Bob Fosse

Bob Fosse is known as one of the greatest pioneers of jazz dance. He was born on June 23rd 1927. He was born in Chicago he admired the great tap dancer Fred Astaire and wanted to follow in his footsteps with the hope of becoming a great dancer himself. For this to be even attempted he moved to New York early on in his life.
He first attempted to make it as an actor but found he wasn’t offered enough roles to continue this as a career his next move was to choreograph the Pyjama game a musical that is still popular today. Perhaps his most famous musical ‘Chicago’ is what most people know Fosse for. And its in this musical his influence on the world of jazz is really shown. His evolution of jazz dance meant that routines were more stylised and specific to the story that was attempting to be told as opposed to the more improvised style of jazz previously seen. Some admirers of his work say that Fosse added ‘sex appeal’ something that hadn’t been allowed into the world of jazz before.
Fosse’s style of jazz meant a lot more people wanted to learn the dance because now it was more appealing to younger people searching for a more expressive style of dance. Some of his moves such as jazz hands have stuck around and become a massive part in jazz dance.
Fosse was drug addict and self confessed womanizer which was shown clearly in his autobiographical film ‘all that jazz’. However its his struggle though life that makes his amazing work even more admirable.