April 12, 2025 • 23 mins
She was 11 when she saw a ballerina that changed her life.
17 when Robert Joffrey said something that flipped her path.
And 30 when she took the screen in All That Jazz — his muse, but fully her own force.
But that’s just the outline.
This episode is the story behind the spotlight — before Chicago, before Annie, before the legacy. How she trained. What she sacrificed. And how she built something that still shapes dancers today.
She’s the most indelible and often imitated Broadway dancer of her generation.
It’s time you know the rest of her story.
And there’s a moment in here that gave me chills. Click play — you’ll know it when you hear it.
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The Joy is In The Work (doc on The Broadway Theatre Project)
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
[music]
(00:02):
Welcome to "Hey, Dancer"
and my weekly series "The Rest of the Story".
I am your host and your editor and your researcher and your script writer.
All the things, my name is Miller Daurey
and today we are digging into a dancer's life.
Someone who ruled Broadway and owned movie screens
(00:23):
and also built something very lasting, not just in her career,
but the career of thousands of aspiring young artists.
And I actually was very emotional
throughout the entire time researching this legend
and I'll tell you why in the outro.
If you're enjoying this series where I spotlight dance legends
(00:44):
and/or iconic moments in dance history,
I would just be so honored if you took a moment to show some love
for the show by following or subscribing
wherever you're watching or listening,
give a like or rating or review, leave a comment,
share with your dance fam.
It all just goes so far into telling whichever platform you're on
(01:07):
that they should share it with even more lovers of dance.
And that, again, would make me so happy.
If you are watching on YouTube, this is the first time
I'm throwing in illustrations to help tell the story
in addition to my usual TV, film, and photo sequences.
So let me know what you think in the comments.
(01:28):
Okay, let's get into it.
She's born in California, although Wikipedia and other sites
will tell you otherwise.
She's one of seven kids filling a lively house.
Dad is a hydraulic engineer.
Mom is holding the reins.
At about five or six years old, she's begging for ballet lessons
after watching a friend dance, but her parents aren't quite sold yet.
(01:51):
Summers, she visits her aunt in Seattle
and this aunt would often have musical friends over for parties
and this little girl was always dancing up a storm,
catching the bug, performing for everybody.
At seven, the family moves from California to Bellevue
just outside Seattle and settles in.
By eight, her aunt pushes ballet lessons for her birthday
(02:12):
and though her folks leaned toward tap from their old days,
they let her try it.
Mom is driving her to Seattle studios,
shows her the bus route to go alone,
but it's not the full fire quite yet.
Sixth grade at an atti elementary changes everything.
Her teacher, Mrs. James, calls for a talent show.
There's no backing out.
(02:33):
You gotta do it.
And this little girl whips up a skit
that involves characters throughout history.
She's wearing a scarf, but then Carla C. Lander steps up.
The epitome of a young ballet prodigy.
She's got the crown, two-to-pean tites and peat point shoes.
She even has scholarships under her belt
(02:54):
and she's just the sight,
nailing the nutcracker sugar plumb fairy variation.
Our girl is 11 now and she's watching
and it's a thunderbolt moment.
The most beautiful thing I'd ever seen
she once told an interviewer,
transfixed, the moment is spiritual for her.
She begs her parents, ballet classes for her 11th birthday.
(03:18):
And this time, they cave.
They even set up a bar in her bedroom.
This is when her dance journey truly begins.
No dance blood flows in her family.
No one is nudging her forward.
She's the one charging ahead.
Local studios become her turf.
Ballet is her anchor.
And she dives into jazz, tap, modern, too,
(03:40):
building a wide base.
Now she's barely into her teens when she gets a taste
of the big leagues.
Local companies need extras, super numeralries,
they call them.
And they hit up ballet studios like hers,
looking for girls to dress up and fill the stage.
She lands a spot in sleeping beauty,
a lady of the court in this stunning full length gown,
(04:02):
just standing there, heart pounding,
watching Aurora's 16th birthday unfold.
And who is Aurora?
Margot Fontaine.
She is so close she could touch her,
staring in disbelief,
then Rudolph Nuriyev sweeps in, equally unreal.
They even rehearse at her studio,
(04:24):
warming up where she does.
And she's right there on the same stage, soaking it in.
I can still see it in my mind's eye today.
She says that magic locked in her bones.
She's got fire, training as a kid
with two former ballet roost dancers.
And at 12, she steps into the real deal,
(04:45):
making her pro debut in Giselle with the English Royal Ballet
on tour, summer's turn intense after that.
A Ford Foundation scholarship to San Francisco Ballet,
three years of all-out focus.
She's 12, 13, 14, soaking in company class at 10 a.m.,
grinding her own practice after ushering shows at night
(05:06):
to watch every step.
She's hungry for it.
High school at Bellevue High keeps her moving,
recitals and residencies piling up,
but she's restless, craving bigger things.
