The origins of jazz are reflected through the music, tempos and rhythms. “Jazz dance mirrors the social history of the American people” (Source 1), meaning historical events such as the slave trade is shown through the diversity of jazz which in which movements are clearly so culturally inspired.
Roots
Jazz dance was first brought to America in the 1600’s by African slaves. Stylised features of African dance such as low bent knees and grounded movements with many isolations are evident within many jazz movements today. The combination of African cultures and even new European ones brought to America led to an immersive style of jazz. Even in 1740, when the slave act that banned tribal music and dancing was prohibited, everyone’s desire to dance was not suppressed. The African style movements heavily contrasted the movements that had developed from European migrants back when America was first colonised.
1800-1900
During the early 1900’s, the traditional style of jazz music became popularised especially in New Orleans. This took place at a time where American whites also took an interest in the traditional African movements brought over from their slaves. This led to the Minstrel show. Minstrel shows are described as “an indigenous American theatrical form, popular from the early 19th to the early 20th century, that was founded on the comic enactment of racial stereotypes” (Source 2). These shows played on the African movements and eventually popularised them, they also contained new emerging forms of jazz music performed by brass instruments. The African influences shared in minstrel shows can also be heard in the musical accompaniment of jazz dance such as strong drum beats, tribal music and gospel music. Whilst there is a current day controversy of the morals of minstrel shows; they are often viewed negatively due to the ‘black face’ yet they played a positive role in the development of jazz. These shows allowed a wider majority white American audience to view and spread the ideas behind African music and culture and in term allowed a path for less demeaning views of African-Americans to be recognised.
Whilst minstrel shows lost their popularity they were replaced by vaudeville shows. The new style of performance labelled ‘Vaudeville’ emerged in the 1800’s whilst however initially being born in France during the late 1700’s. Vaudeville is a style of variety theatre which consisted of “a number of individual performances, acts, or mixed numbers, as by comedians, singers, dancers, acrobats, and magicians” (source 3). Before the American civil war (1861-1864) variety theatre primarily existed in Europe. Travelling theatre companies which toured through towns and cities characterised the Vaudeville style. Variety theatre existed in America yet it was performed in casual venues such as saloons and beer halls. The first Vaudeville show in America occurred in 1819 when a French touring show arrived, however it did not become popular in America until around 1840. The nature of variety shows were often racist, catered to men and violent. After the civil war the “name ‘variety’ was tarnished so managers adopted the little claimed name of ‘vaudeville’ (it sounded French, thus must be classy), and presented ‘polite vaudeville’ fit for the whole family” (source 4). Museums such as PT Barnum’s museum were classed as the polite vaudeville style because “the museum’s auditorium featured variety-style entertainment without its disreputable elements, such as lewdness, violence, drinking, and prostitution” (source 5). Whilst a lot of music in vaudeville was improvised, it was mainly performed by a small orchestral band, the music wasn’t just a singular act but was always accompanied by a singer or more commonly a dancer.
(Photo of vaudeville performers-https://viewingthepast.wordpress.com/2014/03/02/vaudeville-performers/)
Joe Frisco, was an influential performer of the vaudeville era, his dances included camel walks and shuffles. Vaudeville was also a breeding ground for some of the biggest names in the 20th century such as Judy Garland and Eddie Cantor. Even the venues became influential such as the the Palace Theatre which was originally a vaudeville house.
1920
Dixieland jazz music spread from New Orleans to eventually New York. This contained a fast ragtime beat and syncopated (off-beat) movements. This music genre was very influential and lead to movements such as the the Charleston in 1923. In these movements dancers experienced the sue of isolations for the first time within a dance.
(Photo – http://www.charlestonchallengedownunder.com.au/history/)
The Charleston is often closely associated to flappers (young women who had bobbed hair and shorter skirts). (Source 6) Movements such as foot stomping and clapping were directly inspired by its African roots. During this era Bill “Bojangles” Robison, a black tap dancer rose to fame with his tap dance which developed from Irish dancing. He decided to shift the placement of the tap dancers weight from the full foot to the ball which allowed him to create clear concise tap movements. He created what is know as ‘jazz tap’.
