1st Year - Jack Cole

Jack Cole

1911-1974

Jack Cole (1911-1974) will always be remembered as the prime innovator of theatrical jazz dance. He created a look that blended many movement styles of other ethnic dance forms with uniquely American Jazz music and theatrical presentations. Although he will be remembered more for the stars he worked with, his ability to enrich his projects with individual style and character will always make him one of the pioneer choreographers of our time. 

In the Beginning 

John Ewing Richter (who later changed his name to Jack Cole) was born April 27, 1911 in New Brunswick, New York. He was not a well known dancer/choreographer. In fact you may not have heard of him at all.  Some of his fellow dancers that followed him into choreography became quite famous, such as Bob Fosse, Jerome Robbins, Merce Cunningham and Paul Taylor.  The stars he trained including Marilyn Monroe, Rita Hayworth, Betty Grable and Gwen Verdon are much better known. 

There are many reasons for his lack of notoriety, or that he is not as well-known as his fellow choreographers is (1) Jack Cole did not have the big hit Broadway show. Also, (2) his style was never codified; meaning it was never standardised or notated like ballet.  (3) He was primarily employed as a choreographer, not director/choreographer as Fosse or Robbins, Michael Bennett or Gower Champion (4) he preferred to present his work in nightclubs, where critics rarely attended or reviewed in those days. (5) The prevailing dance style on Broadway in that era was big spectacles like Ziegfeld or Busby Berkeley.  Cole was the opposite of spectacle. Because he lacked name recognition and was “only a choreographer”, producers were not inclined to risk their profits to a new, ‘artsy” dance style.  Lastly he was in an era that was changing.  His dance was created with jazz, swing, exotic and ethnic music.  The 50s were ushering in rock n roll, and pop music.  That changed the type of movement that was being performed in night clubs, social dance and on stage. But, nevertheless he is credited with truly developing the style of jazz dancing. He is called the “Father of Jazz Dance”. 

Jack Cole first began his training as a Modern dancer with Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn in what was called the Denishawn Dance Company.  Six (6) weeks after starting his Modern Dance training he was put into a performance piece by choreographer Ted Shawn.  This was unheard of once you think how many years dancers usually train before they first perform. He continued to perform with Dennishawn from 1930 through 1933.  He was a strong performer but lacked the ability to blend with ensemble work.  He was getting recognised as a dancer and even had his name appear above the title as “J. Ewing Cole” in Dennishawn at some engagements.  Ted Shawn would later admit that Cole was “too much to handle” which is telling of his personality.  Cole was also tired of “Miss Ruth’s” style of modern dance using “faux” (pretend) oriental dancing.  Cole didn’t like doing anything “faux” so he pursued a more authentic technique of dance. 

In 1933 Cole would move on to the Doris Humphrey/Charles Weideman Modern Dance Company in New York.  He would get his first taste of Broadway by performing in The School for Husbands, a Humphrey-Weidman choreographic venture. He was fired after six months for chronic tardiness.  But they saw his talent. They encouraged him to train in other styles.  So Cole trained in the East Indian dance of “bharata natyam”, with its heavy rhythms and muscle isolation techniques This influence would be pivotal in the development of his choreography style. He would also frequently visit Harlem’s Savoy Ballroom to watch the Lindy hoppers in action.  That influence can be seen in much of his work. 

He eventually left the modern dance world that he loved for a commercial dance career in nightclubs. He needed to make more money than what the modern dance world was paying at that time. And he wanted to develop his own authentic style. The nightclubs paid better than the theatre. Many dancers made their money by teaching in studios and performing in more lucrative opportunities. So, in the late 1930s he created his own company, The Jack Cole Dancers and performed in nightclubs from New York to Los Angeles and Havana. His first major nightclub performance with his own choreography was New York’s famed Rainbow Room on New Year’s Eve, 1937 (pictured left). He blended the movements of East Indian dances to the swing of jazz music.  A major departure from the status quo in commercial dance where tap and jazzy routines dominated a show with pretty, although non-trained dancers.  Cole rapidly became a favourite of audiences across the U.S.

 He would perform in Broadway musicals through the 1930s. The Broadway revue Ziegfeld Follies of 1943 featured his piece “Marriage of a Solid Sender”, considered by some to be the first successful artistic jazz dance staged for Broadway. He would eventually choreograph over a dozen Broadway shows.  Two of the most famous were A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Man of La Mancha for which he received his only Tony nomination for Choreography in 1966.  But his style is best illustrated in his work on Kismet, both the stage and movie versions.  He used his East Indian influences to their best advantage. He would spend the 1940s and 1950s bouncing back and forth between Broadway and Hollywood with his choreography talent.

Developing the “Cole Style”

 Jack Cole developed an entirely personal mode of dancing that combined, modern, lindy hop, swing, ethnic, acrobatics and ballet that prevails as the dominant look of and technique for jazz dancing today. His highly individual style emphasised elements such as; isolations, low centre of gravity with deep plies, angled foot placements, quick directional changes, India's bharata natyam and long knee slides. He would be known for huge leaps from a deep plié, rapid direction changes, syncopation and isolations of the head, arms and fingers. His rigorous warm-ups were legendary. 
From Cole's modern training, he brought a low sense of gravity. The use of deep plié gives jazz its sense of power and explosiveness. He made use of a wide and low second position as well as a parallel fourth position. The “jazz line” uses an inward rotation and angled foot placement. From his East Indian dance training, Cole borrowed a refined use of isolation, specifically the neck, shoulders, ribs and hips. Today, isolations are an integral part of jazz classes. Every beginning dancer becomes adept at isolations. The use of knee slides and floor work came from Cole's acrobatic experience. From his experience with swing and lindy hop dancing at the Savoy Nightclub in Harlem in the 30s and 40s he brings syncopation and complex rhythms. 