At 17, she snags a summer spot with the Joffrey Ballet
in Tacoma at Pacific Lutheran University.
And that's when Robert Joffrey switches the track.
(05:27):
He says something to her that is arguably
the catalyst in her career.
See, he hears her singing in class.
You know, she's just kind of goofing around.
It's her character, the way she interacts
with others, joking around, and he's observing her.
And just out of the blue, he says that sure,
she's got a solid future in Bellevue if she wants it,
(05:47):
but his recommendation, it would really be fantastic
if you did Broadway, he tells her.
He feels she'd be better off in musicals,
that she has a gift, she can dance, sing and act.
He sees it in her future, and he thinks she'd really shine
in that world.
And now she's caught.
(06:07):
Bellevue has her heart, but that nudge
from Robert Joffrey himself, it sinks in deep.
So she's 18 in 1967, waytracing at Frederick and Nelson's
department store in Seattle, saving up $500.
A fortune when your allowance is $0.50 a week
and grabs a one-way ticket to New York City.
(06:30):
No safety net, just pure nerve.
And she lands at Joffrey Ballet School, a place
yeah, that already feels like home.
And she's on scholarship, picking up ballet
in some theater classes, but ballet is not the end game now.
You see, Robert Joffrey's words are constantly looping
in her mind and musical theater has got her full attention now.
(06:53):
She's living on cans of spam, scraping by,
but the first gig comes pretty quick.
Radio City Music Hall's ballet core, thanks
to a teacher's heads up about Tuesday auditions.
She's new to this, soaking in advice from the pros
about how it all works.
Then she gets a week off from Radio City
(07:14):
and on the advice of her fellow working artists,
she dives into trades like variety in backstage and spots
and open call for Fiddler on the Roof's second national tour,
500 dancers, one shot.
She's still 18 and she locks it down.
Equity card in hand, she's touring places
(07:36):
like Phoenix and Scottsdale, hitting the road hard in 1968.
She falls for Arizona right then, a love
that'll bring her back decades later.
She's back in New York, 1969, and she's
19 and dives into cabaret.
It's the final months of Hal Prince's original Broadway run,
(07:57):
a dark sexy hit about Berlin's underbelly.
She's in the ensemble, one of the Kit-Kat girls,
slinking through mine air and money money in garters and grit.
No spotlight yet, but Prince's team notices her legs,
her energy, something is there.
She was just happy to be in the room,
but her vibe is already turning heads.
(08:20):
Next up, Coco, a musical about Coco Chanel,
starring none other than Catherine Hepburn.
Dance Captain Bonnie Walker clocks her,
tells choreographer Michael Bennett, "That's the one.
Meaning she's got the spark."
See, Bennett is already scouting for a chorus line,
and this is the first ping.
(08:41):
She books it still in the ensemble.
There she is with Hepburn and Bennett,
soaking it in like a sponge, learning how pros think.
It's a crash course with legends.
Then, Wild and Wonderful, a musical comedy
with a big band swing.
She's ensemble again, but it's a disaster.
Opens and closes in one night, total flop,
(09:03):
but this doesn't phase her.
She's built for this.
1972, Pippin, she's 22,
and this is where it ignites.
Bob Foss is running the show,
a medieval trip about a prince finding purpose.
The audition is Wild.
He had them doing isolations, popping shoulders and hips,
then hands out balloons, improv with it, he says.
(09:27):
So she twists it into something playful, sharp, all her own.
Fossy steps up to her, adjust her stance.
Try it this way, fits you better.
She would later say, "He saw me, really saw me."
She lands ensemble and understudies Catherine,
the wife who steals scenes with sass.
(09:48):
It's her first real dance with Fossy, and he is hooked.
She's got heart, he's got vision.
Pippin is a smash, five tonies.
The climb is rolling now.
1974, over here, her first principal role, Maggie,
a World War II canteen singer.
Patricia Birch, choreographs and the Jitterbug,
(10:10):
is a knockout.
Fass feet, big lifts, pure swing.
It was electric.
Her breaking out with the Andrew Sisters vibe.
She lands a theater world award.
Her first big nod, proof, she has arrived.
1975, good time Charlie.
She's playing opposite Joel Gray.
It's a musical spin on history.
(10:31):
She's fierce, playing Joan of Arc, belting and battling.
She receives a Tony nod for best actress at 26,
but it's a short run, 104 shows.
Still, she's a beast owning it.
And then she had a sort of interesting string
replacing dance legends on Broadway.
First, Donna McKecney.
(10:52):
She replaced her as Cassie in a chorus line.
And then Fassie pulls her back in 1977.
Chicago.
She plays Roxy Heart, stepping in for Gwen Verden.
And she makes it hers, Sly, and electric.
Then 1978, Danson.
Fassie's all dance review.
(11:14):
No plot, just bodies, jazz, ballet, tap, everything.
