The Unsinkable Molly Brown

1. Peter Gennaro was born November 23, 1919 in Metairie, LA. By

the age of 4 Gennaro was already a competitive dancer and
trained in dance throughout his school career at a local studio
studying acrobatics, jazz, ballet and tap. As an adult, he studied
at the American Theatre Wing and Katherine Dunham School
with their chief teacher Syvilla Fort.
Specific influences are not named for Gennaros style, but early
in his professional career he was working with Bob Fosse and
Jerome Robbins two very important people in Gennaros field and
he probably drew a lot of his creative inspiration from those two.
Gennaro appeared as a performer in six productions: Make Mine
Manhattan, Kiss Me Kate, Arms and the Girl, The Pajama Game,
Guys and Dolls, and Bells are Ringing. He wasnt a big movie
personality but he appeared on numerous tv shows: The Colgate
Comedy Hour, General Electric Theatre, The Steve Allen
Plymouth Show, The Polly Bergen Show, The Chevy Showroom
Starring Andy Williams, Perry Comos Kraft Music Hall, The Judy
Garland Show, The Bing Crosby Show, The Bell Telephone Hour,
An Hour With Robert Goulet, The Hollywood Palace, The Kraft
Music Hall, and The Ed Sullivan Show.
2. Even though most people may not know it, Peter Gennaro is
responsible for the famous America and Mambo dance
sequences in the original West Side Story. He worked alongside
Jerome Robbins and then signed over the rights to his
choreography. Aside from that, Gennaro also choreographed
Annie and Fiorello! He was most well known because of his
television presence on numerous variety shows like Perry Comos
Kraft Music Hall.
Trademarks in his choreography include sharp hip movements,
intricate footwork, and a great sense of physical humor. Gennaro
is described as having a great sense of humor, always laughing
and that really showed in his work.
His style is the upper body is always rather big and broad while
the feet are doing the most intricate movements. There are quite
a few physical jokes in his dances, like pratfalls and it has a
vaudevillian quality to it, you cant help but smile.
In The Unsinkable Molly Brown the dance numbers are very big
and brassy and at the time that style was more common for men
to perform, but since Molly Brown is a tomboy-ish character she
gets to attack the same choreography that the men do. Given
that the dancers are mostly male in this production, they appear
to be all shapes and sizes and even in Peter Gennaros television
appearances and other works he used and performed with a

variety of people. With his style the only thing that a performer
has to have is a big personality.
3. The costumes in this film really accentuate the style of dance
that Gennaro choreographs. The costumes range from dirty farm
rags to saloon wear and miners all the way to tuxedos and
evening gowns, and yet the style of dance never wavers. It
doesnt matter what the dancer is wearing at any given time,
theyre still hitch kicking, shasaying and strutting with high knees
and a larger than life attitude. It gives the dancers real interest
and character to see them dressed in their finest but still getting
into the floor and committing to Grennaros "rough and tumble
style.
4. Debbie Reynolds is a small woman and as a short girl myself I
find it inspiring to watch her dance alongside all of those men
and not be eclipsed by them. Generally when theres a woman
surrounded by so many male dancers, they kind of dance around
her but she is right in there with them and doing the same
choreography as the men. Her dancing is larger than life, she is
fully committed to every move she makes and dances like she is
the happiest she has ever been. She has so much energy and life
and brings every ounce of it to her performance.

Damn Yankees
1. Bob Fosse was born on June 23, 1927 in Chicago, Illinois. He was
the son of a vaudeville performer and began performing in that
style as a child. He started receiving formal training at a local
dance school and later at the Frederick Weaver Ballet School, as
a teen he performed in night clubs where he was first exposed to
Burlesque which later became a huge influence in his dance
style.
Fosses biggest influence and inspiration was Fred Astaire,
although specifically for Damn Yankees he drew a lot of his ideas
from Father of Jazz Jack Cole. Fred Astaire is where Fosse
acquired his creative use of props such as canes, chairs, and the
signature bowler hat seen in so many of his works.
Fosse was in a handful of stage productions: Call Me Mister, Make
Mine Manhattan, Dance Me a Song, Billion Dollar Baby, The
Roaring Twenties, and Pal Joey. He also did a handful of films:
The Affairs of Dobie Mills, Give a Girl a Break, Kiss Me Kate, My
Sister Eileen, The Little Prince, and Thieves.
2. Two of Fosses most famous and influential works are Chicago
and Cabaret. Fosses style is put under the vast umbrella labeled
jazz but his style is so unique that it is simply referred to as
Fosse or Fosse Style.
Key characteristics of his style are: snapping fingers, tilted
bowler hats, exiting backwards from the stage, as well as
shoulder and hip rolls. Speaking generally, his style is very slinky
and sexy with unusual angles and juxtaposition of extremities,
(inverted arms, turned in feet, elbows pinched behind the back
etc.)
Fosse Style is very detail oriented, as was Fosse himself, and
every detail was important from literally the dancers fingers to
their toes. And as far as his dancers of choice, he tended to use
the same females over and over (Liza Minelli, Gwen Verdon,
Chita Rivera and Ann Reinking) because they were able to
achieve the level of specificity he required with his choreography.
Thats the true test a dancer had to go through to be put in a
Fosse piece, could they catch every detail and execute it with
acute precision.
3. As is Fosses style, his attention to detail really highlights the
music, every accent in the score is paired with what I believe to
be is the physical manifestation of that sound. The visual of the
dance is so inextricably intertwined with the music that the
dance becomes music. The music is so divers in style in Damn
Yankees that no one song can be categorized in a single genre,
for example, in the middle of Shoeless Joe theres an Irish jig

section. But every movement serves a purpose with the music,

nothing in the score is glossed over.
4. Gwen Verdon is by far my favorite performer in this film. She is
Fosses proteje, so needless to say her movements are so
precise. The way she is able to isolate her body and hit every
musical accent with complete precision is astounding. She makes
what should be the most awkward positions seem effortless and
natural. She moves with such ease and yet there is this drive and
passion behind her performance of Whatever Lola Wants.

Final Questions
1. The two styles of dance at first glance seem like polar opposites,
Gennaros is very masculine while Fosses can be seen as very
feminine. Fosses style is reminiscent of a snake while Gennaros
is like a bear at the circus. But they both have their intricacies,
Gennaros is in the footwork, while Fosses is in every part of the
body with his precise isolations.
2. Looking at these two films, I can see how there is always a
common thread running between what may seem like the two
most opposing styles of dance. Also that no artist is singular in
their work, everyone is an influence to someone and taking bits
and pieces from other artists helps create new art and thats
what CAP 21 is really all about, Collaborative Arts Project 21.