Ivy Boudreau

Ivy Boudreau November 2016 JAZZ DANCE THROUGH THE LENS OF ANN REINKING Although Ann Reinking is well-known for her on and off-stage partnership with Bob Fosse, she is a remarkable performer and choreographer in her own right. Her dancing perfectly captured the seductive, slinky, sensual quality of Fosse’s choreography, and her choreography carried on his legacy while imbuing it with her own unique style. Reinking continues a long legacy of jazz dancers and choreographers who experimented with sharply hit isolations are set against a background of strongly held poses and smooth, liquid movement to accentuate body parts, ideas, and rhythms in the music. These isolations often took the form of small, subtle gestures and movements that were made compelling by Reinking’s commanding stage presence and intense, direct gaze. In addition to isolations, Reinking’s work emphasized the music through accents that sometimes landed on the beat, sometimes on the offbeat, and often accentuated a musical phrase or a phrase in the lyrics. She also used a strong, purposeful gaze to emphasize moments in the choreography, set a mood for the dance, draw in the audience, and provide a human perspective. These distinctive characteristics of her work create a strong sense of connection to the music, other dancers, and audience, and place it decidedly in the category of jazz dance. Reinking began her dance training at a variety of well-connected training programs throughout the West Coast, eventually moving to New York City after graduating high school at the age of 17. She made her Broadway debut in ​Cabaret​ in 1968 and after performing in several other Broadway shows, captured the attention of choreographer Bob Fosse while performing in his show ​Pippin​. She soon became his muse, protege, and romantic partner. Over the next few years, Reinking began drawing the attention of the critics for her work in ​Over Here!​, was nominated for Tony and Drama Desk awards for her work in ​Goodtime Charley​, replaced the role of Cassie in ​A Chorus Line​, and replaced Fosse’s long time on and off-stage partner Gwen Verdon in the role of Roxy Hart in ​Chicago.​ (PBS) Reinking’s choreography and dancing has a strong sense of rhythm and musicality, alternating between subtle, precise gestures and moments of stillness, and all executed with the slinky, sensual flair made popular by her mentor Bob Fosse. In the words of Charlotte d’Ambosie, who played Roxie in the touring company of the ​Chicago​ revival, choreographed by Reinking: “There’s nobody that dances like her, I don’t think. She’s so beautifully and balletically trained, and yet she dances like an animal. She has abandonment, and yet it’s in control.” (Rousuck) These qualities are a perfect fit for jazz dance, with its emphasis on a balance between tension and relaxation, stillness and motion, precision and looseness. Body isolations is a great example of this binary interplay. This command of isolations is showcased in her performance of Fosse’s “All That Jazz” from ​Chicago.​ The only moves she makes in the entire first verse involve hand gestures, weight shifts, and leg movements. However, her strong gaze and precise movements draw the viewer’s attention just as much as huge, flashy turns and kicks. She exudes a confidence that demands the viewer’s focus on something as small as a wiggle of her fingers. This wiggle of her fingers as she casually waves to an onlooker is repeated as she places her left leg into a forced arch in plie and walks her fingers seductively down her leg, maintaining eye contact with the audience the entire time. The atmosphere she creates is confident, sexual, but also casual and playful, almost as though she is telling the viewer that she is so confident in herself that she has no need of their approval, although she does demand their attention because she enjoys it. This demand of the viewer’s focus is reinforced by a strong, direct turn of the head toward the audience and one single, subtle, shift of the hips as the hand that walked down her leg remains there in stillness. These single movements of the head and hips set against the stillness of the rest of her body become much more powerful in their isolation than if they had become lost among other too many other movements. Subtle gestures return in the next moment, and Reinking’s casual, pedestrian hand waves happen right on the beat of the music, and just like the head turn and hip shift, are accentuated by stillness in the rest of her body. The wiggling fingers return as she mimics playing a piano with her arms in a wide, stylized position with elbows raised, and begins to sway her hips. The titular words “all that jazz” are accented in the music with single steps to the right and left that land exactly on the beat following each word, before she descends from the platform and begins to walk forward. This is another place in which you can see the jazz, as the movement serves multiple purposes to accent not only rhythms and ideas, but also the lyrics of the song, to create a bold visual and aural experience that knows exactly where to focus the viewer’s attention. Reinking performed a duet choreographed by Canadian musical theater star Jeff Hyslop to the song “Big Noise from Winnetka” on Hyslop’s CBC special “Dancin’ Man Superspecial” that showcases both isolations and a strong sense of rhythmic musicality. After Reinking and Hyslop enter the space, the piece begins with a smooth, simple float of the arm. This