She is a lead dancer, legs, slicing air.
Another Tony nod for best featured actress.
It was pure Fassie.
She's living her purpose, but hard work, as always.
Once Fassie stopped for her soul and made her do a phrase
20 times till he felt it was right.
(11:37):
She would later say that Danson, quote,
"cadappled at me into being a consistent principal to count on."
End quote.
In 1978, she makes her film debut in a movie movie playing
Troubles Moran in a strange, yet captivating, kinder ridiculous,
kind of amazing dance number wearing a wig that you got
(12:00):
to see to believe.
1979 rolls around.
And she is in all that jazz.
Bob Fassie's film.
She is Kate Jagger, his on-screen muse, a starring
role that's all legs and soul.
It's Fassie, by the way, spilling his guts, a semi-autobiographical
(12:21):
trip, and she commands the screen.
It's impossible to look away when she is dancing.
Those long lines, her control, her style, her musicality, living, and breathing, Fassie's
choreography and bringing it to life in the most captivating way.
And she really lived this experience with him.
You know, they were a couple at the time, and he'd call her at 3am.
(12:45):
Tweaking scenes, obsessed, leading her to sometimes show up to set bleary
hide, but she would nail takes anyway.
It's raw, personal, messy as hell.
She's 30, untouchable, carrying Fassie's vision in every frame.
In one moment on screen that mirrored her real-life story with Fassie, her character makes up
(13:06):
dance routines with Gideon's young daughter.
In activity which mirrored the relationship she had with Fassie's own real-life daughter.
Then, 1982 hits, and she is Grace Farrell in the movie musical Annie, the massive screen
take on Broadway's orphan tale.
She's Daddy Warbuck's secretary, all charm and polish, a switch from Fassie's edge to
(13:29):
pure heart.
Grace is the glue, warm, steady, guiding Annie into Daddy Warbuck's world with a smile
that lights up.
Her song and dance numbers radiate poise, class, and elegance.
She is pure Grace, just like her character's name.
From the sweeping dance sequence in, I think I'm gonna like it here, to, we got Annie.
(13:51):
And let's go to the movies, blending her golden-toned voice with her show-stopping dancing.
Funny thing is, she didn't plan on Annie.
She went to the audition, sang a little, got a callback pretty quick, and the rest is history.
And some of those dance scenes, by the way, she would later say, "We'd do them in one
go.
Hot, tired, but I loved it."
(14:14):
Millions of kids and families falling for her softer shine.
A whole generation of kids, aspiring artists, growing up inspired by her warmth, her elegance,
her command of every move and note in that movie.
Then, 86 rolls in, and she's back with Fassie for Sweet Charity on Broadway, stepping
(14:34):
in as charity, after Debbie Allen kicked it off, making the stage hers, like always.
But she's not just taking, she's giving back.
1991, she co-founds the Broadway theater project in Tampa with Deborah McWaters, a three-week
bootcamp of tough love, dance, voice, acting, real deal skills for the stage.
(14:57):
She believes all artists should pass it on, like a baton, their knowledge, their experience.
She once said, "I wanted to give kids what I got from teachers like Joffrey, you know, that
push, that chance."
This camp, if you will, is intense.
Twelve-day straight professionals like Gwen Verdun, Julie Andrews, Gregory Hines, Ben
(15:19):
Verine, the list goes on drilling 20 to 25 hand-picked kids, 15 to 24 years old, on
Technique and Grit.
Playbill refers to Broadway theater project as "The World's Most Pristigious Musical
Theater Arts Education Program" for high school and college students.
They work, study, or hers perform from morning to midnight.
(15:41):
She's with them every step of the way.
Any aspiring artist who attends calls this experience "life-changing," saying that her presence,
her input was simply immeasurable.
She's shaping them like she was shaped.
But hold up, she's not done yet, not even close.
1996 hits and her career has a full circle moment if ever there was one.
(16:05):
She's choreographing the Broadway revival of Chicago.
This isn't just a gig, it's a takeover.
She's dusting off Roxy Heart again, slipping into those fishnets at 47, but now she's calling
the shots too, bringing her unmatched knowledge of Fossy Style to the production, crafting every
(16:25):
slink and snap in his style, but putting her own distinctive stamp on it.
The buzz is electric.
Can she pull it off, channeling him and owning it?
Opening night drops and then...
Bam!
She's got a Tony for best choreography.
Her moves so sharp, they cut through time.
(16:47):
She doesn't stop there, staging Chicago across the globe.
Then, in 1999, she co-creates Fossy, a review that's pure him, his jazz, his fire, her hands
all over it.
It's a love letter, a victory lap, and she's still the one to beat, receiving an Olivier
Award for best theater choreographer when she brought the production to London's West End.
(17:11):
Later, she settles in Paradise Valley, Arizona, a place she fell for back at 18 on that fiddler
tour in 1968.
