Jazz dance is an extension of African dance, which was brought to Native Americans by black slaves and gradually evolved into a localized, popular dance in the United States. Black Africans were subjected to the slave trade for about three hundred years, which led to their demobilization in the United States and other parts of the world. In their new environment and new life, they lived a bleak and miserable life of slavery, but in spite of this painful situation, they still did not forget their music and dance. No matter in life's joy, anger, sorrow, happiness or worship gatherings, as long as there is an opportunity, they will sing the songs of their hometown and dance their national dances. And because of their continuous innovation and invention of new dance steps, Americans gradually became interested in these rhythmic black dances. Over time, the music and dance became more urban and joyful.
The word "jazz" was originally the name of a type of music, and the word "jazz" in musical terms was used only after the year 1900, before which it seemed to be called "jass". Jazz dance evolved in the early twentieth century as a result of the natural accompaniment of jazz music, and because jazz music has always been quite lively in its performance, "Jazz" (jazz up) will have the meaning of noisy, manic, lively. The earliest jazz dances were performed by black social dancers to jazz music, and were prevalent in the countryside of the American South, especially in the city of New Orleans, where some amateur dancers would perform jazz dances at parties or clubs. By nineteen seventeen, the popular dancers of the time performed to the meaning of the lyrics, and a man named Benton Overstreet (W. Benton Overstreet) wrote a song called "The Jazz Dance", and the "Jazz Dance" in the song became a permanent synonym for jazz dance, and the name of jazz dance arose from this.
When Jazz Dance appeared as "dance music" accompanied by improvisation and fast-paced jazz music, black and white dancers modified and varied the basic steps, and inspired newer dancers to add hip swings, shoulder shakes, and independent movements of other parts of the body.
With the black people of New Orleans began to play their jazz music in 1920, there were many popular rock and roll dances in the form of mixed clubs, such as the Charleston, the Shimmy, and the Lindy, all of which were popular for a while, and later the Boogie-Woogie and the Jitterbug. Jitterbug) was born, there was a big change in the type of dance, from the previous always embraced the dance, changed into a kind of dancer and partner to separate the dance.
In the second half of the 1930s and into the 1940s, jazz evolved into three types of expression: the first was modern jazz with a strong classical ballet flavor, the second was jazz influenced by black and Latin dances, and the last was a hybrid jazz with tongue-in-cheek music and tap. Despite the popularity of jazz at the time, it began to decline in the late 1940s, as new jazz music replaced the big jazz bands, and its rhythms were too complex to match the dance steps. The invention of the phonograph, and the heavy taxes levied by the government (in the U.S.) on dance venues, led to the closure of many of the dance clubs that had been so popular for a while.
The decline of jazz dance, though old-fashioned, represents a rite of passage. Based on the United States is a melting pot of nationalities, so the new jazz dance also has a very high degree of integration; it will be the old generation of jazz dance and 1950, 1960, 1970 era of the popularity of the new dance mixed together, but also to undertake the rise of the mass media, driven by the jazz dance boom.
The jazz dance we see today retains the melodic, body-throwing or independent character of the syncopated music of the past, but it is not only performed to jazz music, it can also be performed to pop, blues, rock or disco music. Today's jazz dance has a great deal of inclusiveness and strong plasticity, and can always absorb the most popular music and dance characteristics, and because of this, jazz dance is very entertaining and for the public to welcome and accept.
*Note: Syncopation - usually the order of strengths and weaknesses in the bar, mostly by the beat notation clearly defined down, but in order to make changes in the beat, you can change the position of the strong notes, that is, temporarily the regular bar in the position of the accent, moved to other beats. When the rhythm changes from a normal strong beat to a weak beat or to a rest or to no beat, the rhythm is syncopated, and this method of making changes in the beat is called "syncopation". When a strong beat falls on an unintended syncopated rhythm, the action becomes very exciting and exhilarating; it is also known as the remodeling of alliteration, and it is also the basis of jazz.
The Characteristics of Jazz Dance
The essence of jazz dance movement is a free and pure expression, which directly expresses the inner feelings with the upheaval, shaking and twisting of the body. Just like when we hear our favorite music, we can show our feelings naturally from the inside, and our body can't help but move with the rhythm of the music, such as snapping our fingers, swinging our heads and feet, sometimes excitedly and fiercely, sometimes slowly and softly, dissolving into the music.
