jazz


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Brief History of Jazz Musical Theatre Dance
By Wendy Oliver
Gus Giordano Jazz Dance Co.
2
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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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

4
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.
  
• Bill Bojangles Robinson was a master tap dancer
  of this era

5
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.

6
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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Katherine Dunham
An African-American dancer who studied towards a
doctorate in anthropology Researched Caribbean da
nce and brought vocabulary back to US
Rekindled an interest in Black roots of jazz
dance Had her own dance company and dance techniq
uealso 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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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 Kellyand 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.

10
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.

11
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 requir
es 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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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

17
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
http//www.lindyhopping.com/pics/charleston.jpg
www.swingdanceuk.com/Simon.htm
http//membersaol.com/movieboy3/bin402.jpg
http//members.aol.com/mgmfanatic/stlouis1.jpg
www.rnh.com/news/spring2002/graphics/oklahoma.gif
Hometown.aol.com/starwarse/fan/images/honesty-ima
ge(1).jpg www.theatredance.com/choreographers/jco
le.gif www.100megstree4.com/csministries/moviepic
s/gentlemen.jpg www.encoremusic.com/piano/1700516
.htm www.streetswing.com/histmain/gif/1lndyhp2.gi
f http//www.lcqworks.com/movies/pictures/singing
20in20the20rain.html www.pbs.org/wnet/freetoda
nce/behind/images/4a.gif http//www.luigijazz.com
/images/testil.gif http//www.uttyler.edu/cowan/s
eason/gifs/fosse.jpg www.imagination.com/moonstru
ck/chicago.gif Web2.htrigg.smu.edu//Fall97/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)
  
• 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.