She's back, calling it home, a quiet full circle that still inspires.
She is perhaps the most indelible and often imitated Broadway dancer of her generation,
(17:35):
her name and Rineking.
And now you know the rest of the story.
Wow, okay, dance family.
I don't know I get so emotional telling her story.
I'll explain, I'll try to explain why in a moment, but first if you enjoyed this, if it
hits you, if it resonated, if Anne Rineking was someone you watch growing up, if she's
(17:56):
someone who inspires you, please kindly share this podcast with your dance family.
We all need to know her story.
Please follow and subscribe to the show, rate, watch, comment, all the things.
Again, it's so appreciated.
Now, let's get into just a little bit more.
Now I think every a lot of us have, you know, that celebrity who passed away before you
(18:19):
feel is their time.
And when you think about them, you're still sad.
It still really affects your heart because they brought just so much beauty and joy to the
world in so many different ways.
And for me and Rineking is that person and I think for a lot of dancers, she's that person.
We're just still so devastated that she left the world, you know, when she did.
(18:41):
And just watching her dance and talking about her, I feel like I always have a lump in my
throat.
There's this joy in me, but also this sadness that she was taken away, I feel before her
time.
And yet somehow the spiritual side of me says that people are supposed to go when they're
supposed to go and therefore it was, you know, their time that said, I feel like she
(19:02):
just had more to do all accounts about her.
She was just the most beautiful, gracious, wonderful, endearing, down to earth soul.
And she didn't just shine on stage, you know, and with those she worked with in a sort of,
you know, dance capacity.
She poured her heart into something personal when her son, Christopher, was diagnosed with
(19:23):
Marfan syndrome, which is a rare condition that messes with your connective tissue.
And she turned that fight into a mission making a documentary called In My Hands in 2009.
And it was all about kids with Marfan.
And she brought dance back into the story.
She showed off their strength and beauty through dance.
(19:45):
It was her way of saying, you know, hey, different is not just okay.
It's stunning.
And boy, she really meant it.
I have friends who went to the Broadway theater project way back in like the mid-early
90s and stuff.
And everybody just came back and said that it was the experience of a lifetime and it was
just very much game changing for them and their trajectory with regard to being an artist.
(20:09):
I wish I had known about it at the time.
I didn't when I was pursuing dance as a teenager professionally.
If I did my god, I would have auditioned, wow, could you even imagine?
I'm Generation X.
I think for my generation and Millennials 2, we grew up on Annie.
I mean, it was one of the few VHS tapes we had.
(20:30):
And I played that movie, oh my god, like a thousand times.
It's still one of the few.
I don't watch a lot of movies over and over again.
I'm not one of those people.
I see something once.
I love it.
I'm kind of done.
Sometimes I'll go back and revisit.
Only maybe a handful of movies have I watched over the years.
Like I will make it a point every couple of years to watch it.
(20:52):
And Annie is one of those for me the way I love this movie.
For me, it's the greatest Annie of all time.
There is no close second.
There have been other good ones, but this for me is the definitive in all the ways.
Don't get me started.
And Anne Rienking is one of the reasons she just, you know what?
I will leave it to the dance critic of the New York Times, Gia Corlus, who talked about
(21:17):
Anne in Annie.
I never actually thought about that before.
She is Anne Rienking in Annie.
Anne in Annie.
This is what Corlus said.
During a silky yellow dress, it swirls around her legs like a partner.
She begins with a jazzy, playful walk, pausing every few beats for a shoulder, shimmy, or a
(21:37):
whirl.
She kicks and wilts like a rag doll.
Dashing through a hallway, she hops over a chair, plays the harp with a couple of finger
snaps and continues forward, spinning through space as if she's gliding on wind.
A blurry, gleaming, but indelibly articulate.
What a daredevil.
(21:58):
What a bandon.
In her exuberance, it feels like Miss Rienking is showing us the sound of laughter.
Ugh, I just love that.
It's so true.
And again, it makes me emotional.
It's just so interesting how certain, I'm not one of those people who is all about celebrity,
but certain people, maybe it's the dance connection I don't know.
(22:20):
You just feel, you feel drawn to them.
And I do with Anne Rienking.
I regret that our paths never cross, but I'm so grateful for her work, how it lives on.
And the impact she made on my childhood, just in the movie Annie alone, and what a gift
it was to revisit her and to learn about her so much more, doing the research for this
(22:42):
episode today.
I don't know her character was such a mother figure, you know, and maybe it just had this
effect on me and millions of other kids who grew up with the movie, like you just loved her
in that sort of maternal way.
Alright, dance fam, like I always say, I could go on and on forever with these incredible
artists and still barely scratch the surface of their amazing careers.
(23:08):
And Anne Rienking is no exception.
That said, that is it for today.
I highly recommend you check out a documentary.
It's on YouTube.
I put the link below.
