1.

Katherine Dunham was a black dancer, choreographer, author, and social

activist. Directing her own dance company for many years in over 30
countries in Europe, North Africa, South America, Australia, and East Asia,
along with choreographing dance sequences for multiple Broadway
musicals/revues, she has been called the "matriarch and queen mother of
black dance."
2.
Bob Fosse wanted to bring sex and lust to the stage in a time where that
wasn't considered normal at all. In fact, it was probably considered public
nudity/sin/or even prostitution, or perhaps even just shameful. Fosse kept
wanting to push the limits, and by doing so, he opened up a whole new realm
of creativity for artists to explore. He accomplished this with seductive and
suggestive movements in his choreography, involving fast, sharp hip
movements, turned in legs (to suggest suppressing orgasm) and sexiness.
The Pajama Game - A Humdinger, Bright, Brassy and Jubilantly Sassy Show
Damn Yankees - About baseball, suggestive and risqu.
New Girl in Town - Dream Sequence = Life in a brothel, depicted through
seductive and suggestive movements. (Police closed it down, and Fosse had
to rechoreograph the sequence. He changed it back after the play opened in
NYC.)
3.
If you take a look at Jerome Robbins' list of Broadway Productions (32 over a
period of 50 years, starting off as a performer ending as a choreographer with
20 of those shows under his belt, choreographed.), there is no questioning
why Jerome Robbins is an influential jazz choreographer. By the time he was
20, he was already performing in the chorus of Broadway musicals. Having
worked with people such as Irving Berlin, Ethel Merman, Bob Fosse, Rodgers
and Hammerstein, Stephen Sondheim, and many, many more, there's no
doubt this man had a long life with many connections and inspired many.
4.
Susan Stroman is famous for directing and choreographing the Mel Brooks
musical "The Producers", having won a Tony for Best Director of a Musical.
Credits include;
Musical Chairs
Flora the Red Menace

Don Giovanni
A Little Night Music
And the World Goes Round
Liza Minnelli
110 in the Shade
Crazy For You
Show Boat (Revival)
Picnic
"A Christmas Carol" (Madison Square Garden)
Big
Steel Pier
Oklahoma! (Revival)
The Music Man (Revival)
Contact
Thou Shalt Not
The Frogs
Center Stage
The Producers (Stage and Film)
Young Frankenstein (Musical)
Happiness
The Scottsboro Boys
Paradise Found
Prince of Broadway
Big Fish
Bullets over Broadway
Double Feature

Blossom Got Kissed

For the Love of Duke
But Not For Me
Take Five... More or Less
5.
Michael Jackson - King of Pop. Thriller, the number one selling album of all
time. Created a 14 minute short film with a full choreographed zombie dance.
Smooth Criminal, invented his own special shoe so he could perform a special
stage move which allowed him to lean his body at a 45 degree angle (he used
a metal harness with wireless magnets to pull off the trick in the scene from
Moonwalker.) He is most noted for the moonwalk, which he popularized when
he first performed it when he performed Billie Jean at Motown's 25th in 1983
Brittney Spears - Princess of Pop. ...Baby, One More Time and Oops... I Did it
Again, became successes very quickly. She is noted for her contemporary
style of dance, heavily involving suggestive and seductive dance moves. She
is probably most noted for her song Toxic (From In the Zone)
MC Hammer - U Can't Touch This, notable for the Hammer Dance and The
Bump (Just for a minute let's all do the bump!) And 2 Legit 2 Quit. He brought
hip hop and rap dance to the bay area because of his hip hop movement
Hyphy.