Jazz dance is a kind of rapid and dynamic rhythmic dance, which is a kind of outgoing dance, unlike classical ballet or modern dance, which is a kind of introverted dance. Jazz dance is mainly a performance of movement and melody, the main purpose is to entertain others as well as themselves, and can bring themselves and others a good time, which is why its performance is not at all pretentious, and the dance exudes a joyful atmosphere and the spirit of happiness is very contagious. Although it must have very good skills to become a successful jazz dancer, but almost everyone can master its basic steps, and jazz dance performance space is very wide, personal color and unique style is the most eye-catching place to dance.
Jazz dance is mainly a dance that pursues a pleasant, lively, and energetic style. It is characterized by the freedom to dance, not like the traditional classical ballet must be confined to a form and abide by the inherent posture, but and disco dance that completely self-enjoyment of the dance is different, it is still in the freedom of the existence of a kind of present law. For example, it will be with jazz music to express feelings, but also with the help or imitation of other dance techniques; such as in the footwork and movement, the application of ballet position and principles of movement, tap dance skills of sensitivity, modern dance contraction and relaxation of the torso, the Latin dance steps and swinging hips and the Oriental dance of the upper body to move the position, and so on.
The elements and qualities of jazz dance movement can be summarized as follows:
Use bent knees to bring the body's center of gravity closer to the ground. Keeping the center of gravity low gives flexibility to the lower limbs, while the joints of the upper body can be kept in a state of relaxation, and the movements demanded by the beat can be made quickly, making it possible to obtain a variety of variations in the movements.
The rapid movement of the center of gravity, especially the horizontal movement posture is the jazz dance skills of the table table.
Allow each part of the body such as the head, shoulders, waist, hips, and torso to move independently.
Emphasizes angular and linear movements.
Use a rhythmic and complex division of movements to show the rhythmic cuts in the movement. For example, if we place a heavy beat on the head or the hand in a movement, we cut the hand and head movements from our own movements and do not move at the same time as our own movements. In other words, a movement can be completed in one beat, but we now divide it into four beats, and the movement is also divided into four parts.
Multiple rhythms rapidly express two or three rhythms simultaneously with the body.
Different Types of Jazz Dance
There are quite a few types of jazz dance, especially in the American dance scene. There are many different types of jazz dance, including tap dance, theater jazz dance, modern jazz dance, and street jazz dance.
Tap dance is the origin of jazz dance, and it was first introduced in the mid-1800s. The tap dance has been around since the mid-1800s, and is characterized by the complexity and split rhythms of African dance. During the 1920s and 1940s, the golden age of jazz, jazz was basically tap and tap was jazz. Professional tap dancers often performed with large jazz ensembles at this time. Later, as trends changed and the jazz genre branched out, tap was viewed as an alternative to jazz.
Theatrical Jazz Dance
Theatrical Jazz Dance was once characterized by the use of hats and canes, but it was not limited to these. Theatrical Jazz Dance has a flamboyant style and a swinging quality to the syncopated jazz music. Stage jazz has followed the evolution of Broadway musicals. They evolved from the glitzy, light entertainment of the 1920s to the carefully managed and tightly structured cabaret shows of the 1940s and 1950s. In the twenties and thirties, jazz and tap were often little more than sideshows to an opera's plot.
Many of the 'dance directors' of the 1920s knew nothing about dance, selecting sweet-faced women as performers; by the mid-1930s, however, 'choreographers' had begun to outlaw these 'dance directors'. George Balanchine was the first to use the name "choreographer" on Broadway; he was also the founder and choreographer of the New York City Ballet. Ballet was the first artistic genre to have a significant impact on Broadway, and its success encouraged later serious attempts to utilize jazz elements in choreography. Blanche's classics include "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue," choreographed with tap dancer Herbie Harper in 1936.