It's a documentary that was made from the perspective of the artists, the young talents
who went to the Broadway theater project.
They did it to dedicate to Anne Rienking.
(23:31):
And it's on YouTube.
Again, the link is below.
It's beautiful.
And I really appreciate you being here and I'll see you next time.
[MUSIC]
(gentle music)
(mysterious music)
[music]
(00:02):
Welcome to "Hey, Dancer"
and my weekly series "The Rest of the Story".
I am your host and your editor and your researcher and your script writer.
All the things, my name is Miller Daurey
and today we are digging into a dancer's life.
Someone who ruled Broadway and owned movie screens
(00:23):
and also built something very lasting, not just in her career,
but the career of thousands of aspiring young artists.
And I actually was very emotional
throughout the entire time researching this legend
and I'll tell you why in the outro.
If you're enjoying this series where I spotlight dance legends
(00:44):
and/or iconic moments in dance history,
I would just be so honored if you took a moment to show some love
for the show by following or subscribing
wherever you're watching or listening,
give a like or rating or review, leave a comment,
share with your dance fam.
It all just goes so far into telling whichever platform you're on
(01:07):
that they should share it with even more lovers of dance.
And that, again, would make me so happy.
If you are watching on YouTube, this is the first time
I'm throwing in illustrations to help tell the story
in addition to my usual TV, film, and photo sequences.
So let me know what you think in the comments.
(01:28):
Okay, let's get into it.
She's born in California, although Wikipedia and other sites
will tell you otherwise.
She's one of seven kids filling a lively house.
Dad is a hydraulic engineer.
Mom is holding the reins.
At about five or six years old, she's begging for ballet lessons
after watching a friend dance, but her parents aren't quite sold yet.
(01:51):
Summers, she visits her aunt in Seattle
and this aunt would often have musical friends over for parties
and this little girl was always dancing up a storm,
catching the bug, performing for everybody.
At seven, the family moves from California to Bellevue
just outside Seattle and settles in.
By eight, her aunt pushes ballet lessons for her birthday
(02:12):
and though her folks leaned toward tap from their old days,
they let her try it.
Mom is driving her to Seattle studios,
shows her the bus route to go alone,
but it's not the full fire quite yet.
Sixth grade at an atti elementary changes everything.
Her teacher, Mrs. James, calls for a talent show.
There's no backing out.
(02:33):
You gotta do it.
And this little girl whips up a skit
that involves characters throughout history.
She's wearing a scarf, but then Carla C. Lander steps up.
The epitome of a young ballet prodigy.
She's got the crown, two-to-pean tites and peat point shoes.
She even has scholarships under her belt
(02:54):
and she's just the sight,
nailing the nutcracker sugar plumb fairy variation.
Our girl is 11 now and she's watching
and it's a thunderbolt moment.
The most beautiful thing I'd ever seen
she once told an interviewer,
transfixed, the moment is spiritual for her.
She begs her parents, ballet classes for her 11th birthday.
(03:18):
And this time, they cave.
They even set up a bar in her bedroom.
This is when her dance journey truly begins.
No dance blood flows in her family.
No one is nudging her forward.
She's the one charging ahead.
Local studios become her turf.
Ballet is her anchor.
And she dives into jazz, tap, modern, too,
(03:40):
building a wide base.
Now she's barely into her teens when she gets a taste
of the big leagues.
Local companies need extras, super numeralries,
they call them.
And they hit up ballet studios like hers,
looking for girls to dress up and fill the stage.
She lands a spot in sleeping beauty,
a lady of the court in this stunning full length gown,
(04:02):
just standing there, heart pounding,
watching Aurora's 16th birthday unfold.
And who is Aurora?
Margot Fontaine.
She is so close she could touch her,
staring in disbelief,
then Rudolph Nuriyev sweeps in, equally unreal.
They even rehearse at her studio,
(04:24):
warming up where she does.
And she's right there on the same stage, soaking it in.
I can still see it in my mind's eye today.
She says that magic locked in her bones.
She's got fire, training as a kid
with two former ballet roost dancers.
And at 12, she steps into the real deal,
(04:45):
making her pro debut in Giselle with the English Royal Ballet
on tour, summer's turn intense after that.
A Ford Foundation scholarship to San Francisco Ballet,
three years of all-out focus.
She's 12, 13, 14, soaking in company class at 10 a.m.,
grinding her own practice after ushering shows at night
(05:06):
to watch every step.
She's hungry for it.
High school at Bellevue High keeps her moving,
recitals and residencies piling up,
but she's restless, craving bigger things.
At 17, she snags a summer spot with the Joffrey Ballet
in Tacoma at Pacific Lutheran University.
And that's when Robert Joffrey switches the track.
(05:27):
He says something to her that is arguably
the catalyst in her career.
See, he hears her singing in class.
You know, she's just kind of goofing around.
