Ann Reinking: influences, peers and legacy

Every connection with its receipt

Ann Reinking was the great interpreter and custodian of the Fosse vocabulary — a Seattle-born ballet student who became Roxie Hart, then rebuilt Chicago for a new century and won a Tony for it. This mix traces the lineage behind her hip rolls and turned-in knees, the Pacific Northwest dance world she came out of, and the stage-and-screen legacy her 1996 revival set in motion.

The Kynda mix for Ann Reinking

• Key Influence · Cabaret by Bob Fosse (1972). Fosse is the whole axis of Reinking's career: she danced for him in Pippin, Chicago and Dancin', became his partner, and later rebuilt Chicago "in the style of Bob Fosse." Cabaret is the purest distillation of his screen grammar — isolations, bowler hats, splayed fingers, chairs as props, sleaze staged with surgical control. Every angled wrist Reinking later taught a new generation of Roxies descends from this vocabulary.
• Influencia Obscura · Kismet by Jack Cole (1953). Cole is theatrical jazz dance's hidden father and the man Fosse openly borrowed from — the turned-in knees, snake arms, percussive isolations and crouched, low-center attack all originate with him. Audiences who know Reinking's Chicago rarely know they are watching Cole filtered through Fosse. Kismet's sinuous, East-inflected numbers show the source material before Broadway sanded it into a brand.
• Local Roots · The Hard Nut by Mark Morris (1991). Morris grew up in Seattle a generation behind Reinking, in the same mid-century Pacific Northwest dance ecosystem of local studios and touring ballet. The Hard Nut's comic-book Nutcracker shows that scene's irreverence toward classical propriety — the same willingness to keep the technique and ditch the piety that let a Seattle ballet girl end up rolling her hips in a Kander and Ebb vaudeville.
• Beyond the Medium · The Threepenny Opera by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill (1928). Chicago is Brecht in sequins: numbers announced to the audience, characters as types, murder played as entertainment, moral judgment handed to the spectator. Kander and Ebb's vaudeville frame descends directly from Weimar cabaret and Brechtian presentation, and Reinking's 1996 revival stripped the show to a black-clad band-onstage concert that made that German-theater skeleton visible to millions.
• Peer · A Chorus Line by Michael Bennett (1975). Bennett was the rival director-choreographer defining Broadway at the exact moment Reinking was its leading dancer — Chicago and A Chorus Line opened within months of each other and competed head-on. His show's subject, the working gypsy's audition life, is the world Reinking actually came up in, and it reshaped the profession she would later choreograph for.
• From the Canon · Chicago by Ann Reinking (1996). Her masterwork and the key to everything else: choreography "in the style of Bob Fosse" for the Encores! concert that became the longest-running American musical on Broadway, while she simultaneously returned as Roxie Hart. It won her the Tony for Best Choreography and turned her from celebrated interpreter into the authoritative custodian of a vocabulary, teaching it to a global succession of casts.
• Key Collaborator · Dancin' by Bob Fosse (1978). The plotless, all-dance Broadway evening Reinking headlined at the peak of her powers — the clearest showcase of what she and Fosse made together, with no book or character to hide behind. It earned her a Tony nomination and cemented her as his signature instrument, the dancer whose long line and precision defined how the choreography was supposed to look.
• Legacy · Chicago by Rob Marshall (2002). Marshall's Best Picture-winning film adaptation exists because Reinking's 1996 stage revival had made the show a worldwide phenomenon, and its choreography works from the Fosse-via-Reinking idiom her production codified — the stripped black costuming, the chair work, the vaudeville framing. An entire generation's idea of what Fosse looks like comes through this screen refraction of her staging.

