Origins of Jazz dance

Jazz Dance is an extension of African dance, it was brought by black slaves to America and it

got refined and localized and popularized there. The story of jazz dance begins with the

importing of African culture to America through the American slave trade. Almost 300 years of

slave trade had put Africans to various parts of America and also many other parts of the world.

In new, unfamiliar and unfriendly environment, they struggled to survive under inhumane

conditions, but even under these torturing circumstances, the Africans had not forgotten about

their music and dance. They danced to express their joy and sadness, anger and happiness,

and they also danced in their religious gatherings. Whenever they got a chance, they sang and

danced as a communal expression for their cultural beliefs. In time, these ethnic songs and

dances gradually became urban music and dances which were spirited and lively; and because

new steps and variations were constantly being created, the American people have taken an

avid interest in this rhythmically strong kind of dance.

Developments of jazz dance have followed the evolutions of jazz music in the early part of the

20th century. The earliest jazz dance was social dance performed to jazz music by black people.

These performances were particularly popular in villages in southern America; and amateur

dancers in New Orleans would perform jazz dance in clubs and social gatherings. It was also

common for dancers to dance according to the words and contents of the songs. In 1917, a song

writer wrote a song named "The Jazz Dance," and the name has become the permanent title for

this dance type.

After jazz dance became a dance performed to a special type of music, both black and white

dancers began to make numerous changes and improvements to the basic steps. New comers

to jazz dance also created and/or added movements of the hip, the shoulders and torso

isolations to the dance vocabulary.

Ever since black musician made New Orleans the place to be for jazz music in the 1920s, many

forms of swinging type of dance had become fashionable. For example, the Charleston, the

Shimmy and the Lindy all had their moments in dance history. Later, with the appearance of

"Boogie-Woogie," couple dance with a closed position hold had given way to a new form where

a couple danced facing each other but separately (e.g. the Jitterbug).

Jazz dance evolved into three different types in late 1930s and early 1940s: 1) modern jazz

dance that was heavily influenced by classical ballet; 2) a type of jazz dance that was inspired by

African and Latin dances; 3) a type of jazz dance that consisted of comical music and tap

dancing elements. Even though jazz dance was quite popular at that time, it began to lose its

footing in the latter part of the 1940s when jazz music undergone some major changes. A new

type of jazz where rhythms were very complicated had replaced the big band swinging jazz, its

complex beats had made it hard to dance to. In addition, the birth of the phonograph (record

player) and the heavy tax that the government (USA) imposed on dance floors had forced many

dance clubs to terminate their businesses.

With the passing of the older style of jazz dance came new developments in the jazz dance

scene. Evolutions of jazz dance have taken place largely in the US and since the US is a mixing

ground of various cultures, the new form of jazz dance have brought together dance & music

elements from different sources and backgrounds. Dance styles and steps of the 1920s to the

1940s were mixed with the dance steps of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Popular media of the

times have also helped in raising the popularity of jazz dance.

The jazz dance we see today has retained the syncopated music (see *Note) and the isolations

of body parts but it is not limited to using jazz music as the only accompaniment. Jazz dance can

now be danced to popular music, blues, rock, or even disco music; it presents a high level of

adaptability and versatility and it allows ample room for incorporating trendy music and dance

styles. This has made jazz dance very entertaining and agreeable to the general public.

*Note : Syncopation -- An accent is an emphasized beat in a measure (a.k.a. a musical bar).

Most commonly the accent occurs on the first beat (e.g. ONE, two, three, four). People have

come to expect this type of rhythm in most popular music that uses a flat beat. But this type of

rhythm is not really jazz. Jazz music is characterized by rhythm that anticipates, re-emphasizes,

and syncopates the beat. Syncopation is a change in the regular meter (number of beats each

measure contains). It is a shifting of the accent from a normally strong beat to a weak one. In

other words, the jazz dancer frequently counts the bar as one, TWO, three, four." Through a

clever use of rests and changing or combining the meter (e.g. from duple to triple), the music

may be considered polyrhythmic or syncopated. Dancers mirror this tension and surprise by

doing small, isolated movements and catch steps or quick kicks against the beat pattern.

Characteristics of Jazz Dance

Jazz was originally a term that described a type of dance music, its use in the music world only

began after 1900, before that the term "Jass" seemed to be used. The term "Jazz Dance," as

mentioned earlier, came quite a bit later than the birth of jazz (jass) music in 1880. More often

than not, big band jazz music was very lively and upbeat, so the term jazz has sometimes been

used to describe a spirited and happy mood. Movements in jazz dance are simple and free, they

reflect a person's emotions through body movements like shaking, twisting and swinging. Just

like when we hear our favourite tune or music, our bodies have a tendency to move to its rhythm,

we snap our fingers, nod our heads, stamp our feet; our movements mimic and fuse with the

mood and rhythm of the music that we hear.

Jazz dance is a fast-paced, energetic rhythmic dance form; and unlike classical ballet or modern

dance which is typically "inward," jazz dance is "outward" in nature (i.e. tends to project

everything outwardly).

Jazz dance is essentially a performance of movements and rhythms, with a main purpose of

entertaining self as well as others. It brings enjoyment to self and to the audience; its

performance represents simply the nature of its movements, i.e. enlivening, exciting and

exhilarating, and that is why the energy projected by jazz dance is often contagious. Although it

usually takes very good techniques to become a successful jazz dancer, almost everyone could

grasp the basics of jazz dance; and since there is a lot of room for performance variations in jazz

dance, individual styles and charisma often become the focus points in a dance piece.

Jazz dance is essentially a happy, lively, and energetic kind of dance. One of its characteristics

is that one can dance quite freely, jazz dance movements are not as strict and stringent as in

classical ballet, but jazz dance is not as self-indulgent as disco dancing, it still poses some form

of structure and regular patterns. Jazz dance borrows techniques from other dance forms. For

example, it follows some ballet dance positions and dance rules, it borrows the agility and

footwork from tap dance, the contraction and release used in modern dance, Latin dance steps

and its hip movements, and the torso isolations of eastern dances.

Movement Characteristics of Jazz Dance can be summarized as follows:

· use of the bend knee position (plie), to bring the body weight closer to the ground. A lower

centre of gravity allows more flexibility for the lower limbs, while the upper body could remain

relatively relaxed and thus be able to perform quick rhythmic actions. This permits more variety

in movement patterns.

· ability to shift/move the centre of gravity quickly; indeed, the ability to move the body weight

quickly in a horizontal fashion is a typical jazz technique.

· move individual body parts in isolation, i.e. the head, shoulders, rib cage, hips.

· an emphasis on angular and linear movements.

· syncopated movements.

· polyrhythmic movements.