It's her character, the way she interacts
with others, joking around, and he's observing her.
And just out of the blue, he says that sure,
she's got a solid future in Bellevue if she wants it,
(05:47):
but his recommendation, it would really be fantastic
if you did Broadway, he tells her.
He feels she'd be better off in musicals,
that she has a gift, she can dance, sing and act.
He sees it in her future, and he thinks she'd really shine
in that world.
And now she's caught.
(06:07):
Bellevue has her heart, but that nudge
from Robert Joffrey himself, it sinks in deep.
So she's 18 in 1967, waytracing at Frederick and Nelson's
department store in Seattle, saving up $500.
A fortune when your allowance is $0.50 a week
and grabs a one-way ticket to New York City.
(06:30):
No safety net, just pure nerve.
And she lands at Joffrey Ballet School, a place
yeah, that already feels like home.
And she's on scholarship, picking up ballet
in some theater classes, but ballet is not the end game now.
You see, Robert Joffrey's words are constantly looping
in her mind and musical theater has got her full attention now.
(06:53):
She's living on cans of spam, scraping by,
but the first gig comes pretty quick.
Radio City Music Hall's ballet core, thanks
to a teacher's heads up about Tuesday auditions.
She's new to this, soaking in advice from the pros
about how it all works.
Then she gets a week off from Radio City
(07:14):
and on the advice of her fellow working artists,
she dives into trades like variety in backstage and spots
and open call for Fiddler on the Roof's second national tour,
500 dancers, one shot.
She's still 18 and she locks it down.
Equity card in hand, she's touring places
(07:36):
like Phoenix and Scottsdale, hitting the road hard in 1968.
She falls for Arizona right then, a love
that'll bring her back decades later.
She's back in New York, 1969, and she's
19 and dives into cabaret.
It's the final months of Hal Prince's original Broadway run,
(07:57):
a dark sexy hit about Berlin's underbelly.
She's in the ensemble, one of the Kit-Kat girls,
slinking through mine air and money money in garters and grit.
No spotlight yet, but Prince's team notices her legs,
her energy, something is there.
She was just happy to be in the room,
but her vibe is already turning heads.
(08:20):
Next up, Coco, a musical about Coco Chanel,
starring none other than Catherine Hepburn.
Dance Captain Bonnie Walker clocks her,
tells choreographer Michael Bennett, "That's the one.
Meaning she's got the spark."
See, Bennett is already scouting for a chorus line,
and this is the first ping.
(08:41):
She books it still in the ensemble.
There she is with Hepburn and Bennett,
soaking it in like a sponge, learning how pros think.
It's a crash course with legends.
Then, Wild and Wonderful, a musical comedy
with a big band swing.
She's ensemble again, but it's a disaster.
Opens and closes in one night, total flop,
(09:03):
but this doesn't phase her.
She's built for this.
1972, Pippin, she's 22,
and this is where it ignites.
Bob Foss is running the show,
a medieval trip about a prince finding purpose.
The audition is Wild.
He had them doing isolations, popping shoulders and hips,
then hands out balloons, improv with it, he says.
(09:27):
So she twists it into something playful, sharp, all her own.
Fossy steps up to her, adjust her stance.
Try it this way, fits you better.
She would later say, "He saw me, really saw me."
She lands ensemble and understudies Catherine,
the wife who steals scenes with sass.
(09:48):
It's her first real dance with Fossy, and he is hooked.
She's got heart, he's got vision.
Pippin is a smash, five tonies.
The climb is rolling now.
1974, over here, her first principal role, Maggie,
a World War II canteen singer.
Patricia Birch, choreographs and the Jitterbug,
(10:10):
is a knockout.
Fass feet, big lifts, pure swing.
It was electric.
Her breaking out with the Andrew Sisters vibe.
She lands a theater world award.
Her first big nod, proof, she has arrived.
1975, good time Charlie.
She's playing opposite Joel Gray.
It's a musical spin on history.
(10:31):
She's fierce, playing Joan of Arc, belting and battling.
She receives a Tony nod for best actress at 26,
but it's a short run, 104 shows.
Still, she's a beast owning it.
And then she had a sort of interesting string
replacing dance legends on Broadway.
First, Donna McKecney.
(10:52):
She replaced her as Cassie in a chorus line.
And then Fassie pulls her back in 1977.
Chicago.
She plays Roxy Heart, stepping in for Gwen Verden.
And she makes it hers, Sly, and electric.
Then 1978, Danson.
Fassie's all dance review.
(11:14):
No plot, just bodies, jazz, ballet, tap, everything.
She is a lead dancer, legs, slicing air.
Another Tony nod for best featured actress.
It was pure Fassie.
She's living her purpose, but hard work, as always.
Once Fassie stopped for her soul and made her do a phrase
20 times till he felt it was right.
(11:37):
She would later say that Danson, quote,
"cadappled at me into being a consistent principal to count on."
