What is the culture of Jazz dance?
Jazz shoe.
Jazz dance started in Africa where they danced to celebrate different cycles of life. These dances were brought to America when people from Africa were imported on slave ships. Eventually, their dances began to change as they were influenced by their plantation owners’ European backgrounds. Jazz music was first started in the New Orleans. African dances remained the same in Congo Square in (located in New Orleans), but the dances began to develop along with the jazz music. This change began to happen during the 1900’s. In the 1930’s to the 1960’s, jazz was used in theatre performances and was danced by trained dancers. But, choreographers from modern and ballet dance styles began to experiment with jazz dance. At around the 1950’s, other dance styles (Latin and Caribbean) influenced jazz dance.
MUSIC:
The music includes percussion, reed pipe, and string instruments. Ragtime is one of the terms used for jazz music. The term “ragged time” is talking about syncopations that were included in the music; the syncopations came from a style of music meant for piano. Ragtime ended up influencing early jazz dance.
COSTUMES:
Most dancers prefer to wear tights and a leotard because with dance, you require flexibility and grace. Some dancers wear Jazz pants which are similar to normal sweatpants, but they are tighter and lighter allowing the dancer to move. They also wear a specific type of shoes. A lot of people use Jazz shoes which are similar to ballet shoes but they have a small heel. They can have shoe laces, and are most commonly black or tan. There are also jazz boots which are good for dancers with weak arches.
- R. Bullen
MUSIC:
The music includes percussion, reed pipe, and string instruments. Ragtime is one of the terms used for jazz music. The term “ragged time” is talking about syncopations that were included in the music; the syncopations came from a style of music meant for piano. Ragtime ended up influencing early jazz dance.
COSTUMES:
Most dancers prefer to wear tights and a leotard because with dance, you require flexibility and grace. Some dancers wear Jazz pants which are similar to normal sweatpants, but they are tighter and lighter allowing the dancer to move. They also wear a specific type of shoes. A lot of people use Jazz shoes which are similar to ballet shoes but they have a small heel. They can have shoe laces, and are most commonly black or tan. There are also jazz boots which are good for dancers with weak arches.
- R. Bullen