Jazz Dance

Jazz dance developed alongside jazz music in New Orleans in the early 1900s. The steps and essential style of this dance, however, originated from dances of Africans brought to the Americas as slaves. Originally, the term jazz dance encompassed any dance done to jazz music, including both tap dance and jitterbug.

Over time, a clearly defined jazz genre emerged, changing from a street dance to a theatrical dance performed on stage by professionals. Some scholars and dancers, especially Swing and Lindy Hop dancers, still regard the term jazz dance as an umbrella term which includes both the original and the evolved versions: they refer to the theatrical form of jazz dance as modern jazz.

The term jazz dance was first used to describe dances done to the new-fangled jazz music of the early 20th century, but its origin lie in the dances brought from Africa by slaves shipped to America. At that time, it referred to any dance done to jazz music, which included both tap dance and jitterbug. A defining feature was its "free conversation-like style of improvisation."

"Theatrical Jazz Dance" was born in the 1930's, developed by Jack Cole, who had trained at Denishawn, some years after Martha Graham. He initially set Eastern dances to Jazz Music and by the mid 1930's Cole had a club act touring from coast to coast. His troupe became the star attraction at New York's Rainbow Room in 1938.

Continuing through the 1960s, jazz dance transformed into a theatre-based performance art. During this time, choreographers from other genres experimented with the style., including George Balanchine, Agnes de Mille, Hanya Holm, Helen Tamiris, Michael Kidd, Jerome Robbins, and Bob Fosse. All of these choreographers influenced jazz by requiring highly trained dancers, and introducing steps from ballet and contemporary dance and all of them attribute Jack Cole as the "Father of Jazz Dance". Indeed, Bob Fosse's wife, Gwen Verdon, was Cole's assistant in Hollywood in the 1940's and much of his work, initially, was an extension of Cole's.

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