Musical theatre dance
Dance in the musical grew out of American vaudeville, minstrel shows and the social dances of the ragtime era. The Black Crook (1866) is often called the first American musical. Early vocabulary included tap, soft shoe, buck and wing and the cakewalk, plus ballroom dances such as the Castle Walk popularised by Irene and Vernon Castle.
Over the twentieth century dance moved from an afterthought to a force steering the show: Agnes de Mille's dream ballet in Oklahoma! and Jerome Robbins's West Side Story tied movement to plot and character, and fostered the singer-actor-dancer "triple threat". Bob Fosse developed a recognisable style of angles, shuffles, rolled wrists and bowler hats. It is practised today on Broadway and the West End.
Sources
- Musical theatre dance (Wikipedia)
- Dance in Musical Theatre: A History of the Body in Movement (University of Portsmouth research portal)
- 13 Choreographers Every Broadway Fan Should Know (Playbill)
- V&A Theatre and Performance collections
Organisations connected with this dance
- Jerome Robbins Dance Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
- V&A Theatre and Performance collections
- Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC)
Listed as references; being listed is not an endorsement by or of the organisation.