'Fosse' super show stopper

From the moment I walked into the lobby of the IU Auditorium and saw all the ushers and ticket takers bundled up, I knew how the Germans felt when they besieged Stalingrad. Talk about cold. As people walked through the doors, the winter winds whisked throughout the facility. But despite the recent visit from Jack Frost, over 1,200 people braved a winter cold front some would equal to Moscow's winter weather.\nThe shows brought into the Auditorium are perpetually pleasing to the IU and Bloomington communities. But the Jan. 23 performance of "Fosse" blew recent acts out of the water.\n"Fosse" is a semi-autobiographical work highlighting the career of the late actor, director and notable choreographer Bob Fosse. The show ran two hours with a 15-minute intermission.\n"Fosse" and the excellent dance company state visually what people say when they describe the work of choreographer Fosse as being sexy, vivacious and revolutionary. While Fosse was dead before the routines for the Broadway smash were conceived, Fosse's pupil Ann Reinking choreographed these dance steps. She danced for Fosse, and by all accounts was a protege of the man. Reinking designed the dance numbers in Fosse's style, and from that design, it's easy to understand why Fosse's work is so revolutionary. Fosse, like most choreographers, employed synchronized steps. But at the time Fosse began working, you did the kaleidoscope stuff that Busby Berkely made famous. Or you did the elegant waltzes and tap dances of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. If you wanted jazz and pizazz, you did the athletic, walk-up-the-wall type stuff that Gene Kelly did in "Singing in the Rain."\nThe 26-member company gyrated their hips in a way that made my pelvis hurt. And my right knee ached like the devil just from watching all the ornate spins and hops.\nMany numbers we've heard before were performed. "Mr. Bojangles," "Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries," "Bye, Bye, Blackbird," "Steam Heat," and lots of other songs hit the stage. \nBut one thing I don't like about big performances like this is that they consist of all dance and music. There isn't a cohesive story to the performance. If certain numbers are pulled from hit shows, then a fragment of that certain show's plot is told -- but only if someone knows the show. In other words, ballet is the only style of dance that can tell a story. And sometimes I question that. All the news releases I read made me think the dancing was going to tell a story. \nIf you went in thinking you were going to get something out of this show other than really cool dancing, you were going to feel like a duck who just woke up from a nap: It's a whole new world. Or like someone watching the "Godfather" trilogy. You get up for five minutes and go to the bathroom, and by the time you come back, it's a different movie. In other words, looking for a story in "Fosse" is like looking for the word "Nina" in a Hirschfeld. You'll have a hard time finding it.\nNonetheless, "Fosse" had the most fantastic finish when it closed with a Benny Goodman classic "Sing, Sing, Sing."\nWhat a show. What a show!