat-like", referring to the smooth transition of weight from foot to foot, while maintaining his torso erect.
Cole's style also featured a great deal of coiled energy; as
Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Ma ...
dance critic Debra Jowitt wrote, "Cole dancing strikes me as immensely aggressive; almost every gesture is delivered with maximum force, but then has to be stopped cold in mid-air to achieve the clarity of design he wanted...an immense counter effort has to be used to stop the gesture."
Cole generally insisted that dancers maintain a cool, cold facial expression, but demanded that they nonetheless invest every movement with meaning and emotion:
Cole's style was widely influential; as
Agnes de Mille once said, many choreographers, including herself, Fosse, and Robbins, "all stole from Jack Cole".
Cole's unmistakable style endures in the work of Gwen Verdon, Bob Fosse, Jerome Robbins,
Gower Champion,
Peter Gennaro,
Michael Bennett,
Tommy Tune
Thomas James Tune (born February 28, 1939) is an American actor, dancer, singer, theatre director, producer, and choreographer. Over the course of his career, he has won ten Tony Awards, the National Medal of Arts, and a star on the Hollywood Wal ...
,
Patsy Swayze, Alvin Ailey (who was a dancer in Cole's Broadway musical ''Jamaica''), and countless other dancers and choreographers including
Wayne Lamb. Verdon, who was Cole's assistant for seven years, said that "Jack influenced all the choreographers in the theater from Jerome Robbins,
Michael Kidd, Bob Fosse down to Michael Bennett and
Ron Field today. When you see dancing on television, that's Jack Cole."
After the disbanding of Denishawn Dance, Cole's continued working relationship with
Ted Shawn placed him in the small group of dancers that helped Shawn found the renowned summer dance hub,
Jacob's Pillow
Jacob's Pillow is a Dance studio, dance center, school and performance space located in Becket, Massachusetts, in the Berkshires. The facility itself was listed as a National Historic Landmark District in 2003.
History
The site of Jacob's Pi ...
.
79 years later, Jacob's Pillow faculty member Chet Walker, best known for performing in Bob Fosse musicals and his later creation of the tribute musical ''
Fosse'', also conceived a Jack Cole tribute musical titled ''Heat Wave: The Jack Cole Project'', given its world premiere in May 2012 at Queens Theatre in New York's
Flushing Meadows Corona Park.
Some critics challenge Cole's fixation, as a white Catholic man, on exotic ethnic dance traditions. Dance historian Constance Valis Hill allows that the elements of ethnic dance he pulled from were either "absorbed, borrowed, or appropriated."
Regardless, she says, Cole honors the aesthetics of the cultural dances he uses by weaving them into works without altering their shapes or rhythms; a critic of Indian dance likewise wrote in 1945 that Cole "
erformedauthentic Indian dance technique to swing tempos without losing the general dignity of the art."
And, as a more recent appreciation notes, Cole studied bharata nāṭyam intensively, but did not present his dancing as authentic recreations of classic Indian dance, unlike others, such as St. Denis, who had a more superficial understanding of the tradition, but presented their work as authentic.
Broadway productions
Film career
See also
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List of dancers
A
*Fred Astaire ( – ), American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer, musician and actor. He was an innovator in dance. He made 31 musical films, 10 featuring his dances with Ginger Rogers, and was honored with the fifth ...
References
External links
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Levine, Debra. "Jack Cole" The Dance Heritage Coalition, America's 100 Irreplaceable Dance Treasures, 2012*Th
Jack Cole Scrapbook Collectionis held by the
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...
Theatre and Performance Department.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cole, Jack
1911 births
1974 deaths
American choreographers
American jazz dancers
American LGBTQ dancers
Donaldson Award winners
Artists from New Brunswick, New Jersey
LGBTQ choreographers
Musical theatre choreographers
20th-century American LGBTQ people