Cole's Influence On American Culture

There are many important contributors to the jazz genre that have changed the way it is performed today. Two of the most famous jazz choreographers are Bob Fosse and Katherine Dunham. They introduced unique techniques that are recognized in today’s theatrical jazz productions. Although, there are many contributors to modern jazz, Fosse and Dunham dominated the culture of the mid 1900s Broadway productions and left a lasting impact on producers and choreographers of and after their time.

Another quality was that of supreme strength in movement. His dancers were rock solid, and Graciela Daniele, the well-known choreographer and director of musicals at Lincoln Center, felt that Cole dancers were "warriors." An excellent description of this aspect of the Cole style was given by critic Debra Jowitt, who said " 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."

After viewing Chicago, a musical originally created by Bob Fosse, there were many similarities and differences with that of The Lion King, Dancin’ and West Side Story. The musical Chicago, choreographed by Rob Marshall came from Bob Fosse, the original creator of the musical Chicago. Dancers within this musical learned to how to execute detailed movements through training in modern dance, ballet, and jazz dancing. During the musical, fosse used movements of dance to tell the story and the mood of the musical. Just like Fosse’s work of Dancin, in Chicago he developed concepts creating dance sequences that were completely unrelated to each other.

One of the primary ways in which Tap, swing and jazz dance deviate completely from ballet are how the styles organically developed into social dances. Ballet started as a social court dance however at it’s inception was segregated from it’s roots as something purely performative. Jazz dance forms on the other hand such as tap dance kept many of the swing vernaculars which created them in their performance. That is to say that when watching a tap dancer perform on stage (with a traditional deportment) and then watching a swing dancer in a dance hall, one can see the similarities in movement qualities and even certain steps (such as the “shim sham” or “Attack Annies”). From this it can be argued that Tap dancers (as well as all vernacular jazz dancers of the day) question what dance is by keeping its social roots alive even after it had transitioned onto the stage. The fact that tap dance was a part of the vernacular dance of the day (and still had a casual culture about it) allowed that the Nicholas Brothers to learn to dance without ever taking a class (Frank 67). Where as a ballet dancer may spend long hours training at the bar and in class Fayard Nicholas learned to tap dance purely through watching

Yet another famous dance that evolved was the “Big Apple”, which originated in a small southern town. A group circle dance, it gave couples the opportunity to show off, or “shine”. It incorporated swing early swing steps and originally required a “caller”. Frankie Manning is accredited to bringing the Big Apple to New York and popularizing the dance with white culture.

While Kylie Jenner’s faux dreadlocks for her ‘rebel-themed’ Teen Vogue photoshoot were described as beautiful, edgy, and raw by various style magazines, Zendaya Coleman’s dreadlocks she wore on the Oscars red carpet were described as making her look like she “smells like patchouli oil. Or, weed," by Fashion Police host Giuliana Rancic. America loves to appropriate black culture, even when black people themselves, don’t receive the same amount of love from America. From box braids to dashikis, black culture has been stolen by America and used for their own personal gain, disregarding the historical context and meaning of these traditions or blatantly perpetuating stereotypes.

Alvin Ailey is known for his huge impact in the dance world. His insight on life in the rural South is what inspired him to create some of his best choreographies. Alvin Ailey’s first encounter to dance was recitals of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and Katherine Dunham Dance Company. He promoted modern dance and introduced African-American in participating in modern dance. Ailey often felt that African-Americans had limited opportunities—he wanted to change that. One of Ailey’s goals was creating his own modern dance theater. Which is famously known as the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater or AAADT. The American Dance Theater (or AAADT) was founded by Alvin Ailey in 1958. It consists of thirty dancers led by Robert Battle. It was also the first professional company to welcome dancers of different ethnical backgrounds. The purpose of this theater was to show other choreographers the exquisiteness of African-Americans as well as show their sophisticated style in dancing. By founding his own theater, Ailey wanted to show others the many talents African-American dancers could display. He also wanted to express the struggles that African-Americans faced. While, his performances were based on African-Americans’ struggle for freedom and achieving a sustain life they were also about expressing their cultural heritage. Throughout his choreography Ailey’s performances created raw emotions that the audience could relate to. His dancing style was based on his memories of growing up

Nat king Cole is arguably one of the greatest singers who ever lived. known as one of the best and most influential singer/pianist. Nathaniel Adams Coles was born in Montgomery, Alabama on March 17, 1919. Being one out of the five children of Edward Coles and Perlina Coles. Both parents were actively engaged in the religious life. Mr. Coles was actually a Baptist Pastor and Mrs. Coles was a church choir director.

