Bob Fosse's Film, All That Jazz

Happy Birthday to my friend, Donna. I am grateful for her life, her gifts, and her friendship. She is an accomplished dance instructor who specializes in the Fosse technique style of jazz. I discovered her class about fifteen years ago, danced with her on and off for about six years, and I credit her for making me the dancer I am today.

I grew up watching all those wonderful old MGM musicals with Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, and Fred Astaire. When I was ten years old I saw Bob Fosse's autobiographical film, All That Jazz, and was introduced to what would become my favorite style of dance.

At ten years of age, All That Jazz was a movie which was a bit inappropriate for my to see. Now that I am a parent, I'm not sure I even want my thirteen year old to see it yet. However, at the time, all the blatant sexuality and extremely adult situations, pretty much went over my head. The scene where a young Joe Giddeon (Bob Fosse's alter ego) tap dances on a vaudeville stage after being accosted backstage by the strippers who also worked in the club, always confused me. Even when the camera pans down to his crotch and a very evident stain appears on his white pants, I just didn't get it. All I saw was the amazing dancing throughout the film. …show more content…
Two years before All That Jazz, I saw Saturday Night Fever THREE TIMES because I loved the music and dancing so much. The scene where Annette offers Tony, what looked to me like breath mints in her hand, never made sense to me. Why is she giving him breath mints at that very moment? And why is he so rude about them? He's seems so disgusted by her offer. Is he offended that she thinks he has bad breath? Years later when I watched it again I realized they weren't breath mints. They were condoms. Oh! Now I get