simple movement, isolated against the stillness of Reinking’s body, could be boring to watch were it not for the intensity and purpose of her eyes. The dancers begin to weave their way downstage, their footsteps precisely following the plucking of the bass and speeding up as the music increases in tempo, with their hands limply held in front of them in the classic Fosse pose. Their gaze shifts to the right and then to the left, following the path they are traveling, but remains downcast. As they return to center stage and begin a series of large jazz squares accentuated by the sway of their hips, their gaze moves up and meets the audience, while remaining calm, reserved, and collected, thereby including the audience and setting the tone of the piece as something fun and a bit sassy, but still reserved. The White City​, a work Reinking choreographed in 2011 with Melissa Thodos for Thodos Dance Chicago, effectively establishes connections within the ensemble to present a complete, unified idea to the audience. Even though this work, which tells the story of the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago, could be classified as contemporary ballet, the jazz influence can be seen through the use of isolated gestures juxtaposed against stillness, pelvises and legs placed forward of center, and some use of parallel legs. The feeling of the piece is sweet and whimsical - definitely very different from the smouldering sexuality of “Chicago” or the calm, reserved sassiness of “Big Noise from Winnetka” - but the music is highlighted through similar strategies in the movement, such as quick tempo changes, body isolations, and large movements that cover a lot of space. Broad, sweeping, but precise gestures in “The Architect’s Dilemma” section direct the viewer’s eye to the action taking place as the dancers cluster around a table, struggling to plan this great event. As the dancers move away from the table and into the space, their arms swing through a figure-eight path as their legs carry them in sweeping chasses. The figure-eight path of the arms ends up leading them back to the table, where they point directly, build into wild gesturing, and come to an abrupt stillness as one central figure raises his finger and demands attention. Jazz influence can be seen in the body positions of the ensemble as they freeze, as the face in side profile, forward-thrusting hips, and lunge on the back leg is reminiscent of Fosse’s style. This moment of the central figure raising his finger is also an excellent example of a gesture being accentuated by surrounding stillness. Another example of an intentional gesture emphasized by stillness can be seen in the “Opening Day” section, as the dancers move through the space in expansive runs, attitude turns, reaches, and spirals, accentuated by brief, sharp, pauses and looks. Toward the beginning of the section, a group of three dancers move through the space through emboites and fouettes en avant paired with reaching, sweeping arms. Then they step out into a moment of stillness, pointing at something in the distance that has caught their eye, before looking sharply in the other direction and running offstage. This phrase is repeated by two other groups of dancers before transitioning into a sweeping, graceful unison section full of soutenou turns, reaching arms, and attitudes derriere. This section also concludes with the dancers suddenly pointing at something in the distance, providing a moment of accentuated contrast that calls attention to their excitement and wonder at being in a place full of thrilling sights. Jazz was born from dance traditions, primarily African and social dance, that highly value human connections. Reinking’s dancing and choreography, with their sense of connection to the audience and to the other dancers sharing the space, embody this idea. The audience is drawn together with the dancers to create a unified sense of purpose and story behind the movement. This is accomplished in Reinking’s solo work through her precise, purposeful gaze, and expands in her ensemble work (both choreographic and performance) to include a unity of purpose among the movements and motives of all the dancers. These traditions dance also value musicality and rhythm, and Reinking does not disappoint in this area either. Her body isolations are always in flawless agreement with the music, and help focus the audience’s attention on particular aspects of the music or words in the lyrics. Through a sense of connection to the music and her fellow dancers, Reinking’s work embodies connection - an important ideal of jazz dance. Bibliography “Bebe Neuwrith All That Jazz.” YouTube, uploaded by …, 7 Nov 2008, www.​youtu.be/zg0oy53kpUw​. “Excerpts of “The White City.” YouTube, uploaded by Thodos Dance Chicago - current repertory, 18 April 2011, ​www.​youtu.be/LAaFoNj0e2c​. “Ann Reinking does ‘All That Jazz’ RARE.” YouTube, uploaded by Niall Kinsella, 22 Feb 2010, www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZVyq2ooPI4 “The Stars: Ann Reinking.” ​PBS​, 2016. ​www.pbs.org/wnet/broadway/stars/ann-reinking/ “Ann Reinking dancing to ‘Gotta Get Down.’ YouTube, uploaded by Niall Kinsella, 22 Feb 2010, www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIx8-QiROk4 Rousuck, J. Wynn. “Following in the footsteps of Bob Fosse Stage: Dancer and choreographer Ann Reinking has made her mark on the Broadway revival of “Chicago”, but she gives her late mentor most of the credit.” ​The Baltimore Sun,​ 13 April 1997.