Jazz dance is a classification shared by a broad range of dance styles. Prior to the 1950s, jazz dance referred to dance styles that originated from African American vernacular dance. In the 1950s, a new genre of jazz dance— modern jazz dance —emerged, with roots in Caribbean traditional dance. Every individual style of jazz dance has roots traceable to one of these two distinct origins.
History
Traditional
Until the mid 1950s, jazz dance referred to the dance styles that originated from the African American vernacular dance of the late 1800s to mid-1900s. Jazz dance often referred to tap dance because tap dancing, set to jazz music, was one of the predominant dances of the era. Jazz dance evolved over time to spawn a diverse range of social and concert dance styles. During the later jazz age, popular forms of jazz dance included the Cakewalk, Black Bottom, Charleston, Jitterbug, Boogie Woogie, swing and the related Lindy Hop. Today, many of these dance styles are still popular and continue to be practiced and taught.
Modern
After the 1950s, pioneers such as Katherine Dunham took the essence of Caribbean traditional dance and made it into a performing art. With the growing domination of other forms of entertainment music, jazz dance evolved on Broadway into the new, smooth style that is taught today and known as modern jazz, while tap dance branched off to follow its own, separate evolutionary path. The performance style of jazz dance was popularized to a large extent by Bob Fosse's work, which is exemplified by Broadway shows such as Chicago, Cabaret, Damn Yankees, and The Pajama Game. Modern jazz dance continues to be an essential element of musical theatre, and it can often be seen in music videos and competitive dance.
Modern jazz dance
Jazz dancers often wear leather jazz shoes, colored either black or beige, to help them move smoothly when executing turns (e.g. pirouette).
Prior to dancing, dancers typically perform exercises in order to warm up and stretch muscles so as to prevent injuries. In addition, core strengthening exercises are often used for conditioning.
Technique
Modern jazz dance is frequently influenced by other dance styles such as acro, ballet, contemporary, lyrical, and hip hop. In turn, many other dance styles are influenced by jazz dance.
As in most forms of dance, technique is the foundation for all modern jazz dance movement. In particular, jazz dancers benefit from a sound working knowledge of ballet technique and, consequently, jazz dance curriculum commonly includes ballet training. Dancers who have mastered jazz dance technique are free to focus on the stylistic and performance aspects of dance.
Modern jazz dance encompasses various techniques, including:
- Center control . The body's center is the focal point from which all movement emanates, thus making it possible to maintain balance while executing powerful movements.
- Spotting . This enables dancers to maintain balance and control while executing turns such Pirouettes and fouettés.
Notable directors, dancers, and choreographers
- Katherine Dunham, considered the grandmaster of jazz dance technique. She was a key inspiration to most modern jazz dance legends.
- Jack Cole, considered the father of jazz dance technique. He was a key inspiration to Matt Mattox, Bob Fosse, Jerome Robbins, Gwen Verdon, and many other choreographers.
- Eugene Louis Facciuto (aka "Luigi"
SVJD: Promoting Swing, Tap, and Vernacular Jazz Music and Dancing in ...
Jazz Dance Music Video Contest! Interested in making a Jazz Dance Music Video? Click here to read up about it!
OFF JAZZ DANCE WORLD
NICE/France.All about jazz and tap dance; history,terminology,teachers,workshops, Instructional videos,quick time, video demo clips,pictures.
OFF JAZZ - JAZZ AND TAP DANCE
Contains multiple tap resources including video clips, tap history, tap star profiles, terminology, workshops, and tap links.
JAZZ DANCE ORCHESTRA
джаз бенд jazz dance orchestra
YouTube - All That Jazz Dance
All That Jazz Dance ... Created a custom ring tone from 0:03 to 0:43 of this video on Tube2 Tone(.}com.
Sachet Jazz Dance Tips: Beginning Jazz & Hip Hop Dance | eHow.com
Sachet Jazz Dance Tips. Part of the series: Beginning Jazz & Hip Hop Dance. Learn how to do the sachet in this free jazz dance video.
Jazz Dance Routine Tips: Beginning Jazz & Hip Hop Dance | eHow.com
Jazz Dance Routine Tips. Part of the series: Beginning Jazz & Hip Hop Dance. Learn how to do a routine in this free jazz dance video.
Amazon.com: Jazz Dance Class [VHS]: Gus Giordano: Video
Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product. Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items.
How to Jazz Dance Video – 5min.com
How to Jazz Dance - In this video, Katie Jackson from Studio Bleu teaches you how to jazz dance.
YouTube - jazz dance OFFJAZZ - dance routines: jazz
This video is a jazz dance combo...just might not be what you think of as jazz if your definition of the style is narrow. Just read the history....