Jack Cole (choreographer)

After the disbanding of Denishawn Dance, Cole’s continued working relationship with Ted Shawn placed him in the small group of dancers that helped Shawn found the renowned summer dance hub, Jacob’s Pillow. 79 years later, Jacob’s Pillow faculty member Chet Walker, best known for performing in Bob Fosse musicals and his later creation of the tribute musical “Fosse,” also conceived a Jack Cole tribute musical titled Heat Wave: The Jack Cole Project, given its world premiere in May 2012 at Queens Theatre in New York's Flushing Meadows Corona Park.

Cole's career trajectory was unique for an American dance artist. He started at the very roots of modern dance, then segued into a blazing commercial career in nightclubs across the nation, first at Manhattan's Embassy Club, then opening the Rainbow Room on its inaugural evening in October 1934. His career spanned three major arenas: nightclub, Broadway stage, and Hollywood film. He ended his career as a popular coach to Hollywood stars and an innovative choreographer for the camera.

Cole was a performer in Broadway musicals, starting with The Dream of Sganarelle in 1933. His first Broadway credit as a choreographer was Something for the Boys in 1943. Cole is credited with choreographing and/or directing the stage musicals Alive and Kicking, Magdalena, Carnival in Flanders, Zenda, Foxy, Kismet, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Kean, Donnybrook!, Jamaica, and Man of La Mancha.

Jack Cole made his professional dance debut with Denishawn at Lewisohn Stadium in New York City in August 1930. He began his training as a modern dancer only six weeks prior, studying with Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn. He was entranced by the Asian influences their dance school utilized in its choreography and costuming. He also performed briefly with Humphrey-Weidman, and was influenced by the pioneering modernists Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman. Eager to make a living as a dancer during the Depression, he soon left the modern dance world and opted for opportunities in nightclubs, where he first partnered with Alice Dudley, then for years danced in a trio with Anna Austin and Florence Lessing.

The Jack Cole Dancers performed in nightclubs in the late 1930s, including the Rainbow Room.

Cole was a pioneer for multiculturalism in the musical comedy dance arena. For all of his training and work under Ruth St. Denis, he was unimpressed by the surface level imitation of eastern dance traditions she put forth. He was inspired, however, to pursue the incorporation of more authentic elements of cultural dancing into his work, so he studied a number of traditional foreign dance forms. Cole famously became well versed in​​ bharata nāṭyam, India’s oldest dance technique, under dancers Uday Shankar and La Meri. Throughout the 1930s his interests expanded to Latin American and Caribbean dances. He also studied Flamenco with Paco Cansino, film star Rita Hayworth’s Uncle.

These techniques were combined with popular social dances of the 1920s and 30s such as the Charleston and the Lindy, dances he noted “all stemming from African dance” and the Caribbean. Acrobatic knee slides were another signature of Cole, which were likely inspired by The Nicholas Brothers’ tap dance act in the 1930s and 40s.

Jack Cole (April 27, 1911 – February 17, 1974) was an American dancer, choreographer, and theatre director known as "the Father of Theatrical Jazz Dance".