All About Jazz Dance- By: Henry Rippelmeyer

Description : The Art of Jazz dance is an amalgamation of distinctive styles of dance that began between 1800's, and also the middle of the 1900's rooted in African American movement. One man identified for this type of dance was the star of vaudeville Joe Frisco around 1910 who danced in an unrestrained fashion in close vicinity to the ground although tossing his cigar, and derby in a juggling manner. The Jazz dance style up to the middle of 1950's was Tap dance which was always performed with Jazz music such as the Jitterbug, Swing, Boogie Woogie, Lindy Hop, plus the Charleston. Katherine Dunham is renowned choreographer and dancer studied the cultural dances of Caribbean in Haiti, Jamaica, Trinidad, Tobago, Martinique and Shango generating this African American dance a modern work of pure art.

She took this style to Hollywood and Broadway who embraced a far more refined Jazz dance. Contemporary Jazz Dance is a smooth style of dance roots from Tap, Ballet and Jazz music which is performed in quite a few musicals from the Pajama Game to Cabaret to Chicago to music videos and the Las Vegas showgirl performances. The usual approach for Jazz dance is that of a ballet dancer for balance and strength from performing slow movements. In contrast the typical Jazz dance has sharp movements, but the skills of ballet smoothes it down into a refined style.

Moreover, Jazz dance is such a versatile style that it can be combined with other dances from lyrical, contemporary and hip hop. Jazz dance like Jazz music can be combined with other dance styles to improve the dance to an additional level. For instance, The United Kingdom witness a new movement of dancers inside the 1980's who danced when the Jazz, and Funk music clubs was becoming unpopular known as Street Fusion Jazz Dance. As a result of the new contemporary music scene, new groups who longed to maintain the tradition of Jazz dance, and still leave room for the new styles.

There are actually two groups identified for street fusion jazz dance known as IDJ ( I Dance Jazz), Brother in Jazz and Jazz Cotech. Well-known men and women of the world of Jazz dance is Fred Astaire, Jerome Robbins, Jack Cole, and Bob Fosse. Inside the world of Jazz Dance there are actually terms persons use to describe different dance movement.

Jazz Dance Terms:

Ad lib, Axel Turn, Ball Alter, Barrel Jump, Barrel Turn, Bounce, Cake Walk, Cat walk, Catch Step, Chasse`, Coffee Grinder, Contract, Curve Or Arch, Dolphin, Drop and Recover, Fall, Fall Over The Log, Fan Kick, Figure 8, Flick, Flick Kick, Freeze, Funk, Head-Roll, Hinge, Hip Walk, Hip-Fall, Hip-Roll, Hitch Kick, Hop, Jazz Drag, Jazz Run, Jazz Split, Jazz Square, Jazz Walk, Jump Over The Log, Kick, Knee Fall, Knee Slide, Knee Turn, Lay Out, Limbo, Mess Around, Moonwalk, Pencil Turn, Pitch, Pivot Step, Primitive Squat, Release, Ripple, Shimmie, Shiver, Shoulder Fall, Shoulder Roll, Sissonne Fall, Skate, Snake, Snap, Spins, Spiral, Stag Leap, Step, Switch, Table Top, Tilt, Touch, Tripplettes, Turns, Twists, and the Worm.

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