History of Jazz Dance Definition of Jazz Dance

History of Jazz Dance Definition of Jazz Dance ● Contemporary dance style ● Popular and creative dance movement ● Represents popular culture ● Most evolving dance form ● Often identified with an era What do you notice about the pictures?

Characteristics of Jazz Dance ● Constantly evolving form of dance ● Represents human movements and interest ● Specific to time period (era) ● Up beat rhythm

Origins of Jazz ● ● ● Style influenced by the African slaves brought to America African dance was used to celebrate and interpret the cycles of life and express cultural beliefs Even their dance underwent cultural influences from the European In New Orleans, slaves were allowed to practice their traditions through dance The French and Spanish Catholics believed that by letting the slaves dance and celebrate their culture would make the slaves happier, supervise any attempts for revolts and “voodoo” practice

Origins of Jazz ● ● ● Style influenced by the African slaves brought to America African dance was used to celebrate and interpret the cycles of life and express cultural beliefs Even their dance underwent cultural influences from the European

The beginnings of Jazz dance ● ● ● Jazz exists since the 18 th century when white entertainers began imitating movements observed from the slaves, some even blackened their faces First well known entertainers of the time were John Durang and Thomas Rice John Durang imitated the shuffle, a movement observed from the slave dancers Thomas Rice imitated a crippled slave names Jim Crow, the dance became known as the Jim Jump Crow http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=T 5 Fp. KAx. QNKU

The beginnings of Jazz dance ● ● The Minstrel shows, a dance troupe of up to 50 performers, traveled from one city to another portraying black slaves dancing From the 1920 s, jazz dance began to evolve more consistently In the 1940 s, jazz dance began to appear in films and Broadway musical comedies Tap dance was often the main form of jazz dance in the 1940 s

The beginning of Jazz dance ● By the 1950 s a variety of Jazz dance were known such as the Cakewalk, Black Bottom and Charleston of the 20 s, Lindy Hop of the 20 s & 30 s, Jitterbug and Boogie Woogie of the 30 s & 40 s, and Swing of the 40 s & 50 s Cakewalk: http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=Lqp. INmqxlsc Black Bottom: http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=j. TR 6 x. Be. C 2 x. A Charleston: http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=ZJC 21 zzkwo. E Lindy Hop: http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=qkthx. Bs. Ie. GQ Jitterbug: http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=p 1 fwq 3 t. P 7 cg Boogie Woogie: http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=DD 8 UOgj-970 Swing: http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=XToa 4 X 7 YEsc

The beginning of Jazz dance ● ● After the 1950 s, jazz dance took on a new smoother style on Broadway referred to as Modern Jazz In addition to keeping traditional styles like tap, Jazz dance continued to take on new influences such as Caribbean traditional dance

What does it take to be a better Jazz dancer? ● ● Studying ballet will help to strengthen the body through slower movements and work on correct posture for jumps and turns Ballet also helps with the execution of strong and sharp movements The study of ballet allows to adapt to others styles of dance from lyrical to contemporary The jazz dancer also needs to be creative and original and be able to improvise