Taylor Baskin

MTD Jack Cole Paper

2/26/14

The legendary and brilliant dancer and choreographer, Jack Cole, transformed the

world of dance for over four decades. Cole, who is often referred to as the Father of Jazz

Dance, essentially created the jazz style that is most commonly used by dancers today.

Although he does not always receive all of the credit for the groundbreaking work that he

has done, famous and prestigious choreographers and dancers such as Bob Fosse, Alvin

Ailey, and Gwen Verdon all became very successful using the basis of Jack Coles

technique and style of jazz dance. From nightclubs, to Broadway, to the silver screen and

Hollywood, Cole astounded his audiences leaving a mark on the standard of jazz dance

today.

Jack Cole was born on April 27th 1911 in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Cole, who

was originally known as John Ewing Richter, was an only child and came from a broken

home. He attended a Catholic school for most of his childhood until he was enrolled into

a military academy. Cole, who was a strange looking man at the time, was known for his

lazy eye (which he got surgery for later on in life), his high cheekbones, and theatrical,

dramatic look. He was also unique in the way that he dressed wearing unconventional

suits, unusual moccasins, and a very distinguishable cropped hair cut. His appearance and

the pressures of being in a military academy added to the young Coles angsty personality

and feelings of inadequacy. Later on Cole attended Colombia University in New York,

but soon dropped out to pursue a career in dance. Since this was around the time of the
Great Depression, pursuing a career in dance, especially for a man, was viewed as a weak

thing to do.

However, Cole was not fazed by this and did not let the judgment of others affect

his passions and dreams of becoming a professional dancer. Initially influenced and

inspired after seeing a performance by the Denishawn dance company, he was invited by

the owners of that company, Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn, to dance with the ensemble.

In addition, Cole was asked by Ted to perform in his all male dance company with the

Men Dancers along with Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman when the Denishawn

troupe separated (Boross). It was during this time that Jack paid close attention to the

choreography and architecture of Humphreys work, which he would use later on

throughout his career. Cole also was exposed to ethnic choreography during his time

dancing for Denishawn, which greatly influenced his future work. Following in the path

which Denishawn led him, Cole traveled to India to study an Eastern Indian dance form

called bharata ntyam with Uday Shankar and La Meri (Boross). During this period Cole

learned and mastered several techniques and movements such as subtle shoulder and hip

isolations, rippling arm movements, and cobra head movements. Jack Cole later traveled

back to New York only this time to study the Lindy Hoppers in Harlem at the Savoy

Ballroom. This inspired Cole to begin dancing in nightclubs with Florence Lessing and

Alice Dudley. At this point in his career, Cole was not performing the standard

commercial dance that was expected. He was far ahead of his predecessors and

introduced a new form of dance based off of all of the accumulated things and

movements he had studied and learned throughout the years.

and unorthodox. Cole, who called his new style urban folk dance, combined modern

dance, lindy hop, flamenco, and even bharata ntyam elements in his choreography

(Loney 154). In his new style of jazz dance Cole would move in pli, use isolation

techniques, and compress his energy (Boross). Cole also used a different way of

manipulating rhythms and syncopations, attacking the piece of choreography, and using

different levels spatially (Boross). Coles low to the ground and horizontal movements in

a wide and low second position, often made him look animalistic and sensual while

dancing. Additionally, Cole coined the now well-known parallel fourth position in jazz

dance (Boross). All of these specific, low to the ground, isolated, slinky movements

differentiated Coles newfound jazz dancing from typical ballet where dancers perform in

a vertical direction rather than horizontal. Although Coles choreography was low to the

ground and the dancers weight centers were being pulled down, dancers were instructed

to keep their torsos upright (Boross). This gave the impression of a very polished look up

top with an opposing structure happening down below. Jack Cole also emphasized arm

and shoulder movements into his pieces which allowed him to draw the audiences eyes to

a specific part of the body that he wanted them to see at the moment (Loney 155). People

often compare these movements to the movement of a cat; hence his animalistic

choreography. Knee slides, leaps, and choreography on the floor were also commonly

seen in Jacks work. Cole also disposed of the happy smiling face used in most dance

routines at the time. Nat Horne, a jazz teacher who worked with Cole says that, Instead,

he liked that cool, cold look. Buteven though he wanted that cool, cold look -

underneath there was a fire in the center of the body, and the feeling of the shoulder
isolation coming from the center. Sometimes the face would never change expression, but

you could just see the body curl into the contraction (Boross). Cole also uses a good deal

of swing in his choreography, derived from the lindy hop, which he spent time studying

at the Savoy Ballroom. Similarly, Cole liked to use slow sensual movements, which lead

right into a sharp attack movement just like we see in Joes choreography to Stepping

Out With My Baby.