End quote.
In 1978, she makes her film debut in a movie movie playing
Troubles Moran in a strange, yet captivating, kinder ridiculous,
kind of amazing dance number wearing a wig that you got
(12:00):
to see to believe.
1979 rolls around.
And she is in all that jazz.
Bob Fassie's film.
She is Kate Jagger, his on-screen muse, a starring
role that's all legs and soul.
It's Fassie, by the way, spilling his guts, a semi-autobiographical
(12:21):
trip, and she commands the screen.
It's impossible to look away when she is dancing.
Those long lines, her control, her style, her musicality, living, and breathing, Fassie's
choreography and bringing it to life in the most captivating way.
And she really lived this experience with him.
You know, they were a couple at the time, and he'd call her at 3am.
(12:45):
Tweaking scenes, obsessed, leading her to sometimes show up to set bleary
hide, but she would nail takes anyway.
It's raw, personal, messy as hell.
She's 30, untouchable, carrying Fassie's vision in every frame.
In one moment on screen that mirrored her real-life story with Fassie, her character makes up
(13:06):
dance routines with Gideon's young daughter.
In activity which mirrored the relationship she had with Fassie's own real-life daughter.
Then, 1982 hits, and she is Grace Farrell in the movie musical Annie, the massive screen
take on Broadway's orphan tale.
She's Daddy Warbuck's secretary, all charm and polish, a switch from Fassie's edge to
(13:29):
pure heart.
Grace is the glue, warm, steady, guiding Annie into Daddy Warbuck's world with a smile
that lights up.
Her song and dance numbers radiate poise, class, and elegance.
She is pure Grace, just like her character's name.
From the sweeping dance sequence in, I think I'm gonna like it here, to, we got Annie.
(13:51):
And let's go to the movies, blending her golden-toned voice with her show-stopping dancing.
Funny thing is, she didn't plan on Annie.
She went to the audition, sang a little, got a callback pretty quick, and the rest is history.
And some of those dance scenes, by the way, she would later say, "We'd do them in one
go.
Hot, tired, but I loved it."
(14:14):
Millions of kids and families falling for her softer shine.
A whole generation of kids, aspiring artists, growing up inspired by her warmth, her elegance,
her command of every move and note in that movie.
Then, 86 rolls in, and she's back with Fassie for Sweet Charity on Broadway, stepping
(14:34):
in as charity, after Debbie Allen kicked it off, making the stage hers, like always.
But she's not just taking, she's giving back.
1991, she co-founds the Broadway theater project in Tampa with Deborah McWaters, a three-week
bootcamp of tough love, dance, voice, acting, real deal skills for the stage.
(14:57):
She believes all artists should pass it on, like a baton, their knowledge, their experience.
She once said, "I wanted to give kids what I got from teachers like Joffrey, you know, that
push, that chance."
This camp, if you will, is intense.
Twelve-day straight professionals like Gwen Verdun, Julie Andrews, Gregory Hines, Ben
(15:19):
Verine, the list goes on drilling 20 to 25 hand-picked kids, 15 to 24 years old, on
Technique and Grit.
Playbill refers to Broadway theater project as "The World's Most Pristigious Musical
Theater Arts Education Program" for high school and college students.
They work, study, or hers perform from morning to midnight.
(15:41):
She's with them every step of the way.
Any aspiring artist who attends calls this experience "life-changing," saying that her presence,
her input was simply immeasurable.
She's shaping them like she was shaped.
But hold up, she's not done yet, not even close.
1996 hits and her career has a full circle moment if ever there was one.
(16:05):
She's choreographing the Broadway revival of Chicago.
This isn't just a gig, it's a takeover.
She's dusting off Roxy Heart again, slipping into those fishnets at 47, but now she's calling
the shots too, bringing her unmatched knowledge of Fossy Style to the production, crafting every
(16:25):
slink and snap in his style, but putting her own distinctive stamp on it.
The buzz is electric.
Can she pull it off, channeling him and owning it?
Opening night drops and then...
Bam!
She's got a Tony for best choreography.
Her moves so sharp, they cut through time.
(16:47):
She doesn't stop there, staging Chicago across the globe.
Then, in 1999, she co-creates Fossy, a review that's pure him, his jazz, his fire, her hands
all over it.
It's a love letter, a victory lap, and she's still the one to beat, receiving an Olivier
Award for best theater choreographer when she brought the production to London's West End.
(17:11):
Later, she settles in Paradise Valley, Arizona, a place she fell for back at 18 on that fiddler
tour in 1968.
She's back, calling it home, a quiet full circle that still inspires.
She is perhaps the most indelible and often imitated Broadway dancer of her generation,
(17:35):
her name and Rineking.
And now you know the rest of the story.
Wow, okay, dance family.
I don't know I get so emotional telling her story.
