What is Jazz Dance?

You’ve heard of it but you’re not sure what it is.  Many people have asked me, does it mean you dance to actual jazz music?  The answer? Not exactly.

Jazz dance originated in the 1800s by the African-American culture tap dancing to jazz music.

By the 1900s, jazz dance became a form of entertainment.  The Charleston and the Cake Walk were some of the primary moves. 

Then in the 1930s and through the 1960s, a more theatrical and technical part of dance came to jazz.  Jack Cole who some have called the Father of Jazz Dance, took his movements from modern and east Indian dance to create a style all his own.  Choreographers at this time were heavily influenced by him.  These included Jerome Robbins who’s most well known choreography was shown in West Side Story and Bob Fosse who’s most popular work was done on Broadway with shows like Chicago and Sweet Charity.  Also during this time, jazz dance had a very large influence from Latin American dance styles.  Katherine Dunham was in fact the choreographer who created the isolations that make up jazz dance today. 

Since the 70s, jazz dance has emerged into a style that incorporates ballet and even hip-hop.

So if you attend an adult jazz class, you’ll notice a warm-up that includes isolations, stretching and rhythm.  You’ll work on various techniques like turns and jumps as well as syncopated rhythms and foot patterns.  Then you’ll learn a combination of moves that could be in any of the styles of jazz dance: Broadway, Modern, Latin, Pop, etc.

Although jazz dance is always changing, its roots are in grasping the concepts of turns, leaps, isolations and rhythm.   If you’ve never done jazz before but always wanted to try, Beginner Adult class is the perfect place to start!  

Here's a brief movie clip about Jack Cole, The Father of Jazz Dance 

and the influence he had on the style of dance today.

Am I too old to take a hip-hop dance class?

For the past 10 years I’ve been teaching dance to people of all ages and levels.  In the last couple years I’ve been working with a lot of adults ages 35 to 85.  When I tell them I teach hip-hop dance classes, they laugh and say, “Oh I’m too old for that.  I can’t move my hips that way.”

But I’m here to tell you ANYONE can do hip-hop, it just takes the right teacher and a little patience.  Hip-hop dance is about isolations of the body, rhythm and a little attitude.  In the first class I tell everyone to stand hip width apart with their knees slightly bent and their shoulders slightly forward.  Then we bounce and step touch side to side.  That’s it!  If you can do that with music then you’re dancing already!

Maybe your body can’t move as fast as it used to and maybe it takes a little longer to learn the steps, but movies like GOTTA DANCE show us anything’s possible.  This documentary follows the average person ranging in ages from 59-83 and their journey to becoming the NJ Nets Senior Dance Team.  

One thing that stands out is the smiles on their face.  Dance is the ultimate mind body connection no matter what your age.  It keeps your brain young and your body healthy. More importantly, you can’t help but smile when you do it.