In 1963, Joe Lanza worked as an Itinerary
Dance Teacher for the Los Angeles public schools. His job entailed
teaching popular ballroom dances to 49 different junior high schools.
When Brazilian Bossa Nova jazz music hit this country, the students
in Joe's classes asked him to teach them the Bossa Nova. Since he had not
come across the dance himself, he agreed to create a "substitute" dance for
them until the real thing came along. As the weeks went by, The Dancer,
Joe Lanza, kept on improving his substitute Bossa Nova until the dance took
on a life of its own, with its unique form of jazz-like
patterns.
Weeks later, on a Friday evening while he was watching a television documentary on the Bossa Nova, the documentary took the viewer on a trip to all the major capitals of the world, and filmed the style of dancing the various countries were dancing to Bossa Nova music. Lanza was astounded to learn that there was no specific dance for the new music. It turned out that the "substitute" dance that he had created for his junior high school students was the only unique dance form that expressed the jazz mood of Bossa Nova music.
Lanza knew he had a tiger by the tail. His problem was how to control the
integrity of his style of Bossa Nova so it would not be corrupted and mangled
by others seeking to "improve" his creation. Lanza, The Dancer, had already
published two books on ballroom dancing, so he knew what the answer
was.
Joe locked himself in his house for three days and nights and began describing
his dance in detail, with illustrations. When he had finished, he had three
thousand copies of his booklet, "The Bossa Nova Dance," printed. Joe's
booklets were mailed "gratis" to all the dance studios in the USA and
Canada.
Leonard Feather, the syndicated jazz music critic, informed his readers that Joe Lanza's Bossa Nova was the internationally acclaimed dance version being danced to Bossa Nova music around the world.
Although there was no profit in the distribution of these Bossa Nova booklets, the reaction brought The Dancer more teaching engagements than he could fill. One group hired the Beverly Hills Polo Lounge for classes in the Bossa Nova. Ciro's on Hollywood's Sunset Strip hired him to teach a Friday afternoon class. Northrop Aviation formed classes for their employees. High school gyms were turned into dance halls and filled to capacity for Joe's classes. As a result of his popularity, Lanza was hired by many private clubs and ballrooms. The Presbyterian parochial school near McArthur Lake Park even hired Joe as their gym teacher for the year, where his two hour gym classes were a combination of aerobics (not yet conceived), dancing and gymnastics.
Jimmy Van Heusen
and Johnny Haskle, the developer of Yucca Valley, were good friends of The
Dancer. They set up a unique dance class held at Haskle's Yucca Valley
Airport, where all of the students flew in from various parts of the
state in their private planes for their Sunday afternoon Bossa Nova
classes.
Johhny Haskle had originally traveled to Hollywood in the 1940's with Jimmy Van Heusen and Frank Sinatra, driving in his 1929 twelve cylinder Packard. Johnny and Jimmy grew so fond of The Dancer that they set him up with an opportunity of a lifetime. They had persuaded Frank Sinatra to invite Joe Lanza to teach the Bossa Nova dance at Frank's 48th birthday party.
The night of Sinatra's party came and
Joe Lanza was dressed and ready to leave his home at 8 PM to get to the party
before 9 PM. Before he walked out the door, however, he decided he needed
a stiff shot of vodka. Two hours later The Dancer was still downing
shots of vodka to bolster his courage.
The Dancer finally arrived at Sinatra's party at a quarter past eleven. Johnny Haskle met him at the door and brought him into the room where the party was still going on.
The Dance Panorama Magazine organized a Bossa Nova campaign. Each night club would run ten weekly Bossa Nova contests, and the finalists from each night club would then qualify for the Grand Finals held on April 1, 1963 at the Hollywood Palladium.
Joe Lanza was the Honored Guest , and was invited to do a Bossa Nova exhibition with Marie Bailey, a cocktail waitress from Direct Line. Here are some photos of their Bossa Nova Exhibition.
The story
continues in the book
-THE
DANCER-
Joe Lanza is the ONLY choreographer, living or dead, who has ever created a standard ballroom dance!