I'll explain, I'll try to explain why in a moment, but first if you enjoyed this, if it
hits you, if it resonated, if Anne Rineking was someone you watch growing up, if she's
(17:56):
someone who inspires you, please kindly share this podcast with your dance family.
We all need to know her story.
Please follow and subscribe to the show, rate, watch, comment, all the things.
Again, it's so appreciated.
Now, let's get into just a little bit more.
Now I think every a lot of us have, you know, that celebrity who passed away before you
(18:19):
feel is their time.
And when you think about them, you're still sad.
It still really affects your heart because they brought just so much beauty and joy to the
world in so many different ways.
And for me and Rineking is that person and I think for a lot of dancers, she's that person.
We're just still so devastated that she left the world, you know, when she did.
(18:41):
And just watching her dance and talking about her, I feel like I always have a lump in my
throat.
There's this joy in me, but also this sadness that she was taken away, I feel before her
time.
And yet somehow the spiritual side of me says that people are supposed to go when they're
supposed to go and therefore it was, you know, their time that said, I feel like she
(19:02):
just had more to do all accounts about her.
She was just the most beautiful, gracious, wonderful, endearing, down to earth soul.
And she didn't just shine on stage, you know, and with those she worked with in a sort of,
you know, dance capacity.
She poured her heart into something personal when her son, Christopher, was diagnosed with
(19:23):
Marfan syndrome, which is a rare condition that messes with your connective tissue.
And she turned that fight into a mission making a documentary called In My Hands in 2009.
And it was all about kids with Marfan.
And she brought dance back into the story.
She showed off their strength and beauty through dance.
(19:45):
It was her way of saying, you know, hey, different is not just okay.
It's stunning.
And boy, she really meant it.
I have friends who went to the Broadway theater project way back in like the mid-early
90s and stuff.
And everybody just came back and said that it was the experience of a lifetime and it was
just very much game changing for them and their trajectory with regard to being an artist.
(20:09):
I wish I had known about it at the time.
I didn't when I was pursuing dance as a teenager professionally.
If I did my god, I would have auditioned, wow, could you even imagine?
I'm Generation X.
I think for my generation and Millennials 2, we grew up on Annie.
I mean, it was one of the few VHS tapes we had.
(20:30):
And I played that movie, oh my god, like a thousand times.
It's still one of the few.
I don't watch a lot of movies over and over again.
I'm not one of those people.
I see something once.
I love it.
I'm kind of done.
Sometimes I'll go back and revisit.
Only maybe a handful of movies have I watched over the years.
Like I will make it a point every couple of years to watch it.
(20:52):
And Annie is one of those for me the way I love this movie.
For me, it's the greatest Annie of all time.
There is no close second.
There have been other good ones, but this for me is the definitive in all the ways.
Don't get me started.
And Anne Rienking is one of the reasons she just, you know what?
I will leave it to the dance critic of the New York Times, Gia Corlus, who talked about
(21:17):
Anne in Annie.
I never actually thought about that before.
She is Anne Rienking in Annie.
Anne in Annie.
This is what Corlus said.
During a silky yellow dress, it swirls around her legs like a partner.
She begins with a jazzy, playful walk, pausing every few beats for a shoulder, shimmy, or a
(21:37):
whirl.
She kicks and wilts like a rag doll.
Dashing through a hallway, she hops over a chair, plays the harp with a couple of finger
snaps and continues forward, spinning through space as if she's gliding on wind.
A blurry, gleaming, but indelibly articulate.
What a daredevil.
(21:58):
What a bandon.
In her exuberance, it feels like Miss Rienking is showing us the sound of laughter.
Ugh, I just love that.
It's so true.
And again, it makes me emotional.
It's just so interesting how certain, I'm not one of those people who is all about celebrity,
but certain people, maybe it's the dance connection I don't know.
(22:20):
You just feel, you feel drawn to them.
And I do with Anne Rienking.
I regret that our paths never cross, but I'm so grateful for her work, how it lives on.
And the impact she made on my childhood, just in the movie Annie alone, and what a gift
it was to revisit her and to learn about her so much more, doing the research for this
(22:42):
episode today.
I don't know her character was such a mother figure, you know, and maybe it just had this
effect on me and millions of other kids who grew up with the movie, like you just loved her
in that sort of maternal way.
Alright, dance fam, like I always say, I could go on and on forever with these incredible
artists and still barely scratch the surface of their amazing careers.
(23:08):
And Anne Rienking is no exception.
That said, that is it for today.
I highly recommend you check out a documentary.
It's on YouTube.
I put the link below.
It's a documentary that was made from the perspective of the artists, the young talents
who went to the Broadway theater project.
They did it to dedicate to Anne Rienking.
(23:31):
And it's on YouTube.
Again, the link is below.
It's beautiful.
And I really appreciate you being here and I'll see you next time.
[MUSIC]
(gentle music)
(mysterious music)
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