What Is Jazz Dance? Jazz dance is a form of dance that combines both African and European dance styles. This high-energy dance has a liveliness that sets it apart from traditional dance forms, such as classical ballet. Like jazz music, jazz dance features improvisation.
- What are the different styles of jazz dance?
- Today, jazz has branched out to include various styles, including Broadway, hip-hop, funk, Afro-Caribbean, Latin, pop, and tap dance. The history of jazz dance dates back to the 1600s during the West African slave trade.
- What are the defining characteristics of jazz dance?
- Jazz dance pairs animated expressions with sharp yet fluid motions. One of the most distinct characteristics of jazz dance is the use of isolation, a jazz technique in which dancers isolate one part of the body. While this one part moves, the rest of the body remains still. Oftentimes, dancers isolate their head, shoulders, ribs, or hips.
- What is the history of jazz dance?
- The history of jazz dance dates back to the 1600s during the West African slave trade. A social dance, jazz dance originated in the United States of America as a celebratory movement when enslaved people (and, later, freed Black Americans) gathered to sing and dance.
- What kind of music is used for jazz dance?
- A wide variety of music is used in jazz dance. Traditional jazz dance features movements like the Charleston and the Lindy Hop, but current jazz favors sharp, clean movements and isolations. Jazz dance distinguishes itself by the style of movement. Ballet focuses on turned-out legs; jazz focuses more on parallel.
- What genres made jazz?
- Early jazz developed in the 1910s in the ‘melting pot’ of New Orleans, as players combined influences including ragtime, blues and marching band music to create a style of jazz that was heavy on collective, polyphonic improvisation.