Since the mid-1930s, Broadway has been less about random jazz, tap, and chorus line entertainment and more about the use of formally trained dancers. This new stage style of jazz flourished thanks to three outstanding choreographers: Katherine Dunham, Jerome Robbins, and Jack Cole, who is known as the "Father of American Jazz". Catherine Dunham majored in anthropology in college and was awarded a scholarship to study West Indian and African folk dance. She has a knack for bringing the colors of primitive tribal dances to the audience with her unique costumes, lighting and choreographic structures. Her dance classes often incorporate primitive dance movements into typical basic dance training exercises. She also choreographed the cabaret "Cabin in the Sky" with George Blanche. Jaeger was a key figure in the development of jazz for the stage; in 1942, he brought a mixture of East Indian and American Harlem social dance movements to the audience for the first time with the swinging rhythms of jazz music. Jaeger's Broadway and movie choreography credits include: "Magdalena," "A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum," "Cover Girl," "The Merry Widow," "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes," " There's No Business Like Show Business," "Les Girls," and more. Gower also nurtured several dance stars, such as Mitzi Gaynor, Rita Hayworth, and Gwen Verdon, and designed steps for actresses such as Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell. Even dance celebrities Gene Kelly and Matt Mattox have danced to Gower's work.
Michael Bennett's 1975 "A Chorus Line" was such a hit that it won the Pulitzer Prize and was one of the longest-running musicals on Broadway. A Chorus Line" celebrated alternative Broadway dancers and dance styles - tough jazz, tap, flashy ballet and showmanship and choreography. Other Broadway shows such as Bob Fosse's 1972 Cabaret, 1975's Chicago and 1978's Dancin' also contributed to the popularity of jazz. In the eighties, the outstanding cabaret such as "Cats" ("Cats"), "Miss Saigon" ("Miss Saigon") and "Song and Dance" ("Song and Dance") also gave Broadway jazz some opportunities to perform, but because these shows are song-based elements, stage jazz has not seen any significant breakthroughs since then.
Modern Jazz
Modern Jazz is characterized by ballet and modern dance movements. In addition to the typical jazz angular movements and bright body and torso movements, fluid and sustained movements are used to emphasize slender lines and curves. Downward wrist presses, stylish fushi and postures are equally important in stage jazz as in modern jazz. There are several distinct differences between modern jazz and street jazz.
Modern Jazz
Street Jazz
The beat of the movement is down and synchronized with the beat of the music.
The repetition of the movement is upward, with a bent knee preparation (plié ) half a beat before the repetition of the music.
Independent movements of the body (torso, upper limbs, etc.) are opposed to foot movements (e.g., one after the other).
Independent movements of the body (trunk, upper limbs, etc.) that are identical to foot movements (e.g., forward at the same time).
Movements are clear and precise ("in place") and emphasized by repetitions.
Movements are freer and slightly less exaggerated.
The head movement is clear and precise with a change of direction.
The head movement favors a swing or pendulum rhythm.
The pelvic swing has a clear directional goal.
The pelvis swings in a released position.
Modern jazz dancers often have a background in ballet training, which allows them to comfortably combine one-legged turns and bent-legged balances with jazz walks and slide steps. The dancers are able to harmonize the head, shoulders, torso and hips in a precise swing and twist, making this style of jazz very attractive to watch.
Street Jazz
Now we generally called street jazz, in fact, the main breakdance and hip hop two categories.
Back in the seventies, a novel movement called "popping & locking" appeared. This mainly consists of rapid and powerful head, shoulders, arms, hips and other parts of the protruding and locking movements. In the United States, there was a dance group called "The Lockers", who were the exponents of this dance. They performed this new style of dance on TV programs, and their clothes and costumes were exaggerated like clowns. Although the group was only popular for a short time, the style evolved into breakdancing in the late seventies and hip hop in the nineties.
Breakdancing is a free, open pattern of movement, and the main moves include: electric boogie, which is like an electric current passing through the body. - The main moves include: electric boogie (as if there is an electric current passing through the body), poppin' - a sudden and violent movement of a part of the body, kind of like a sudden muscle spasm) and breakin' - a gymnastic-like spinning on the floor, sometimes supported by the hands, but also using the arms, back, knees and even the head as a support. sometimes supported by the hands, but also by the arms, back, knees, and even the head). This kind of dance originated in the black ghettos of New York in the seventies; it is actually a channel for street teens to challenge and communicate with each other. Whoever did the hardest spins and danced the best was recognized by their peers. The rise of electronic music and the disc jockey's preference for the technique of "erasing vinyl" are also closely related to the rise of breakdancing. Dancers performed a wide range of stop-motion and unexpected moves to the sudden changes in music controlled by the disc jockeys.
