Sherman: Sherman: Are there any other
moments like that? Nuggets of direction
(within the choreography) that you can
share?
Fosse: There are certain steps that were
given nicknames. And the nickname
would come from the image given to the
dancers. So in Sweet Charity, in “The
Frug”, you see what they call “soft boiled
egg hands,” because it’s like holding a soft
boiled egg in your hands. It’s not a tight
fist. It’s not an open hand. It’s not stiff, you
know. A soft boiled egg stays in its form,
but it’s kind of liquid in your hands. So
there’s got to be a real softness, like finger
play around it, you know? So you really
go into that sensation of having a soft
boiled egg out of the shell in your hand
—and not squishing it—and not breaking
it. And then how do you negotiate that
ever changing weight in your hand, as it
slides around a little bit? And then there’s
the “broken doll legs”. There was a lot of
[direction like] “move your tushy through
a vault of whipped cream”. You’re not just
going right, left, right, left. There’s a sensa-
tion to it. And again, it changes everything
about you when you start having images of
what you’re doing.
Sherman: Amazing. Now let’s focus on
you. Tell me about your life growing up.
Fosse: My mother made sure that I spent
a lot of time outside of New York City, and
I spent a lot of time with her out on Long
Island. We would go beachcombing and
clamming and then make spaghetti with
clam sauce and white wine. There was also
a social circle out on Long Island. A lot of
these famous people with kids were doing
the same thing. So the evenings were filled
a lot with these fabulous people getting
together. To me, it was normal to be at a
dinner table with Gloria Steinem or Paddy
Chayefsky. That was normal to me. So, my
childhood was a combination of living my
own sort of normal kid life of play dates
and homework and after school activi-
ties, as well as spending time in rehearsal
studios and going to the theater. I used to
love to go see Pippin. I would go see it all
the time. And apparently, I’m told, some-
times the stage manager would tell the cast
“Fosse’s out there”. And it was me! But he
knew that it would elevate their perfor-
mance levels. You tend to get sloppy, when
you’re doing eight shows a week for
40 VERMONT MAGAZINE
a couple of years. You can get a little bit
relaxed out there. And it’s not as fresh as
it needs to be. I was 10, and I freely gave
feedback and advice to my father. Wheth-
er it was films or dance, what I liked, what
I didn’t like, who was good, who wasn’t
good, who was lazy, who was sloppy, who
was fun to watch… I think he took my
suggestions and insights very seriously. I
would go see shows and come back and
rat people out. I would tell him things like
“so and so doesn’t dance full out when
she’s in the back line. She only dances full
out when she’s in the front.” And he would
look down at his feet, shake his head, and
chuckle. I don’t know what he would do
with that information. But I think he knew
that there was a real truth there. I was
unfiltered.
Sherman: When did you decide you really
wanted to be a dancer?
Fosse: I decided I wanted to be a danc-
er when I was 13 years old. I was living
with my father. I told him I wanted to be
a professional dancer. He insisted I go to
class immediately. And I said, “I can go
tomorrow,” and he said “No - if you want
to be a professional dancer, you have to go
now.” He also told me he would rather I
swallow flaming swords in the circus than
become a professional dancer. Around the
age of 40, I went to the circus and watched
the lady swallow the flaming swords, and I
was so moved by the fact that the audience
was thrilled with her. She was overweight,
she wasn’t particularly beautiful, and she
had the spotlight on her - and the glittery
dress and lots of makeup. And she did
this silly thing of swallowing swords and
juggling fire … and I understood what my
father was saying. Because by 40, I wasn’t
dancing anymore. And I understood what
he meant. He meant, “If you want the ap-
plause, if you want the spotlight, you’ll get
a much longer life if you do something like
swallow swords in a circus.” So he really
impressed upon me that if that’s what I
wanted to do, then I had to put all of my
energy into that. It really was a great lesson
that I learned from him in that there’s
nothing worse than being mediocre. And
there’s nothing worse than looking back
in hindsight and saying, “I wonder if I had
done it differently if I could have been
better at it.” I then started dancing all the
time, every day, almost every day. And I
ended up going to North Carolina School
of the Arts.
Sherman:I know the FX series revealed
that you were already doing drugs by
then. Tell me about your dance career in
relationship to the drug use.
Fosse: I’m convinced I could have been a
better dancer if I had not been utilizing
drugs at all during those years. I don’t
know that I ever would have been an
amazing dancer or a famous dancer. But I
do know I could have been a better dancer.
I could have spent more time dancing.
My concentration would have been better.
And I believe my physical abilities would
have been better. It’s very difficult to put
on pointe shoes at 8 am when you were
up until two o’clock in the morning doing
bong hits. It really is difficult to do your
best on four hours of sleep when you’re
probably still kind of stoned.
Sherman: So- were you able to have a
dance career? Was it compromised?
Fosse: I did have a dance career. I do be-
lieve it was stunted by continued drug use.
I was in the film A Chorus Line. And after
that, everybody thought I was like part of
the next Brat Pack. I was in Interview Mag-
azine with Denzel Washington and Leah
Thompson. And I think Robert Downey
Jr. and Rob Lowe. And then I couldn’t get
another job. I mean, I didn’t study my lines
for auditions. I thought I could just pull it
off. I’d stay up partying, and then I would
think about what clothes I was going to
wear to the audition instead of what was
going to come out of my mouth at the
audition. I just was not grounded in reality
really. I did a Broadway show. I mean,
yeah, sure, I worked. And then I went to
Europe and danced in a show where I met
my future husband. That’s when I sort
of stopped doing drugs. The drugs were
not really a heavy part of my story at that
time, although they were still part of my
story. Mostly marijuana. And so we started
having children, and I didn’t smoke pot
anymore. I drank some occasional beers
or wine or something. And I felt like I had
grown out of it in a sense. Or grown into
a new place in my life, in which I felt really
connected and not judged all the time. I
grew up in my teens and 20’s feeling scruti-
nized and judged, and I had to prove my-
self over and over and over again. People
were curious: being the daughter of