Fosse: No, I never got that sense. I don’t
think she really wanted to work with my
father in that way in front of the camera.
She would work with him behind the
scenes. But I don’t think she wanted to be
in front of the camera - with him behind
the camera. I think that could have been a
disaster.
Sherman: Why a disaster?
Fosse: As an actress, you have to com-
pletely trust your director. And you can’t
really question them. You can contribute
your ideas, but in the end, you really need
to just do what the director tells you to
do. It’s sort of funny to me to imagine that
[scenario] later on in my parents’ lives
- after they went through a lot personal-
ly together. And they had a wonderful,
wonderful friendship. And I think working
together in that nature might have actually
spoiled their friendship. You know, they
had a great working relationship when it
was dance - and behind the scenes.
Sherman: Did you go to a lot of your dad’s
film sets? Did you watch him direct?
Fosse: I did watch him direct. I was on the
set of All That Jazz. And it was really sort
of an extraordinary experience in that it
was the set for all of the hallucinations. So
it was in a soundstage with this fantastical
set design. It was not a soundstage made
to look like somebody’s living room. There
was scaffolding, and it was very theatrical
and glittery. Everything was white and sil-
ver. And my father was this tiny, little per-
son in all of this. I remember him wearing
his black jeans and his black shirt. And he
looked so small in this huge place with all
these people doing all these different tasks
and jobs. And I just remember that being
the first time I saw him as small. I don’t
mean small of stature. I just mean, he’s just
one of the many that it takes to make this
thing happen. That was interesting.
Sherman: I’d like to focus more on YOUR
life, but one more question about your par-
ents. How do you protect their work? How
do you make it relevant for the next gener-
ation and keep the dance and information
current, but also make sure that it doesn’t
lose what was so unique about it?
Fosse: It’s impossible to really protect the
work. I try to have as many teachers as
possible. I believe it takes a village.
When one person holds on to the
choreography too tightly, they only have
their own set of keys, they don’t have all
the keys, they don’t know what was said
to other people or how other people felt
it in their bodies. So it’s really import-
ant to have many, many, many people
teaching the choreography and trying
to get them to work together, which
can be very difficult. They really have
to be sort of ego-less … And it seems
quite impossible most of the time to
keep the choreography alive. I archive
it. We teach it. So I do my best, but it’s
arduous. I don’t really believe in taking
somebody’s choreography and changing
it to make it stay current. In my opinion,
the way you keep a piece of choreogra-
phy current is this: the people perform-
ing it must go back to the original seeds
of its inspiration - and have somebody
work with them and teach them more
than just the steps, because the steps are
left – right, left – right, up – down, over
here - over there. That’s all that steps
really are. Then there’s a whole acting
piece that goes behind the steps; that’s
in the steps. And so when explored by
the current performer - coming from
the original seeds of information - that
performer will then create their abso-
lutely authentic version of the chore-
ography. It’s still the choreography. We
didn’t change a single step. But because
the person performing it is true and au-
thentic and believes it from a deep core
place as an actor and as a musician - not
just as a dancer - then we don’t have a
dinosaur relic. We have something very
current, because that performer brings
with them whatever is current in the
generation or in their experience.
DISCOVER
150+ Hands-On Exhibits
Daily Science Activities
Live Animals and more!
FEATURING THE EXHIBITIONS
WWW.MONTSHIRE.ORG
MAKER OF ARTISAN
CHOCOLATES AND CAKES
Sherman: It’s the underlying intention
that makes the action meaningful! The
acting of dancing. And it’s what we
referred to before with “Whatever Lola
Wants”, right?
Fosse: “The chubby little girl trying to
take off her snow pants.” It’s how you
show humor and pathos and cynicism
and despair and anger and joy. Right? So
it’s not just about lifting my leg up and
down four times. Is it joy? Is it pathos?
That’s in the choreography. That’s the
direction within the choreography.
Famous Buttercrunch
Truffl es • Brittles
Birthday & Occasion Cakes
4367 Main St. Manchester, VT
802-362-1560
www.mothermyricks.com
We Ship!
VTMAG.COM HOLIDAY 2019 39