Breakdancing began to fall out of favor in the late '80s, and was replaced in the '90s by Hip Hop, a dance that also reflected the street culture of teenagers, and almost every kind of dance has a relationship to the music that accompanies it, and Hip Hop is no exception. Hip Hop is no exception. It has a unique music (Rap), unique clothing (very wide pants, big exaggerated T-shirts, and backwards baseball caps), and a unique vocabulary, and the wave of Hip Hop has something to do with the American professional basketball boom, as many Rap singers love to wear NBA jerseys, and so even dancers are following the trend. Since jazz is a dance genre that is constantly catching up with trends, the influence of current pop culture on jazz is obvious.
Street jazz also has its roots in African movement styles, but it doesn't use a typical jazz swing beat. In addition, street jazz movements are not choreographed for stage performance, so the expression of street jazz dance does not focus on the technique and aesthetics of typical jazz dance, but rather on interpreting the music and lyrics of the song. In contrast, the movements of street jazz are less complex in terms of musical rhythm.
From movies to music videos
Jerome Robbins' 1957 "West Side Story" ("West Side Story")（"West Side Story"）, which utilized a mix of mambo and lindy dances, brought jazz to a peak in movies. John Travolta's 1977 film "Saturday Night Fever" was a hit; the film also created a disco craze, while the 1978 dance film "Grease" reflected the dance craze of the fifties (published in the eighties as "Grease 2", "Grease" and "Sequel"). The sequel, "Grease 2", published in the 1980s, followed a similar path to "Grease", but was not as well known as the first episode. 1979's "All That Jazz", choreographed and directed by Bob Fosse, featured an outstanding opening jazz sequence, while 1980's "I'm Going to Fly High" ("Fame") impressed viewers with street dance and made the public more aware of the career of the dancers (a movie called "Fame L.A.S.S.R." was made in the U.S.A. later.). A TV series called "Fame L.A." was later produced in the United States). In addition, breakdancing was featured in "Flashdance" ("Flashdance," 1983) and "Breakin'" ("Breakin'," 1984), in which the dancers freeze their moves, turn difficult gymnastic maneuvers into tricks, and challenge the onlookers with puppetry and choreography. "Footloose (1984) is another movie produced in the 1980s about rebellious youths and young people who dance to let off steam. "White Nights" featured a breathtaking dance routine performed by top ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov in collaboration with Gregory Hines, a famous black tap dancer. Gregory Hines also gave his best performance in the 1989 movie "Tap", which was a great example of modern tap dancers. All in all, the 1980s was a golden age for dance movies.
Commercialized jazz took a new direction with the launch of the MTV Channel in 1981. At first, the channel was only to promote new artists and songs, but it was so unexpectedly popular that it instantly became a favorite of the younger generation, and was even more popular in North America for a while. As the utilization of music videos increased, dancing gradually became an important element of the videos. Many black singers naturally chose to breakdance to their songs, and even older mainstream stars such as Elton John and Pat Benetar used different types of jazz dance to embellish their videos. In just a decade, music videos have completely changed the image of jazz in the public's mind. Whereas Broadway and the old television musicals were once the model for jazz and the target for young dancers, today street jazz has become the hallmark of the trendy sensibility. One of the kings of the early music videos was Michael Jackson ("The King of Pop"), who combined the toughness of the streets with the flirtatiousness of old Broadway dances. Other great dance performers in music videos include Paula Abdul, Madonna, Janet Jackson, Jennifer Lopez, Britney Spears, PINK and many more. In recent years, there has been a resurgence in the popularity of teenage boy-girl groups, who often utilize different styles of jazz dance to accompany their vocals.
While music videos have succeeded in bringing street dance and some jazz to the attention of many viewers, their main goal is to sell the songs and the singers, leaving little room for choreographers to create their own work, and so they have not made much of an impact on the artistic side of jazz dance.
