THE NEW JACK COLE DANCERS'

CLUB ACT

DIRECTED AND CHOREOGRAPHED BY

CAM LOESER

CONCEIVED AND PRODUCED BY

COLE JAZZ

The NEW Jack Cole Dancers' CLUB ACT is an immersive nightclub show reminiscent of Jack Cole's original troupe of dancers who made history over one hundred years ago performing in iconic clubs such as The Rainbow Room and The Embassy Club. Our CLUB ACT premiered to a sold out audience The Midnight Theater in Hudson Yards in 2024, and is hot off of a sold out return at LPAC's Little Theater. The show has received roaring audience approval, with everyone saying they want one thing... MORE!

COLE JAZZ is currently gearing up for an Off-Broadway run of the show at Theater at St. Jeans this June. We plan to present pop-up performances of acts from the show at venues throughout New York in an effort to raise awareness and anticipation for the Off-Broadway run, as well as continue to make this work accessible to different communities and audiences throughout the city.

Jack Cole was the man who put Jazz Dance on the commercial map in America, who put Indian Classical Dance to Jazz music and created Hindu Swing, who was the only choreographer Marilyn Monroe would work with, who shaped Rita Hayworth, Betty Grable, and other stars of the Hollywood era, who gave a young Gwen Verdon a chance and sparked her rise to stardom. His work was seen across mediums, from Broadway shows to iconic films such as Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend was his first collaboration with Marilyn), Three for the Show, There’s No Business Like Show Business, On The Riviera, Kismet, and more. His provocative fusion of world dances was unlike anything ever seen before on the commercial stage, and folks were in awe of his innovative mind.

However, it was largely Cole’s work on the nightclub stage that substantiated him as one of the most influential choreographers in the 20th Century, and it is through this junction in time we now look. Directed and choreographed by Cam Loeser, the CLUB ACT is a groundbreaking new concept and the only existing performance venture of its kind. The act transports its audience to a scintillating 1900s supper club, and celebrates the lineage and evolution of Jazz Dance through the lens of Jack Cole's legacy.

The evening consists of boundary-pushing work that will stun NYC audiences. Carried by a live Jazz band of multi-versed musicians, crooning vocals, thrilling dance performances, the show entrances with tastes of burlesque, vaudeville, social dance, and the thrilling cultural modalities that informed Cole's world. As patrons enter the space, they are transported to a time when nightclubs and supper clubs were all the rage and pulsating Jazz and cultural music blocked out the rest of the world. From there, our dancers seduce with their vibrant joy, alluring sensuality, dynamic athleticism, and intoxicating style, bringing Cole's historic and titillating essence back to life for the first time in decades.

Through the reinvigorated lens of its social context, The Act pays homage to Jack Cole's innovative commercial work that spanned mediums, as well as the possibilities for the future of his legacy.

THEN

Cole made history when he traveled to India and the Caribbean, and immersed himself in the social dance community raging in Harlem, in order to foster an authentic understanding of these cultures and their vernacular styles. With this knowledge, Cole was able to theatricalize these dances for the stage and film, without losing the integrity of their cultural roots. Cole's style soon became the defining style of Theatrical Jazz Dance in America, and paved the way for many iconic artists who followed in his footsteps. Before Bob Fosse and Jerome Robbins.... there was Cole.

NOW

We aim to reflect the care Jack Cole took to instill truth into his work by bringing those who have been historically unrepresented, but have contributed vastly to the identity of Jazz, back to the forefront of the conversation. The COLE JAZZ Team is committed to casting artists that represent the global majority, as well as the many dance and music backgrounds that relate to Jazz. In terms of choreography, we are proud to have Angel Kaba (African Choreographer/Consultant) and Ramita Ravi (Bharatanatyam Choreographer/Consultant) on our creative team. Our diverse company of performers are trained in Jack Cole's dynamic and nuanced style of dance, and collaborate with Cam Loeser, as well as Kaba and Ravi, to ensure that every aspect of the work is actively handled with authenticity and respect.

Though much of our show is a historical tribute to “old school” movement, we are bringing the work into the 21st century by actively challenging the notion that gender determines what roles our dancers are “right” for. Rather, we assign dancers according to their ability to capture the essences that exist within the movement… ie. aloof, feline, cool.

"The tide is turning. Or, has it turned? With the arrival of The NEW Jack Cole Dancers, we see a return, for dance and choreography, to form, shapeliness, and stylishness. We see dancers taking measure of the space within; the space between each other; and the space their music lays down in hot syncopation. As part of a receptive audience at the 2025 Jazz Dance Conference West in Los Angeles, I watched the six-member troupe set the stage on fire in Cam Loeser’s “Club Act: Sing Sing Sing,” created in the style of the great Jack Cole. Try though I did to remain cool and removed, I clapped my hands raw, I shouted my head off. It’s that exhilarating."

- Debra Levine

Author, “Jazzed: Jack Cole and Twentieth Century American Dance" published by the University Press of Kentucky, early fall 2026