Brief History of Jazz

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Brief History of Jazz Musical Theatre Dance
By Wendy Oliver Adapted by Sara MacInnes for use
with Dance 11 students at Millwood High School
Gus Giordano Jazz Dance Co.
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Origins of Jazz Dance

• Found in the rhythms and movements of African
  dance brought to the US by slaves.
• As slaves, Africans were cut off from families,
  languages, and tribal traditions.
• Slaveowners forbade drumming and African
  dancing, yet slaves found ways to express their
  cultural identity by stamping, clapping, and
  making rhythmic vocal sounds.
• African Americans created new, hybrid forms of
  dance that blended elements from new and old
  cultures eventually these dances evolved into
  jazz dance.

Adzido Pan-African Dance Co.
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Vintage Jazz

• The youth of the 20s scandalized their elders in
  the cabarets, night clubs, and speakeasies that
  replaced the ballrooms of pre-war days.
• Jazz originated at the close of the nineteenth
  century in the seamy dance halls and brothels of
  the South and Midwest where the word Jazz
  commonly referred to sexual intercourse.
• Southern blacks, delivered from slavery a few
  decades before, started playing European music
  with Afro modifications.
• The Savoy ballroom was an example of a dance hall
  which served the predominately African-American
  neighbourhoods and was known for its jazz in the
  20s, 30s and 40s

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1920s

• After WWI in the 1920s, jazz dance and music
  became part of the American social scene.
• Dixieland jazz music was popular, along with the
  Charleston (first use of isolations in social
  dance)
• Partnered social dance to jazz music was the
  popular dance of the era.

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1930s Swing Era

• The time of Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and
  big bands.
• Well-known dances of this time were the jitterbug
  and the boogie-woogie.
• Ginger Rodgers and Fred Astaire danced in many
  famous movies during this time.
• Jazz music and jazz dance were inseparable.

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1940s WWII Era

• WWII put a stop to the popularity of social jazz
  dance.
• Also, jazz music was evolving into a style called
  bebop, which was rhythmically complicated and
  hard to dance to.
• Jazz dance moved from the dance halls to the
  stage, becoming prominent in Broadway shows and
  movies.
• Jazz dance became influenced by ballet and modern
  dance as it became more professionalized.
• Jazz choreographers developed specific techniques
  to train dancers for shows.

Fred Astaire Ginger Rodgers
1944
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Mid-century Musicals

• In 1943, Oklahoma marked the beginning of dance
  as a major part of musicals choreographed by
  Agnes DeMille.
• Singin in the Rain was choreographed by Gene
  Kelly in 1952, starring Kelly and Debbie
  Reynolds.
• West Side Story was choreographed in 1957 by
  Jerome Robbins, also known for his work in
  ballet.
• Musical theatre choreographers blended jazz with
  other dance forms to create dances that worked
  with a specific story.

Oklahoma
Singin in the Rain
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Singin In The Rain

• Donald OConnor, Gene Kelly,and Debbie Reynolds
  (only 18 at the time) starred in this 1952
  classic movie about the early days of talking
  pictures.
• Dance (including tap, soft shoe, ballroom) played
  a large role in this movie. The title number
  shows Kelly kicking and splashing in the gutter
  during a downpour, brandishing his umbrella and
  jumping on a lampost to express his exhuberance.

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Katherine Dunham

• An African-American dancer who studied towards a
  doctorate in anthropology
• Researched Caribbean dance and brought vocabulary
  back to US
• Rekindled an interest in Black roots of jazz
  dance
• Had her own dance company and dance
  techniquealso choreographed for Broadway
• Her 1939 show Tropics Le Jazz Hot was an
  immediate hit
• Eventually established a school in East St. Louis

Cabin in the Sky
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Jack Cole, Father of Jazz Dance Technique

• Developed an innovative training technique using
  body isolations and movements borrowed from
  Eastern culture
• Choreographed for film and Broadway including the
  shows Kismet (1953), Man of La Mancha (1966),
  Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
• He also served as a movement coach to Marilyn
  Monroe and other actors.

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Luigi

• In the 1960s, dancer Luigi became famous
• Developed his technique as result of car accident
  which left him
• paralyzed on right side. Doctors said hed never
  walk again, but operations, physical therapy, and
  his own dance technique brought
• him back to health.
• His technique requires extreme muscle control,
  and grace it is influenced by ballet.
• In his youth, he danced in many movies including
  Singin in the Rain, Annie Get Your Gun, and
  White Christmas.
• Known as a master teacher rather than a
  choreographer

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Bob Fosse

• Performed in vaudeville and Broadway beginning as
  a child
• Became famous in the 1970s for shows such as
  Sweet Charity (1967) and Chicago (1975).
• Movie All That Jazz (1979) was about his life in
  the fast lane
• First director to win an Oscar, Tony, and Emmy in
  one year (1973).
• His style has been called slick, erotic, and
  intense.

