Diamond Dance Center in Harford County Maryland, Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Modern, Pointe

Jazz

Jazz Dance
Jazz dance can be defined as any dance to jazz accompaniments, composed of a profusion of forms. Jazz dance paralleled the birth and spread of jazz music from roots in black American society and was popularized in ballrooms by the big bands of the swing era (1930s and '40s). It radically altered the style of American and European stage and social dance in the 20th century. The term is sometimes used more narrowly to describe (1) popular stage dance (except tap dance) and (2) jazz-derived or jazz-influenced forms of modern dance. It excludes social dances lacking jazz accompaniment--e.g., the rumba and other Latin-American dances.

(1) Jazz dance has also been defined as follows:
• Dance marked by movement isolations and complex, propulsive polyrhythms. It is an outgrowth of African-American ragtime, jazz, spirituals, blues, work songs, and so forth and is considered an American dance style. www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/daglossary.asp
The Beginning of Jazz Dance (2)
Early roots of jazz dance came from African culture imported by slaves. In Africa, natives danced to celebrate cycles of life: birth, puberty, marriage and death. Children, adults and the elderly all depended on dance to express their cultural beliefs. Drums, string instruments, chimes, reedpipes and other percussion instruments set the beat for the dancers.

Slaves continued to interpret life through dance. However, their dances, while based on the traditions of Africa, were influenced by the European background of the plantation owners, so the dances changed. The only place where African dances remained outside this influence was Congo Square in New Orleans. From 1805 to 1880 slaves were permitted to dance by the French and Spanish Catholics who inhabited the area. They felt that providing slaves with an opportunity to dance under supervision would make the slaves happier, monitor plans for revolt, and prevent secret voodoo dances from being performed.

Another big influence on dance in America was the Minstrel show, which was popular from 1845 to 1900. Composed of a troupe of up to fifty performers who traveled from city to city.
Since the 1920s jazz dance has meant a constantly evolving form of popular and artistic dance movement. As popular culture changes, so does jazz dance. Crucial to jazz dance is individuality and improvisation. Jazz dances include the Charleston and the Black Bottom from the 1920s, theater dances of Bob Fosse, funky jazz and lyrical jazz.

A “Lesson” In Jazz History (3)
When you hear jazz music, you probably don’t know who wrote it, where it originated or even what its association with jazz dance is. Jay Franke, a dancer and choreographer based in Chicago, IL, says this lack of knowledge is all too common, even among highly trained dancers. To help educate audiences, Franke created Jazz Lessons, a show devoted to explaining the shared history of jazz music and dance.

Jazz music and dance have depended on each other throughout history. In the swing section of Jazz Lessons, Franke showed this relationship by “using a lot of side-to-side movement. Swing dancing in the ’30s was very linear,” he says. The accented beats of that era allowed dancers to do swing steps like the Lindy (which alternates from left to right) to parallel the side-to-side musical rhythms.
Bebop, which developed out of swing, was popularized in the 1940s. With the civil rights movement emerging at that time, Franke set the first section in a bus to represent the famous Rosa Parks incident in Montgomery, AL. He selected Thelonious Monk’s music for this section; the up-and-down accents were shown onstage by dribbling a basketball for part of the choreography.

“Musical theater also played a huge part in the progression of jazz dance,” Franke adds. Beginning in the 1950s, choreographers like Bob Fosse—whose racy style included scantily clad dancers performing hip thrusts and shoulder rolls—brought jazz dance center stage. Much of contemporary jazz, first popularized in the ’80s, evolved from this shift in style.

Jazz Dance: The American Discipline (4)
Thanks to the 1999 Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Fosse, most jazz dance students are now familiar with the name Bob Fosse. Fosse was, of course, the choreographer whose singular style became synonymous with the dance musical and yielded shows like Sweet Charity and Damn Yankees, as well as the movie All That Jazz. But how many students know about Jack Cole, the man who inspired Fosse? Would the names Luigi, Matt Mattox, Lynn Simonson or Gus Giordano draw blank stares from the same students now sporting Fosse T-shirts? Do they know who Billy Siegenfeld is? How about Ruth Walton or Phil Black? “My guess is that most dance students don’t really know who these people are,” says Tom Ralabate, director of the Kiptom Dance Center in suburban Buffalo, NY, and chairman of dance at the University at Buffalo. “They may recognize a name like Giordano but they probably don’t really know what his contributions to the field are.” For the record, Luigi, Mattox, Giordano, Simonson and Siegenfeld have each developed codified jazz techniques that are taught worldwide. Cole is widely considered to be the father of jazz because of his innovative work as a choreographer and teacher. Walton and Black are two of the jazz world’s leading teachers as are Charles Kelley, Marcus Alford and Frank Hatchett.

