Jazz dance is a "multi-performance dance" which combines ballet, modern dance, African dance, performance dance, theater dance, ballroom dance and East Indian folk dance, so it is unique and unique. Jazz dance and music originated in the United States and have a strong slave culture background. Until the 1920s, "Jazz" spread all over the country, and everyone scrambled to learn. Jazz dance needs a solid foundation connection, coupled with full physical and mental input, in order to show the essence.
Jazz dance is an extension of African dance, which was brought to the United States by slaves and gradually evolved into a localized popular dance in the United States. Because of the slave trade that lasted for about 300 years, African blacks were fired in the United States and all over the world. In the new environment and new life, I live a miserable slave life. Although in this painful situation, I still haven't forgotten their music and dance. No matter the joy, anger, sadness, joy and worship in life, whenever there is an opportunity, they will sing the songs of their hometown and dance their own national dance, so over time they will gradually become jubilant and international music and dance. Because of the constant innovation and invention of new dance steps, Americans are gradually interested in these rhythmic black dances.
Jazz dance evolved naturally with jazz at the beginning of the 20th century. The earliest jazz dance was performed by black ballroom dancing accompanied by jazz, which was popular in rural areas in the southern United States, especially some amateur dancers in New Orleans. They will perform jazz dance at parties or clubs. 19 17, when popular dancers performed according to the meaning of the lyrics. A man named W. Benton Overstreet wrote a song called "The Jazz Dance", and the "Jazz Dance" in this song became a permanent synonym for jazz dance, from which the name of jazz dance came into being.
When jazz dance appeared in the form of "dance music", black and white dancers improved and changed their basic dance steps. In addition, they also inspired the innovative inspiration of the latecomers, increasing the swing of hips, shoulders and independent movements of other parts of the body.
Since 1920, black people in New Orleans began to play their jazz music, many rock dances with mixed styles have been very popular, such as Charleston, Summer and Call. Later, due to the birth of Boogie-Woogie, the dance style has changed a lot, and the two have been hugging each other.
From the late 1930s to the 1940s, jazz dance evolved into three forms: the first is modern jazz dance with strong classical ballet flavor, the second is jazz dance influenced by black people and Latin dance, and the last is mixed jazz dance with humorous music and tap dance. Although jazz dance was very popular at that time, it began to decline in the late 1940s, because the new jazz music replaced the old big jazz band, and its music rhythm was too complicated to match the dance. In addition, the invention of the phonograph and the heavy taxes imposed by the government (the United States) on the dance floor have led to the closure of many dance clubs that were once in the limelight.
Although it is the decline of old jazz dance, it only represents a ceremony connecting the past and the future. Based on the fact that the United States is a melting pot of a nation, new jazz dance also has a high degree of integration; It combines the jazz dance steps of the older generation with the new dance steps that were popular in the fifties, sixties and seventies, and also inherits the rise of mass media and promotes the prosperity of jazz dance.
The jazz dance we see today retains the characteristics of syncopated music melody (see note), throwing limbs or independent operation, but it can be performed not only with jazz music, but also with pop music, blues music, rock music or disco music. Today's jazz dance has great inclusiveness and plasticity, and can absorb the characteristics of the most popular music and dance at any time. Because of this, jazz dance is very entertaining and deeply loved by the public.
The Development of Jazz Dance in Hong Kong
Jazz dance is mainly used as a form of stage performance in Hongkong, and typical examples are Aaron Kwok and Sammi Cheng. Take Aaron Kwok as an example. His songs, such as City of the Wilderness, Legend of Innocence and Singing this Song, all use jazz dance to enhance the expressive force of the stage.
Characteristics of jazz dance
In addition, the dance accompaniment seen in concerts or MTV is also a kind of jazz-modern jazz. Jazz performed by a group of people can be roughly divided into traditional jazz dance and modern jazz dance. The former has more restrictions and requirements; The latter has less restrictions, so it has greater freedom and more changes in dance steps, mainly in line with the music beat.
Note: syncopation)-Usually, the order of strength in bars is clearly defined by beat marks, but in order to change the beat, the position of strong notes can be changed, that is, the stress position in regular bars can be temporarily moved to other beats. When the rhythm changes from normal strong beat to weak beat or pause or no beat, the rhythm is syncopated. This method of changing the beat is called syncopation. When the powerful beat falls on the unexpected syncopation rhythm, the action becomes very exciting and wonderful; It is also the conversion of stress and the basis of jazz.