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Characteristics of Jazz Dance Today

• Bent knees, low center of gravity
• Body isolations
• Syncopation
• Pirouettes high kicks
• Movement emanating from torso and pelvis
• Percussive movements
• Jazz shoes

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Jazz Dance Music

• Most jazz choreographers today work with current
  popular music, not jazz music jazz dance has
  mostly separated from its original source
• However, there are a few jazz choreographers who
  believe that jazz dance should be done to jazz
  music
• Danny Buraczeski says Jazz is such rich music.
  I dont use it as atmosphere or background. The
  music is the subject matter.

Danny Buraczeski
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More About Music

• Billy Siegenfeld says that jazz dance must have
  swing, which is a syncopated rhythm (accents on
  the offbeat)
• He says jazz dance must be judged for its
  jazzness by the same criterion applied to jazz
  musicIts the rhythmnot the melody, and not the
  harmony.
• As a proponent of swinging jazz danceI feel
  that this yoking of rock music and jazz movement
  constitutes a paradox. I am interested in
  challenging this practice.
• His company is the Jump Rhythm Jazz Project

Billy Siegenfeld
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Mia Michaels

• Has her own company, Reality at Work (R.A.W.),
  and choreographs musicals
• Has toured Korea, Europe, and US
• Unisex style which sometimes requires women to
  lift men
• Uses huge dynamic range, ear-high extensions, and
  balletic leg beats.

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Twyla Tharp

• Choreographer/director of Movin Out, (opened in
  2002) on Broadway, with music by Billy Joel
  about a group of friends as they move through the
  decades
• Named Best Show of the Year by Time Magazine
• Tharp also has her own modern dance company, and
  has choreographed for ballet companies
• She has choreographed films including White
  Nights with Barishnikov and Gregory Hines, and
  Amadeus
• She has been awarded 17 honorary doctorates

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Susan Stroman

• Directed choreographed Mel Brooks The
  Producers, winner of the 2001 Best Musical Tony
  Award
• Created Contact (1999), a Broadway musical based
  on three stories told in dance she says, Every
  step I do is plot-oriented.
• Has also choreographed for the Martha Graham
  Dance Co. and the New York City Ballet

Contact
The Producers
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Savion Glover

• In 1996, at the age of 22, Glover created (with
  George Wolfe) Bring in Da Noise, Bring in Da
  Funk. This show traced the history of Black
  Americans including slavery, chain gangs, and
  street life, but didnt have a plot or
  characters. Dancing was the primary focus of the
  show.

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Jazz Musical Theatre Dance Today

• Musical Theatre Dance today is still strongly
  based on jazz dance, although other influences
  are also apparent
• There are many varieties of jazz dance today,
  including African, lyrical, modern, and rock
• Jazz dance has responded over the decades to the
  needs and desires of those doing it, from social
  dance to professional performance
• Related trends like break dancing and hip hop
  have also influenced jazz dance
• Jazz dance remains strongly linked to the popular
  music of our time

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References for Images
http//www.adzido-pan-african-dance.co.uk/images/s
epdanc.jpg www.miracosta.cc.ca.us/Dance/jazz.gif h
ttp//www.lindyhopping.com/pics/charleston.jpg www
.swingdanceuk.com/Simon.htm http//membersaol.com/
movieboy3/bin402.jpg http//members.aol.com/mgmfan
atic/stlouis1.jpg www.rnh.com/news/spring2002/grap
hics/oklahoma.gif Hometown.aol.com/starwarse/fan/i
mages/honesty-image(1).jpg www.theatredance.com/ch
oreographers/jcole.gif www.100megstree4.com/csmini
stries/moviepics/gentlemen.jpg www.encoremusic.com
/piano/1700516.htm www.streetswing.com/histmain/gi
f/1lndyhp2.gif http//www.lcqworks.com/movies/pict
ures/singing20in20the20rain.html www.pbs.org/wn
et/freetodance/behind/images/4a.gif http//www.lui
gijazz.com/images/testil.gif http//www.uttyler.ed
u/cowan/season/gifs/fosse.jpg www.imagination.com/
moonstruck/chicago.gif Web2.htrigg.smu.edu//Fall9
7/DC.09-10-97/jazz.gif
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References cont.

• www.talentcastmodels.com/images/mia_dance.jpg
• http//www.dancespirit.com/images/backissues/ang01
  /ontap.jpg
• http//www.arborweb.com/images/twylatharp.jpg
• www.nytheatre.com/nytheatre/moving_out.jpg
• http//citypaper.net/articles/012402pcis/th.contac
  t.jpg
• http//www.jorgeplace.com/SusanStroman_producers2.
  jpg
• http//www.dance-centre.com/images/opening
• http//www.richardavedon.com/editorial2004
  (Glover)
• http//library.thinkquest.org/05aug/00790/Haley/Hi
  story20Of20Jazz20Dance20done.htm
• Reynolds, Nancy McCormick, Malcolm. No Fixed
  Points. New Haven Yale University Press, 2003.
• Stearns, Jean and Marshall. Jazz Dance. New
  York Schirmer Books, 1964.
• Ambrosio, Nora. Learning About Dance. Dubuque,
  Iowa Kendall/Hunt Publishing Co., 2003.
• Sigenfeld, Billy. If Jazz Dance, Then Jazz
  Music! in Dance Teacher Now, October, 1990, pp
  50-54.