In the past two years, there have been a few movies about dance, including "Dancing Over the Rainbow" ("Center Stage," 2000), "Tap Sparks" ("Bootmen," 2000), "Dancing Without Sin" ("Dancer," 2000), "Billy Elliot," 2000), and "Dance My Way" ("Dance My Way," 2000). Elliot," 2000), "Save The Last Dance" (2001) and "Bojangles" (2001). While "Center Stage" focuses on ballet company auditions and the struggles of dancers, a scene in which the hero and heroine take jazz lessons at a New York studio is a scene and atmosphere that jazz lovers will yearn for.
The physical requirements of jazz dance
Jazz dance, like modern dance and ballet, is a very harsh test of physiology, which makes the warm-up before practicing very important. Warm-up exercises can also benefit jazz dancers both psychologically and physiologically. From a physiological standpoint, the effects of warm-up exercises include: increasing the speed and strength of muscle contraction, improving muscle coordination, and preventing or minimizing injuries to muscles, tendons, and ligaments; especially for jazz dancers, the back, chest, and abdominal areas are used quite frequently, so more attention should be paid to them when doing warm-up exercises. Psychologically, it allows the learner to have the psychology of preparing to start the movement with the prelude of cultivating the emotion, so that the student can be more concentrated and feel the urge to learn.
Jazz dance warm-ups are rhythmic and usually last 20 -- 30 minutes. Because jazz dance classes involve tiptoeing, rapid kicking, spinning, skipping, and sustained or rapid abdominal contractions, ballet squats and relevés are often added to the warm-up to help prepare the feet and legs, and independent and combined movements of the upper body trunk are needed to achieve the effect of whole-body warmth and muscle flexibility.
An equally important part of warming up is easing up. At the end of a jazz class, you should do another stretch of the major joints and muscles to provide a more natural and rapid relief to tired muscles, which will help to reduce muscle soreness and fatigue the day after the class.
If analyzed from the point of view of physical fitness elements, the relevant considerations for jazz dance include:
Cardiorespiratory endurance - generally a combination of jazz dance movements is not a long time, but the rest time between combinations and combinations is often very short, so if the learner's cardiorespiratory endurance is good, generally after many repeated combinations of movements still maintain good The dance technique does not cause premature fatigue.
Muscle strength and endurance - In jazz, there are a lot of fast and instantaneous movements, so basic muscle strength is necessary. In addition, because learning to dance often requires practicing the same movement over and over again, the demand for muscular endurance is relatively high. In particular, the endurance of the muscles of the lower limbs must be well-trained, or else it will easily lead to injuries to the knee, ankle and hip joints and the nearby muscles. Jazz dancers also use other complementary exercise methods (such as water fitness, yoga training, etc.) to enhance muscle endurance.
Flexibility - No matter what kind of dance you do, if you want to dance beautifully, your body must be flexible, or else you won't be able to give off the beauty of your lines, and jazz dance is no exception. In the warm-up stretching movement, we must pay attention to the fact that it is not suitable to use the form of elastic vibration to stretch before the body muscles are fully warmed up, otherwise it is easy to make a mistake and strain the muscles. Static stretching is safer, but requires more patience. The amplitude of the flexibility exercise should not reach the point of pain, the muscles have a feeling of tension can be, action (angle) to maintain the time from more than 10 seconds to 30-40 seconds, the longer the time on the muscles and joints near the connective tissue of the load is also higher.
Body composition - Most good jazz dancers have strong muscles, but generally have less body fat. This gives their bodies a very muscular striation, which makes their movements more powerful. Lower body fat also prevents dancers from carrying unnecessary weight, making their dance moves more graceful and light. Although learning jazz dance can be a way to lose weight, beginners who are overweight are advised to shed pounds through other modes first, otherwise there is a certain risk to the health of muscles and joints.
Coordination - Coordination is very important in Jazz Dance, not only the coordination of hands and feet, but also the coordination of head, torso and limbs. In jazz dance, different parts of the body move at different rhythms at the same time, which is a big test for the dancer's coordination ability. It's a good idea to practice the different parts of your body separately, and then continue to work on them together to create the desired movement, so that you will have a higher sense of success.
Dexterity - Jazz dancers often utilize different directions and levels of movement to increase excitement and entertainment, so dancers must be dexterous in their movements, and be precise and quick in their turns.
Balance - Dynamic balance is often more widely used in jazz than static balance, which means that dancers must have a clear sense of how to shift the center of gravity of the steps, and must be able to position themselves with the help of their eyes to assist in balancing when turning.