What influenced Ann Reinking

• Bob Fosse (1927). Ann Reinking's choreography for the Chicago revival was done in Fosse's style, showing his influence on her work. (also via Cabaret, Dancin') “Ann Reinking , who would go on to star in the highly successful 1996 revival [ 31 ] and choreograph that production in the style of Fosse” (Wikipedia)
• Marian Ladre. Reinking studied ballet with Marian Ladre. “As a child, Reinking began ballet lessons, studying with former Ballets Russes dancers Marian and Illaria Ladre in Seattle.” (Wikipedia)
• Illaria Ladre. Reinking studied ballet with Illaria Ladre. “As a child, Reinking began ballet lessons, studying with former Ballets Russes dancers Marian and Illaria Ladre in Seattle.” (Wikipedia)
• San Francisco Ballet. Reinking studied at the San Francisco Ballet during summer breaks. “While attending middle school and high school , she studied at the San Francisco Ballet during the summers as a part of a scholarship.” (Wikipedia)
• Joffrey Ballet. Reinking took summer classes offered by the Joffrey Ballet. “After graduating from Bellevue High School , she took summer classes offered by the Joffrey Ballet at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington .” (Wikipedia)
• Cabaret by Bob Fosse (1972). Cabaret (Bob Fosse) — titan for Ann Reinking “During Pippin, she came to the attention of the show's director and choreographer Bob Fosse.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• 8½ by Federico Fellini (1963). 8½ (Federico Fellini) — culture for Ann Reinking (themoviedb.org)
• Sing, Sing, Sing by Benny Goodman (1937). Sing, Sing, Sing (Benny Goodman) — culture for Ann Reinking (musicbrainz.org)
• The Threepenny Opera by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill. The Threepenny Opera (Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill) — culture for Ann Reinking (wikidata.org)
• West Side Story by Jerome Robbins (1957). West Side Story (Jerome Robbins) — titan for Ann Reinking (themoviedb.org)
• Rodeo by Agnes de Mille (1942). Rodeo (Agnes de Mille) — titan for Ann Reinking
• Kismet. Kismet (Jack Cole) — ghost for Ann Reinking
• Astarte by Robert Joffrey (1967). Astarte (Robert Joffrey) — ghost for Ann Reinking

