Jazz Jazz dance began as the popular dance moves of the early 1900’s. Most of the music that was played was Jazz and the steps just fit with the sounds. Jazz dance is an American tradition, it reflects to the speed of American’s and there life styles more then any other type of dance. One of the first persons to create a form of Jazz dance was Jack Cole know to be the father of Jazz (James Robey).
Cole brought a low sense of gravity a used a deep pile giving jazz its power and explosion in the performance scene. Jazz has been transformed into many different branches of Jazz Performance, there’s the Standard Jazz with emphasis on the individual, second is musical theater Jazz, third Concert Jazz dance and the fourth is dance drill teams, cheer leading and gymnastics. Each of these bring a different style of dance to the performance but still using the same type of movements and concepts to create a whole new way of Jazz it self. There are now many ways of performing or creating a “Jazz Piece”, but when the word Jazz was first introduced to the stage it was in musical forms.
Then later the jazz steps and Jazz terms fell into place, the music went with the dance and the dance went with the music. The key elements of jazz music are syncopation, individual style, and improvisation. The original jazz dancing carried these same elements. Changes happen often and are unexpected, they give the audience something exciting to look at and an anticipation of what the next movement is going to be.
The Essay on Origins of Jazz Dance
... to the classics for inspiration and move forward to create new dance performances. In film, jazz dance, and ballet fused in the box office success ... music and dance the slaves had created. In minstrel shows, white entertainers parodied their conception of slave life and popularized the African style of dance ...
