Jazz Dance Research Paper

Influenced primarily by cultural roots and incredibly opportunity, Dunham had the luxury of studying in the West Indies as well as anthropological study of other cultural style dances. The West Indian experience changed forever the focus of Dunham’s life and caused a profound shift in her career. This initial fieldwork began a lifelong involvement with the people and dance of Haiti. And, importantly for the development of modern dance, her fieldwork began her investigations into a vocabulary of movement that would form the core of the Katherine Dunham Technique. Though many of Dunham’s primary influences lies within her multicultural experiences, Mark Turbyfill also seemed to play a large role in her future dance career, giving her private lessons despite his doubt in the opening of her student company (Kaiso! 187). Katherine Dunham has been list as an influence to “everyone from George Balanchine to Jerome Robbins, Alvin Ailey, Bob Fosse and Twyla Tharp. American dance, including ballet, modern dance, Hollywood and Broadway, would not be the same without her” (Aschenbrenner 226).

His work was very emotional yet spiritual, portraying real life hardships. He was known for his modern dance, smooth jazz and ballet.   Based on his education, his style mirrored a mixture Grahams steps, Dunham’s polyrhythmic dance styles and ballet. His choreography was fast and energetic.   His work demonstrated arm and leg extensions and back arches.

Jazz has always been a part of the American tradition. Some may say they like Jazz for its rhythmic twist and turns. Others may love the soothing melodies from an improved Trumpet solo. All in all, Jazz has been an American staple and has molded today’s popular music, into what it is today. It’s very different from classical music, which is written out and strict. Jazz is much more. It’s made up of spontaneity and improvisation, which makes up an idea on the spot. There are many wide varieties in Jazz. There is Bebop Jazz, Avante Garde Jazz, Acid Jazz, Free Funk Jazz, Soul Jazz, Swing Jazz, and many, many more! These forms of Jazz can be seen and heard in some of your favorite music of Today. It’s been widely used by the world. There is an important reason as to why this genre contributes to the growing of music. We first take a look into the root of all Jazz. In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, the country of Africa was the first known country to use rhythm primarily for the element of musical expression, and ensembles composed entirely of percussion instruments created extended polyrhythmic works. These polyrhythms, which means the “layering of multiple rhythms.”, were record in Western music. African music did not use paper, or sheet music. Instead, they relied on Aural rituals, learned by ear and also used” spontaneity, which is later said to be known as improvisation”. In Africa, most of the music that was expressed was for religious

Thesis The jazz age in the 1920s was an important cultural movement inspired by African American drum beats and exchanged throughout the world through music and dance. Jazz Age Jazz music and dance was a way to cheer people up from the devastating loses of World War 1. Jazz music was born in New Orleans, and spread throughout the United States and Europe in the 1920s. Jazz captured many different audiences and brought diverse cultures together.

Finally, Erick Hawkins was taught by Martha, along with being an American modern dancer. All the people that I have chosen are modern dancers showing that that style was probably famous then. Ruth St. Denis, born in 1879, was from a small farm in New Jersey. As a child, Ruth learned exercises based from Francois Delsarte, which was the beginning of her dance career. She enjoyed practicing the moves of Francois allowing her to progress her career touring with a producer and director.

America grew up with dance, from the streets to the theatres in Broadway it has formed many different dance such as modern dance. Modern dance was born in the United States in the 20th century. Its recognitions prevailed when several dancers rebelled to two dances that were extensive at the moment, ballet and vaudeville. Its fundamental aim was to reveal about people. “Modern” referred to a new era of dance and much modernize dance techniques that aimed to recoup natural movement. Having outlined its difference between ballet, they always developed new themes incorporating, personal problems, plays, and poems. They wanted to be taken as a serious dancer rather than entertainers. Isadora Duncan and Ruth St. Denis are considered the pillars of modern dance. In addition, an African American name Alvin Ailey was rapidly becoming a leading in 20th-century modern dance. known as an influential dancer in modern dance. Alvin revolutionizes modern dance by, modernizing modern dance, revolutionizing African-American participation in the 20th Century and promoted modern dance around the world.