“Jazz dance changes so quickly and it always reflects what’s going on now,” says Bob Boross, a dance instructor who specializes in the Mattox technique. Boross has also written about jazz dance history and developed a jazz dance website (www.jazzart.org). “When what might have been important 20 years ago doesn’t fit the mold now, it’s forgotten. Jazz is marketed on what it is today. It’s just like with pop music, if it’s not the new thing, young people aren’t interested. It doesn’t get the attention that the newest thing does.” The pop element of jazz means that it’s not often considered a serious dance form worthy of the same amount of study as ballet and modern dance.
Jazz Dance Influences Through The Decades (5))
How and when your parents, grandparents and great-grandparents jammed to jazz music—and what they wore Decade Time Period Who’s Playing? New Moves Typical Clothing 1920s Jazz Age Louis Armstrong Charleston Flowing dresses, no waistline 1930s Swing Duke Ellington Lindy Hop Dresses cut mid-calf 1940s Bebop Thelonious Monk; Dizzy Gillespie Jitterbug Dresses above knee, padded shoulders 1950s Cool Jazz Miles Davis Stroll Full-circle skirts, waists and bust accentuated
1960s Free Jazz John Coltrane; Cecil Taylor Twist Miniskirts, flowing tops 1970s Jazz Rock Fusion Herbie Hancock; Mahavishnu Orchestra Hustle; social dancing moves to the studio Denim, dresses (all lengths), taller heels on shoes 1980s Contemporary Jazz Bobby McFerrin; Michael Brecker Electric slide; jazz dancing in the studio Business suits, faded denim, padded shoulders return 1990s Acid Jazz , Contemporary Jazz continues The David Pavkovic Band; Groove Collective Hip Hop influence begins; jazz continues in the studio '70s vintage and hip-hop fashions

Learn more from these books:

Jazz Dance Today by Larraine Person Kriegel and Kim Chandler-Vaccaro

Jump Into Jazz by Minda Goodman Kraines and Esther Kan

Jazz Dance by Marshall and Jean Stearns

Luigi’s Jazz Warm Up: And Introduction to Jazz Style & Technique by Luigi

Jazz Dance: The Story of American Vernacular Dance by Marshall Winslow Stearns

Frank Hatchett’s Jazz Dance by Frank Hatchett, Nancy Myers Gitlin

Jazz Innovators Timeline (6)
Most of you have heard of the performers who have pushed jazz as an art form—from Gene Kelly to Paula Abdul—but there are many other significant jazz innovators. Use this brief timeline as a starting point for further research into the vast world of jazz. 1910 Hanya Holm (1893-1992) Choreographer; works include: Kiss Me, Kate Helen Tamiris (1905-1966) Choreographer; works include: Touch and Go

0000 Eugene Loring (1914-1982) Choreographer; works include: Billy the Kid Katherine Dunham (1912) Choreographer; works include: Chorus, Bel Negre

1920 Daniel Nagrin (1917) Choreographer; works include: Strange Hero
Michael Kidd (1919) Choreographer; works include: Guys & Dolls

0000 Agnes de Mille (1905-1993) Choreographer; works include: Oklahoma!, Rodeo Agnes de Mille1930 Matt Mattox (1921) Developed a codified jazz technique

0000 Jack Cole (1913-1974) Teacher, choreographer; works include: Kismet, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Matt Mattox 1940 Jerome Robbins (1918-1998) Choreographer; works include: West Side Story, On The Town

Jerome Robbins 0000 1950 Luigi (1925) Developed a codified jazz technique

0000
1960 Gus Giordano (1930) Developed a technique and founded Gus Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago

Bob Fosse 0000 Bob Fosse (1927-1987) Choreographer; works include: Sweet Charity, Chicago

1970 Michael Bennett (1943-1987) Choreographer; works include: A Chorus Line Luigi 0000 Alvin Ailey (1931-1989) Founded Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, choreographer; works include: Blues Suite, Night Creature, Revelations

Alvin Ailey
1980 Lou Conté (1942) Founded Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, director of Lou Conté Dance Studio

0000 Garth Fagan (1950) Founded Garth Fagan Dance, choreographer; works include: The Lion King
Danny Buraczeski 1990 Danny Buraczeski Founded JAZZDANCE, choreographer; works include: Among These Cares

0000 Margo Sappington (1947) Founded Ballet: The Daring Project, choreographer

Gus Giordano
2000 Billy Siegenfeld Developed the Jump Rhythm Jazz Technique, founded the Jump Rhythm Jazz Project, choreographer

Karyn D. Collins writes about dance for the Asbury Park Press in New Jersey and teaches dance at the King Centre for the Performing Arts in Wanaque, NJ. (6)

Bibliography & Electronic Sources:

1 - The history of jazz dance is treated in Marshall Stearns and Jean Stearns, Jazz Dance (1968, reissued 1994); and in Gus Giordano, Anthology of American Jazz Dance (1975), which also includes a graded system of jazz dance, a dictionary of terms, and information on recognized teachers and choreographers.

2 – www.thinkquest.org

3 – Canning, Laurie “Jazz Capsule” Dance Spirit Magazine May/June 2002

4 - Collins, Karyn D. “ Jazz Dance: The American Discipline” Dance Teacher
Magazine August 2000

5 - Canning, Laurie “Jazz Capsule” Dance Spirit Magazine May/June 2002

6 - Collins, Karyn D. “Jazz Dance: The American Discipline” Dance Teacher
Magazine August 2000