The studio became a success that they opened a second studio nearby.
 In the late 1930’s Kelly found his way to the Broadway stage with small roles in Leave It to Me. Nevertheless in 1939, Kelly got his big break in Broadway with William Saroyan’s Time of Your Life casting him the role of Harry the cheerful hoofer. Kelly also landed a lead role of the musical Pal Joey. John Martin in the New York Times writes about his performance: “It was appealing to be able to use the character to control the audience… if Kelly were to be evaluated exclusively by his performance of dance routines, he still would be a good dancer… a tap dancer who can illustrate his own routines and turn them into an integral element of imaginative theatrical is to unique.” Louis B Mayer, an MGM executive, caught Kelly’s excellent performance and offered Kelly a movie contract with them. 
 After being honored for his choreography in Best Foot Forward on Broadway, Kelly made his film debut called For Me and My Gal in 1941which starred Judy Garland. Kelly had a unique style and was compared to another famous film dancer, Fred Astaire. Unlike Astaire, an older friend of Kelly, top hat and tails were not his style. Kelly was more of sport shirt and slacks,

Music influnced African American culture by allowing them to express themselves in a new way-specifically, through jazz. This also was one of the first times blacks and whites could both come together and embrace the same topic. Like the document says on page 59, "...originated by blacks but embraced by whites." One challenge these artists faced was the on-going segregation. For example, the text on page 56 says, "On one side, the word 'white' was painted, and on the other, the word, 'colored.'" This shows, how the issue of racism and separation of races continued. But this had a positive impact. Like the text says on page 59, "...when confronted with racism, he 'took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues." This shows it was possible

When I think of music in the late 1940’s to 1960’s the talented jazz performer, and pop artist that comes to my mind is Nat “King” Cole.

Fred Astaire had a distinct dancing style- one of lightness and grace. Astaire himself describes his own way of dancing in his autobiography Steps in Time; “I have no desire to prove anything by dancing. I have never used it as an outlet or a means of expressing myself. I just dance. I just put my feet in the air and move them around.” Astaire never wanted to convey a dramatic emotion behind his dance, he just wanted to move, to experience motion and this is one of the reasons that his dancing style is so distinct and he created such a style of grace. Astaire’s choreography is unique because he took steps from ballroom dancing, tap dancing, and many other

Baggy pants sideways flat bill hats oversized clothing to skinny jeans and named brands. Culture around is forever changing one way to see this is through fashion and the group that has the most influence on this is in the music industry more specifically the rap and hip hop industry. The influence of Rap and Hip Hop on the world primarily in the U.S. not only impacts the music industry but culture ,and peoples perspective on fashion throughout the decades. The culture of rap and hip hop originated in Harlem New York birthed in urban areas with a lot of different perspectives from looking out and in. In the early 80s the grandparents of all this were B boys they brought the street where fashion to the market with wearing name brand clothing

We welcome you to join us in taking part in reading the Common Book, and participating in our schedule of events this semester in order to contemplate the influences of America's culture on many of her southern brothers and sisters, and the rich heritage that they lie weave into the American

It was during this time that man who later came to be known as the “Father of Theatrical Jazz Dance”, Jack Cole, was busy developing his technique. Jack Cole had studied modern, ballet, and ethnic dance, had been a student at Denishawn and had done choreographic work in the nightclub scene. In the 1940’s there was a serious demand for groups of trained dancers for film work and Jack Cole was the one who started developing these trained jazz dancers for the Hollywood movie musicals. Also, during this time Gene Kelly, began making his mark as a dancer in Hollywood musicals. His impact on jazz was his individual, energetic dance style that combined athletic, gymnastic qualities with jazz and tap.