She studied different types of dance and incorporated them into her own technique. “Called the matriarch of black dance her groundbreaking repertoire combine innovative interpretation of caribbean dances,traditional ballet, African rituals and African American rhythms to create the Dunham technique” (“Katherine Dunham Biography” 2). Dunham technique is continued to be taught at schools and companies all over the world. Her travels to other countries always inspired her choreography. “She is credited for bringing caribbean and African influences to a European-dominated world” (“Katherine Dunham Biography” 2). Dunham’s use of different world influences innovated dance and created more significant choreography. Dunham not only changed how she danced; she created an entirely new

This moved jazz dance from a social dance to a

We can see this in the famous 1950s show American Bandstand, which was indicative of national youth culture that had a heavy influence on teens everywhere. American Bandstand was one of the first shows to introduce several dance moves to America and through it we can see how different cultures were merged into it. Yet a lot of the dances shown did not even originate on American Bandstand, as a matter of fact they came from the young black teens dancing on their own show, The Mitch Thomas Show, which many called the “Black Bandstand” (Delmont pgs. 169,170). Yet there was no credit ever given to the black teens who created and popularized these dances.

There are different types of jazz: blues, ragtime, swing, bebop, and others. Blues started approximately in 1890s that was brought into the United States by African and they sang spirituals, hymns, and work songs. Ragtime began as dance music in New Orleans; it started approximately in 1897 and died out before 1920. New Orleans style early jazz began in 1917; Louis Armstrong is one of the major musicians from this time. Chicago early jazz style began in the early 1920s.

Matching jazz in its roots and being greatly influenced by hip-hop as well, Jazz funk can actually be called the offspring of these two great dance forms and is gaining immense popularity real fast. The tempo and rhythm are fast and zealous. The difference in the moves between Jazz and Hip Hop- The moves in Jazz include pirouettes, isolations, releves, flexibility syncopation (off beat), jazz hands and rolled shoulders. Excluding the music used in Hip Hop these days like Dubstep, pop and R&B sounds, the basic movements match that of Jazz

Jazz dance was not created in just one day; it took many years for it to finally come about and many other styles to go develop through. With jazz dance and music, its functional aspects of everyday life come from its passage, its joys, as well as its sorrows. Taking back to post enslavement and then as well as throughout the twentieth century, African American dance had evolved in many different directions that one of them was jazz dance. “Buck Dance, Juba, Pigeon Wing, Buzzard Lope. Turkey Trot, Snake Hips, Fish Tail, Fish Bone, Camel Walk, Cakewalk, Ring Shout, Water Dances.

Their music was known as social music or conservative music. The dances also reflected the music and were slower and flowed more smoothly. Dancers of this style would do more conservative versions of the Lindy Hop such as the jitterbug, the Varsity Drag, and the Fox Trot. Sweet bands usually stuck to the composition more closely while hot bands emphasized improvisation. Dancehalls, speakeasies, and ballrooms were new venues for Jazz music. We saw the birth of night clubs were swing dancing was very prominent. This was the beginning of jazz being associated with dance and drinking and

Just when social dancing was at its height, World War 2 put a stop to its popularity. Lack of attendance, plus the intricate rhythmic patterns of modern jazz music, which were too complex for social dancing, led to the closing of dance halls and ballrooms. With the demise of social dance, the growth of jazz dance as a professional dance form began. During the 1940’s, jazz dance was influenced by ballet and modern dance. By blending the classical technique of ballet with the natural bodily expression of modern dance, jazz developed a sophisticated artistic quality. Unlike early jazz dance, which was performed by talented entertainers without formal training, modern jazz dance was performed by professionals trained in ballet and modern dance.

Around the turn of the nineteenth century, new musical forms such as ragtime and jazz saw development in urbanized areas particularly through the influence of the African-American community. These contemporary genres compelled the evolution of dance toward expression that was more “exuberant with exaggerated body movements” (Edmondson). By the 1920s, this led to the creation of the Charleston and the Lindy Hop, the direct predecessors to Swing. In particular, the Savoy Ballroom, opened in 1926 in New York, was central to this development because there “dancers soon incorporated tap and jazz steps into their dancing,” led by individuals such as Benny Goodman and Herbert White (Heikkila).