1930
This was the era of swing jazz. The musical accompaniment started to not include syncopation and had a swing-like beat. Symphonic jazz also became popular with musicians such as Paul Whiteman bringing full orchestration to his music. Dances such as the ‘Boogie Woogie’ and the ‘Lindy hop’ emerged from swing dance. Swing dance was looser and less strict compared to the previous styles that conformed to strict rhythms. (Source 7)
(Photo-https://www.discoverfrome.co.uk/event/swing-dance-beginners-course/)
Fred Astaire became known for his vital role in choreographing jazz dance into broadway musicals. His choreography combined the softness and elegance of ballet with sharpness and abruptness of jazz dance. He also was one of the first choreographers to match the choreography so that it mirrored the music.
1940
Jazz dance was previously a social dance however the second world war halted the popularity of it. Jazz became more technical and dancers would pursue jazz professionally due to the strong technique and complex rhythms. Jazz dance became heavily influenced by ballet and modern combining ballets strong sense of technique with moderns expressionism.
During this time Jack Cole was busy developing his technique which was inspired by his ballet, Asian and modern training. As the demand for trained dancers to be in Hollywood musicals and dance films increased, Jack Cole started developing trained dancers. (Source 8)
1950
Rock and roll music became popular with teenagers, creating a newfound demand for social dance. The influence of Latin-American music and dance became appreciated with the release of West Side Story (choreographed by Jerome Robbins). Matt Mattox, another influential practitioner, started to develop his own style called ‘freestyle’. His movements showed a strong sense of timing and isolated arm movements combined with fast paced foot movements.
1960
Motown became the new musical craze, with Charles Atkins being vastly know for his ideas to have backup dancers whilst the lead is at the front singing, he did this for groups such as The Supremes. Dance moved to the clubs in which people would copy movements by their favourite music groups, this continues for many decades after with groups such the Jacksons and Backstreet boys.
Gus and Luigi Gordon became well known within the jazz profession. Despite being paralysed on the right side from an autoimmune disease, Luigi defied odds saying he would never walk again and developed his own technique and even danced again. His work was yet again inspired by ballet yet required strength and muscle control. Gus’s style was more defined by free movement with his technique emphasising the isolations of the head and and torso. (Source 9)
(photo-https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/gus-giordano-55857452-4361-4060-b4de-4c5c00e3485f)
1970
Bob Fosse was the lead practitioner of jazz dance in the 70’s. His most famous works included ‘Sweet Charity’, ‘All that jazz’ and ‘Chicago’. Despite not being from the usual influence of a practitioner, there was a new immersive style of breakdancing; which included Egyptian art like movements and the moonwalk, this influenced the jazz dance scene. Movements became staccato and more closely linked to the roots, portraying western African cultural movements and the dance became competitive.
1980
Jazz became popularised through musical theatre with the rise of Andrew Lloyd Webber. Movies of the decades such as Footloose, Dirty dancing and Fame increased the exposure. Coca-cola and many other TNCs used jazz dance in their advertising. (source 1)
The rise of MTV and the music video led to singers such as Madonna and Michael Jackson utilising the style of jazz with the prop of his hat or even the symbol of the glove.
Current day
Today jazz is utilised in many ways being. film, musical or theatre production. The versatility of the style wether it being African inspired jazz or ballet infused allows it to take any contrasting forms yet fall into the same genre.
In my opinion the African culture that initially inspired jazz is the most influencing actor as the rhythmic tempos and timings are evident in most styles of jazz. From traditional African movements to modern pop-like motifs, jazz has a rich history with many influences.
Bibliography
Source 1 – https://educationcloset.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/History-of-Jazz.pdf
Source 2 – https://www.britannica.com/art/minstrel-show
Source 3 – https://www.dictionary.com/browse/vaudeville
Source 4- http://theamericanvaudeville.com/what-is-vaudeville
Source 5- https://diginole.lib.fsu.edu/islandora/object/fsu:204554/datastream/PDF/view
Source 6- https://vintagedancer.com/1920s/1920s-dances/
Source 7- http://www.walternelson.com/dr/swing
Source 8- https://prezi.com/un-n_3mjq3uu/jazz-dance-1940s-to-1950s/
Source 9- http://rachelstraus.com/2007/07/luigi-gus-giordano-and-matt-mattox-jazz-masters/
First positions to dance 