ANN REINKING

From Dance Magazine...

Time magazine once called Ann Reinking "Terpsiglorious," and maybe that says it all.

She was born in Washington State (one of seven children) but she studied in the summers with the San Francisco Ballet. She apprenticed with Robert Joffrey's Joffrey Ballet and moved to New York City where her first job was with the corps de ballet at Radio City Music Hall. After making the jump to Broadway, she was nominated for a Tony Award for her leading performance in Dancin', and was nominated for best actress in Goodtime Charley, which co-starred Joel Grey. Reinking is perhaps best known for her starring role in Bob Fosse's autobiographical movie All That Jazz.

Reinking, a sublime Broadway gypsy who indeed became a major presence in the life and work of Bob Fosse, recreated his Chicago in 1997, winning a Tony Award for choreography, the Drama Desk Award, the Outer Critics Circle Award, and the Astaire Award. Chicago is still running on Broadway, and almost next door, the musical revue Fosse continues to pack them in. This anthology of the choreographer's genius won Reinking--who co-directed with Richard Maltby Jr. and with artistic advice from 1961 Dance Magazine Award winner Gwen Verdon--another Tony credit when it captured Best Musical in 1999. Like Chicago, Fosse captivates with the style, the wit, the daring, the precision of Bob Fosse's creation as well as Ann Reinking's subtlety, dedication, and energy.

Reinking is also artistic director of the Broadway Theater Project in Tampa, Florida, an organization she founded that brings together young people and working theater professionals to build the next generation's artists in the distinctively American art form she epitomizes.