Peers and kindred spirits

• Bruce Wolosoff. Reinking and Wolosoff collaborated on The Devil in the White City. “Bruce collaborated with the late choreographer Ann Reinking on two ballets. The White City , based on Erik Larsen's The Devil in the White City and made in partnership with Melissa Thodos of Thodos Dance Chicago” (Bruce Wolosoff)
• Gwen Verdon. The account connects Verdon to Reinking’s work on the Fosse revue. “Through that class at Broadway Dance Center, I was brought into these training workshops that were happening with Gwen Verdon and Ann Reinking, where we learned the repertory, and that is how I got cast” (Playbill)
• Tommy Tune. Reinking and Tommy Tune co-starred in a tour of Bye Bye Birdie. (also via My One and Only) “Such song-and lance luminaries as Vernon, Ben Vereen, Tommy Tune, Gregory Hines, Bebe Neuwirth, Terrence Mann and even Reinking’s All That Jazz costar Roy Scheider came to Tampa to work with her students.” (St Pete Catalyst)
• Bebe Neuwirth. Reinking and Neuwirth were in the Broadway cast of the Chicago revival. “The original cast for the revival starred Ann Reinking as Roxie Hart, Bebe Neuwirth as Velma Kelly, Joel Grey as Amos Hart, James Naughton as Billy Flynn, Marcia Lewis as Matron "Mama" Morton” (Playbill)
• Marcia Lewis. Reinking and Lewis were in the Broadway cast of the Chicago revival. “The original cast for the revival starred Ann Reinking as Roxie Hart, Bebe Neuwirth as Velma Kelly, Joel Grey as Amos Hart, James Naughton as Billy Flynn, Marcia Lewis as Matron "Mama" Morton” (Playbill)
• In My Hands: A Story of Marfan Syndrome. Reinking produced the documentary. “Ann Reinking brought Emma Morris and me the idea of doing a much-needed film on Marfan syndrome.” (Brenda Siemer)
• Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now) by Phil Collins. Reinking performed Collins’s song at the Academy Awards. “Watch Broadway choreographer Ann Reinking butcher "Against All Odds" while Phil Collins sits in the audience and stews with anger” (Rolling Stone)
• James Naughton. Reinking and Naughton were in the Broadway cast of the Chicago revival. “The original cast for the revival starred Ann Reinking as Roxie Hart, Bebe Neuwirth as Velma Kelly, Joel Grey as Amos Hart, James Naughton as Billy Flynn, Marcia Lewis as Matron "Mama" Morton” (Playbill)
• Broadway Theatre Project. Reinking founded the Broadway Theatre Project. “With Debra McWaters, who taught dance at the University of South Florida, she started the Broadway Theatre Project, an intensive series of musical theater workshops and classes.” (St Pete Catalyst)
• Thodos Dance Chicago. Reinking collaborated with Thodos Dance Chicago on the ballet. “CCT will present Thodos Dance Chicago’s A Light in the Dark this October, a dance/theatre piece co-choreographed by Thodos artistic director Melissa Thodos and Tony winner Ann Reinking.” (Thodos Dance Chicago)
• Joel Grey. Reinking and Grey were in the Broadway cast of the Chicago revival. “The original cast for the revival starred Ann Reinking as Roxie Hart, Bebe Neuwirth as Velma Kelly, Joel Grey as Amos Hart, James Naughton as Billy Flynn, Marcia Lewis as Matron "Mama" Morton” (Playbill)
• The Royal Ballet. Reinking performed in a production with The Royal Ballet. “Reinking made her professional performing debut at the age of 12 in a production of Giselle with The Royal Ballet in the United Kingdom .” (Wikipedia)
• Radio City Music Hall. Reinking danced in the Radio City Music Hall corps de ballet. “Reinking moved to New York City at age 18, [ 7 ] and danced as a member of the corps de ballet at the Radio City Music Hall” (Wikipedia)
• American Theatre Wing. Reinking served on the American Theatre Wing’s advising committee. “She served as a member of the advising committee for the American Theatre Wing .” (Wikipedia)
• Debra McWaters. McWaters worked alongside Reinking on productions as assistant choreographer. “McWaters worked on all the projects, including world tours, as assistant choreographer.” (St Pete Catalyst)
• Dancin' by Bob Fosse (1978). Dancin' (Bob Fosse) — collaborator for Ann Reinking “During Pippin, she came to the attention of the show's director and choreographer Bob Fosse.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Melissa Thodos. The article identifies successive choreographic partnerships between Thodos and Reinking. “A previous collaboration by Thodos and Reinking, The White City: Chicago’s Coloumbian Exposition of 1893 , was inspired by the Chicago World’s Fair murders. The two wanted to take a different approach with their next partnership.” (Thodos Dance Chicago)
• Kiss of the Spider Woman by John Kander and Fred Ebb (1993). Kiss of the Spider Woman (John Kander and Fred Ebb) — collaborator for Ann Reinking (wikidata.org)
• My One and Only by Tommy Tune (1983). My One and Only (Tommy Tune) — peer for Ann Reinking “In 1991, she appeared in her first theater production following the birth of her son, the Broadway National Tour of Bye Bye Birdie, costarring Tommy Tune.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Set and Reset by Trisha Brown (1983). Set and Reset (Trisha Brown) — geography for Ann Reinking (wikidata.org)
• Damn Yankees. Damn Yankees (Gwen Verdon) — collaborator for Ann Reinking “Reinking became Fosse's protégée and romantic partner, even as Fosse was still legally married to (though separated from) Gwen Verdon at the time.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Suite for Five by Merce Cunningham (1956). Suite for Five (Merce Cunningham) — geography for Ann Reinking
• A Chorus Line by Michael Bennett (1975). A Chorus Line (Michael Bennett) — peer for Ann Reinking
• The Hard Nut by Mark Morris (1991). The Hard Nut (Mark Morris) — geography for Ann Reinking
• In the Upper Room by Twyla Tharp (1986). In the Upper Room (Twyla Tharp) — peer for Ann Reinking

Who Ann Reinking influenced

• Fosse/Verdon by Steven Levenson (2019). Fosse/Verdon (Steven Levenson) — legacy for Ann Reinking (themoviedb.org)
• Chicago by Rob Marshall (2002). Chicago (Rob Marshall) — legacy for Ann Reinking (themoviedb.org)