Cole's mastery of India's bharata natyam greatly influenced his style. He set authentic East Indian dance to contemporary American jazz music and combined the movements with African-American and other ethnic dance characteristics.  All these details of isolations, low centre of gravity with deep plies  angled foot placements, quick directional changes, and long knee slides are common traits and are found in the jazz dance genes of today. 
This was the first formation of a serviceable theatrical jazz dance style. It became known by many as the "Cole Style" but Cole himself called it "urban folk dance”. So the jazz that we know today started in Jack Cole’s apartment on Madison Avenue in New York in the 1930s. 

Choreographer in Demand 

Jack Cole eventually moved to Hollywood where he would end up choreographing hundreds of movies, television, nightclub and theatrical shows. He was put under contract as the Dance Director of Columbia Pictures, one of the top studios at that time.  He demanded that the studio put dancers on contract, which was unheard of then. 

 His dancers were legendary due to the rigorous training, expansive technique and difficult rehearsals that forged these powerful dancers into what one director called “warriors”.  They were known for their aggressive, strong and powerful performance qualities.  These dancers were not the smiling chorus dancers of previous years.  They performed with a cool, piercing gaze.  The directors loved that intensity. But only stars were put on long term contracts. His troupe of dancers was the top talent in town. His key dancer and primary assistant was Gwen Verdon (with Danny Kaye from Cole’s On The Riviera) She would later work with and marry Bob Fosse, another pioneer in jazz dance. They trained with Cole so they would be able to do any style that he needed for any picture. Being a “Jack Cole Dancer” would be the best job any dancer could have in those days. After 4 years at Columbia Pictures and his proven success of establishing contract dancers, he went to Twentieth Century Fox and did the same thing. His approach to always having a group of top dancers ready to perform in any movie under Jack Cole made good business sense. 

He would work un-credited, meaning his name would not appear in the credits of the film, for numerous shows at the stars’ request. His talent was so valued by the star, ensuring the name talent looked good, that he would be asked to assist on many of Hollywood’s most famous movies.  His most famous star that required his constant choreographic attention was Marilyn Monroe. His most famous Monroe film; Gentlemen Prefer Blonds (pictured left working with Cole 1953) would have Cole staging the famous “Diamonds” number which became Monroe’s signature. Monroe was so anxious about her performance that she would request Cole on every movie where staged movement was required. He would eventually do six (6) films with Marilyn Monroe.  His famous work with Marilyn Monroe happened at Twentieth Century Fox.    Hollywood music arranger Peter Matz would say, "The persona Marilyn showed in her film musicals was Jack Cole. He grabbed on to something in her. She followed everything he gave her. Phrasing! The gestures, the walk. All of it!” 

His Legacy 

Cole died February 17, 1974 at the age of 73. Sadly, knowledge of Jack Cole seems limited to jazz dance aficionados and college dance history students. Cole played a key role in training many leading theatrical dancers, including Carol Haney and Gwen Verdon, Bob Fosse, Jerome Robbins and many others.  Every jazz class shows evidence of his legacy. From the deep plié in second position to shoulder and head isolation in the warm up - all jazz dance classes are an extension of Jack Cole's ingenuity.

When we look at the family tree of jazz dance, we see Jack Cole at the base. When we look at the Broadway choreography of today, we owe much of that to Jack Cole too. Turning jazz dance into a technique helped it to flourish. Every jazz dance technique class is a descendent of one man's creativity. That man is the Father of Jazz Dance: Jack Cole.

Sources: 

• Denrick, John. Who's Who in Musicals: Additional Bios II, 2002
• Dalzell, Jenny, How I teach Jack Cole jazz, Dance Teacher Magazine, Aug. 2012
• JacobsPillow.org, Director of Preservation lecture with Norton Owen
• The Tradition: America’s Pioneer dance artists, www.theaterdance.com
• Rizzuto, Rachel,  Jack Cole: The father of theatrical jazz dance, Dance Teacher Magazine, September 2013
• Interview: the Jack Cole Project: Queens Theater, by Chet Walker
• Levine, Debra, “Jack Cole Made Marilyn Monroe Move” Los Angeles Times, Aug. 9, 2009
• Boross, Bob, Comments on Jazz Dance 1996-2014, 2015, pp 125-133.
• Truner Classic Movies .tcm.com, Fristoe, Roger; “Choreography by Jack Cole”
• Guarino, Lindsay & Oliver, Wendy, Darkenwald, Teal, Jazz Dance: A history of the roots and branches Jack Cole and Theatrical Jazz Dance, pp 82-88
• Images: Getty Images, Maurice Seymor, Gjon Mili at Life Magazine, Nritya Gharana

Answer the below 2 Questions in 400 words:

1.            What are three qualities that make Jack Cole's choreography unique?

2.            How do you think these qualities are reflected in your Jason Derulo Routine?

The blog of 400 words to answer the two questions mentioned earlier is due by Friday 6th March at 8.30am. 

Please send your published blog link to the email address here.