Jazz: The History And History Of Jazz Dance

During the time that The "Charleston" was popular, it was more popular in other places than it was in Charleston. The dance became popular all around the world. The Charleston was danced to fast paced jazz songs. The best type of music to dance The "Charleston" to is Ragtime or New Orleans/Dixieland Jazz,(Charleston Dance: Most Popular Terpsichorean Craze of the 1920s).

Jazz music made its debut around the turn of the 20th century in New Orleans, Louisiana. It uses many similar instruments as blues, but the style is more syncopated like a fast-paced skipping heartbeat upon a swinging rhythm. Jazz uses not only vocal techniques to tell the story, but also incorporates improvisation as well. Jazz singers also introduced a style called scat singing into their music to pull the improvisational feel of the brass and woodwind instruments. Also, contrary to blues’ general tone being about the past and moving forward, jazz’s general tone is about lust, relaxation, reality, having fun, and sometimes even violence.

     The music called Jazz was born sometime around 1895 in New Orleans. It combined elements of Ragtime, marching band music and Blues. What made Jazz such a different perspective of traditional music was its act of improvising. There was a widespread use of improvisation often by more than one player at a time. Songwriters would write the music down on a piece of paper, and then the Jazz musicians would try their best to play the music. Usually in a Jazz piece, musicians would use the song as a starting point to improvise around. Jazz musicians would play a familiar song to the audience, and by the time they were done with the piece they would stir up a totally different feeling away from the

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

To begin with, jazz is an all American dance that has some African rhythmic influences. The first group that portrayed jazz to the American society were a group called the flappers in the 1920’s. This group was young western women who wore short skirts and bobbed hair and were considered wild based on the image

A common theme to their dances was society’s affinity with the Earth. The most common step in African dancing, which would later become the most basic step in tap dancing, was an example of this symbiotic relationship. In order to stay connected with the power of the Earth, dancers would keep their feet close to the dirt. Flatfootedness created steps that consisted of dragging, gliding, and shuffling step(Knowles). Today’s tap clearly resembles African dance because it often utilizes drags, slides, and

Jazz music originated in New Orleans around the beginning of the 20th century, developing through various increasingly complex styles. These scores are generally marked by intricate, propulsive rhythms; polyphonic ensemble playing; improvisatory, virtuosic solos; melodic freedom and a harmonic idiom. These pieces range from simple diatonicism, through chromaticism, to atonality (Dictionary.com). The foundation of jazz is associated with the Black experience in the United States, but different cultures have added their own personal experiences and styles to this art form as well. As a result of jazz spreading around the world, it grew locally, regionally, and nationally in cultures. Each decade brought a new form of jazz including brass bands in the twenties, swing bands in the thirties, and smooth cool jazz in the forties.

A style of music that was created in the 20th century, Jazz has had a major impact on American culture. Originating from work songs African American slaves used to sing on plantations, the foundations of jazz first began as a three piece music group using instruments like the Fiddle, Banjo and the drum. These instruments formed a style known as Ragtime, which can be recognized as one of the first styles that marked the birth of jazz. Although jazz grew out of a lifestyle shaped by plantation life, over the course of the next hundred years, jazz evolved immensely, as it underwent many changes and branched off into various substyles. In the beginning of the 1900s, New Orleans style of Jazz also known as “Classic Jazz” became tremendously popular to all ethnicities. Performed by black, whites and African American creoles, Classic Jazz took the form of a small-band. These bands would performed at parties and dances with large brass instruments that had been salvaged from the civil war which include the clarinet, banjo, bass, guitar saxophone, cornet, trombone, tuba, drums and occasionally a piano. This dynamic new music combined syncopation of ragtime with modified popular melodies like marches, hymns work song and the blues. However in 1925 everything changed as Jazz introduced a new genre called Hot Jazz. This new style of jazz was characterized by spontaneous collective solos, that stirred up an emotional and “hot” climax. Additionally Hot Jazz was played with drums, banjo

     Jazz is a style of music that began and has been revolutionized within the United States. Jazz music first appeared in the city of New Orleans and eventually moved onto Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City, and New York City. Jazz unites different elements of African, African- American, religious, brass brand, and blues style of music. The music of Jazz, and its changes through the years, is now a form of music that is known and respected throughout this nation and the world.

The definition of swing dance can be described as a synchronized dance with jazz music that have a related variety of partnered dances which includes Lindy Hop, West Coast Swing, and Smooth Lindy. Swing dance is a type of social dance that was created sometime during 1920 to 1950. It is a dance that is associated with Jazz which is a type of music that can be seen having influence from Africa but was created and spread in the United States during the Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance took place during the 1920s and 1930s, which is seen as the movement of colored people which led to the creation of new literatures, art, music, and dance.

Salsa firstly originated in Eastern Cuba in the early 1900’s, However Cuba was not the only one. Salsa is one of the most vigorous and important musical experience of the 1900’s. They did give origin and history of creation. During World War 2 the music used travelled to New York and various other countries however the term “salsa” was created in New York however they did not create the dance.

Music is known as an universal language, it is an enormous part of cultures around the world.It has the power to get ideas and emotions across to all different kinds of people. Jazz is one genre of music that has affected our American culture and has since the beginning of the 20th century. The introduction of jazz has made a huge impact to American lives. With its intricate rhythms and sounds, it has helped bring people together and has helped us evolve as a society. Influencing our clothing, behavior, and even shaping cultural movements.

Jazz dance is not commonly pointed out like any other types of dances. Though many people do not know what Jazz dance is exactly, there is no doubt that they have probably seen it before. This might be because they compare it with different types of dances, for example, ballet, African or Latin dances, and maybe also some tap dancing. All of these types of dances are incorporated differently into a jazz dance routine, which is why many people would take some time to be able to distinguish a Jazz dance routine. Jazz dance has been around for different stages in America’s history and is still around today.

The varieties of jazz dance reflect the diversity of American culture. Jazz dance mirrors the social history of the American people, reflecting ethnic influences, historic events, and cultural changes. Jazz dance has been greatly influenced by social dance and popular music. But, like so much that is “from America”, the history of jazz dance begins somewhere else.

Definition: a type of country and western dancing in which dancers line up in a row without partners and follow a choreographed pattern of steps to music.