Jack Cole (choreographer) - Legacy

Legacy

Cole virtually invented the idiom of American show dancing known as "theatrical jazz dance." He developed a mode of jazz-ethnic-ballet that prevails as the dominant dancing style in today's musicals, films, nightclub revues, television commercials and music videos. According to Martin Gottfried, Cole "won a place in choreographic history for developing the basic vocabulary of jazz dancing-the kind of dancing done in nightclubs and Broadway musicals."

Cole-style dancing is acrobatic and angular, using small groups of dancers rather than a large company; it is closer to the glittering nightclub floor show rather than to the ballet stage.

Cole is remembered as the prime innovator of the theatrical jazz dance heritage.

Cole's unmistakable style endures in the work of Gwen Verdon, Bob Fosse, Jerome Robbins, Gower Champion, Peter Gennaro, Michael Bennett, Tommy Tune, Alvin Ailey (who was a dancer in the musical Jamaica), and countless other dancers and choreographers. Verdon said that "Jack influenced all the choreographers in the theater from Jerome Robbins, Michael Kidd, Bob Fosse down to Michael Bennett and Ron Field today. When you see dancing on television, that's Jack Cole." Verdon was Cole's assistant for seven years.

If not for Cole, it is unlikely Gwen Verdon would have gone on to achieve fame as a dancer; without his instruction, many now-immortal stage and screen actresses, probably would not be remembered as dancers today.

One of Cole's most memorable choreographic highlights is "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend" for Marilyn Monroe in the film musical Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. The number has been famously reinterpreted by Madonna for her music video of "Material Girl."

Jack Cole made a name for himself in Hollywood by establishing a dance-training workshop at Columbia Pictures, his pupils included Carol Haney.

Cole and his legacy is the subject of a new dance musical currently in development by Queens Theatre and WALKERDANCE called Heat Wave: The Jack Cole Project. The musical tribute will have its world premiere in May 2012 at Queens Theatre in New York's Flushing Meadows Corona Park. There is talk of a transfer to Broadway.