Audiences everywhere applauded Coles new form of theatrical jazz dance, which

boosted his career. Coles first successful artistic jazz choreography appeared in the

Broadway revue of The Ziegfeld Follies in 1943, which caused the entertainment industry

to scoop Cole and his work up (Boross). After spending time performing in high-end

New York City nightclubs, such as The Rainbow Room, Cole moved on to Broadway and

Hollywood. He is known for choreographing a wealth of Broadway shows; some of

which include, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Man of La Mancha,

Kismet, and Alive and Kicking. As if conquering Broadway wasnt enough, Cole dappled

in the film industry bringing jazz dance alive on screen. Some of his silver screen works

include, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Les Girls, and Theres No Business Like Show

Business. Cole was very smart about the way he worked on screen and was known for

taking weak dancers like Marilyn Monroe and Rita Hayworth and making them look like

impeccable dancers and incredibly sexy in the movies. He wisely used his isolation

technique and specific arm placements to make the women look sexy, flawless,

irresistible, and powerful by having them do choreography as simple as shrugs, skips,

shimmies, and walks (Levine). The beautiful, yet unstable Marilyn Monroe became

completely dependent on Cole and the way he made her look after working on
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and got him to be her coach on sets of several of her films.

However, Cole was not crazy about working in Hollywood and eventually left the film

industry. He has said, I was wasting a lot of time doing things for people who

were not really talented. It was possible to make somebody look beautiful

especially in film-you cant do it in theater- to take people who are the right

type and who have a kind of cinematic quality and make quite a lot of things

happen (Kobal 604).

Although the legendary and innovative Jack Cole was the real Father

of Jazz, he is more often than not, overlooked in dance history. Though it is

shocking and frustrating, there are several reasons for this. Unfortunately,

one being that Jack Cole never had a smash hit Broadway show. Those who

followed in Coles footsteps and have used his techniques such as Michael

Kidd, Jerome Robbins, and Bob Fosse all had big hits at the Broadway box

office like A Chorus Line, West Side Story, and Sweet Charity (Boross).

Another reason is because during Coles time, Florenz Ziegfeld was topping

the box office and Coles specific form of jazz did not fit in with most of the

shows that were being produced (Boross).

In conclusion, the astounding dancer, choreographer, and innovator,

Jack Cole, has changed the world of dance. Without his specific, sensual,

ethnic, animalistic, sharp style jazz dance would be completely different than

it is today. It is hard to believe with the amount of stunning choreography and

masterpieces that he has created, that he lacks notoriety, but it is a sad

truth. If it were not for Cole, the Father of Jazz, Bob Fosse, Gwen Verdon,

and Jerome Robbins would probably not have made the impact that they did

in the industry. It is the responsibility of all dancers today to give Cole the
credit he deserves for innovating theatrical jazz dance and keep his work

alive.
WORKS CITED

Boross, Bob. "Bob Boross Freestyle Jazz Dance." Jack Cole, Jazz Dance

Choreographer, Film Choreographer. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2014.

"Kismet (1955) - Not Since Nineveh Dance - Jack Cole Choreography." YouTube.

YouTube, 10 Dec. 2011. Web. 01 Mar. 2014.

Kobal, John. People Will Talk. New York: Knopf, 1985. Print.

Levine, Debra. "Jack Cole (1911-1974)." Danceheritage.org. Dance Heritage Coalition,

n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2014.

Loney, Glenn Meredith. Unsung Genius: The Passion of Dancer-choreographer Jack

Cole. New York: F. Watts, 1984. Print.

"Marilyn Monroe - Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend - Valentine Gift - Movie Scene

HD." YouTube. YouTube, 13 Feb. 2014. Web. 01 Mar. 2014.