By Kenneth Jones
06 Oct 2009
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| Ann Reinking |
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| Photo by Aubrey Reuben |
Tony Award-winning choreographer Ann Reinking will choreograph Fosse Trilogy, three Bob Fosse pieces, for Thodos Dance Chicago's fall concert, to play Nov. 13 and 28.
The Nov. 13 performance will play North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie, IL. The Nov. 28 performance will play Harris Theater for Music and Dance in downtown Chicago.
For more information, visit www.northshorecenter.org or www.harristheaterchicago.org or www.thodosdancechicago.org.
According to the troupe, "Reinking will collaborate with Thodos Dance Chicago to reconstruct a trio of short dances by the legendary Bob Fosse — Cool Hand Luke, Mexican Breakfast and Tijuana Shuffle — two of which have never been performed on the live stage." The works include world-premiere transition choreography.
The program also features the Chicago premiere of Melissa Thodos' Driven as well as company premieres of three dances from Thodos Dance Chicago's acclaimed New Dances 2009 choreography performance series: Awakening, set to the music of Philip Glass, by Wade Schaaf; Architecture: Splintered and Cracked by award winning choreographer Jessica Miller Tomlinson; and Reflect, a collaborative work by Mollie Mock and Jeremy Blair, set to an original score by TDC's resident composer John Nevin.
The concert also features reprises of audience favorites: Nine by Brock Clawson, and Departurepoint by Ron De Jesús.
A Broadway and film veteran, Reinking won a Tony Award for Best Choreography for the Broadway revival of the Bob Fosse musical Chicago in 1997, and has been Tony nominated as Best Actress (Goodtime Charley), Best Featured Actress (Dancin') and Best Director (Fosse). Her previous work in the city of Chicago includes the world premieres of CAUTION: Side Effects in 2004 and Rossini Recess – What Dancers Would Do If They Still Could Go Out and Play in 2007, both for Thodos Dance Chicago (TDC), as well as choreographer of Pal Joey at the Goodman Theatre in 1988 and 2001's Kander & Ebb world premiere of The Visit, also at the Goodman (and its revised version in 2009 at the Signature Theatre in Arlington, VA).
Bob Fosse, a native Chicagoan, was born June 23, 1927. Following a career as a dancer, Fosse went on to win an Academy Award in 1973 for directing the movie "Cabaret," three Emmy awards for directing, producing and choreographing Liza Minnelli's TV special "Liza With a Z," and two Tony Awards for directing and choreographing Pippin. Fosse's other Broadway shows include Sweet Charity (1965), Chicago (1975) and Dancin' (1978), as well was Big Deal, Little Me, How to Succeed in Business… and more. Fosse's life is seen in the semi-autobiographical movie "All That Jazz" (1979), which he directed and co-wrote. It was Academy Award-nominated for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay, among other nominations. A 1998 revue, Fosse, collected his most famous dance works into one show for which Ann Reinking won a Tony nomination as Best Director. It won the 1999 Tony Award for Best Musical. Fosse died in 1987 during the run of a revival of Sweet Charity.
