Jazz Dance: A History of the Roots and Branches

1. Jazz Dance as a Continuum

1 Jazz Dance as a Continuum Patricia Cohen I find the multitude of jazz dance labels and descriptions fascinatingly analogous to the story of the elephant and six blind men. While each man describes a different entity based on the body part he has touched, the wise reader knows that they are referencing the same animal. The linking element (sight) is missing, thus interrupting the connection between trunk and tail. In jazz dance, too often that missing link is African-American vernacular dance. Acknowledging the entirety of the genre allows us to establish historical , cultural, social, and kinetic continuity, which I call a continuum. Another metaphor is the tree described in Wendy Oliver’s introduction. Jazz dance has deep roots in West African culture. The solid trunk contains the cultural, kinetic, and social history of African-Americans, while the thick branches represent the vernacular and theatrical offshoots of jazz dance. Perhaps the tree’s verticality connotes the influence of a Eurocentric aesthetic, while horizontal branches represent the African connection to the earth. Smaller branches and interweaving vines create the complex and everevolving genre we call jazz dance. As public awareness of dance increases as a result of popular television shows, the term jazz dance is used loosely to suggest movement that is rapid, sharp, rhythmic, and sensual, if not sexy. Dancers from private schools of dance enter competitions in categories of jazz including lyrical, contemporary , hip-hop, classical, and more. Some college dance students may have prior knowledge of jazz dance’s African roots, but few are able to offer a precise definition beyond “theater dance,” “black dance with African roots,” or “ballet with a beat.” Most students of jazz dance have studied the form in 3 private schools of dance in their hometowns or in New York City studios, where the vocabulary of ballet is used to describe steps: pas de bourrée, pirouette , jeté, and so on. When the roots and trunk remain unacknowledged, the continuum is disrupted. However, once we accept the “strong relationship between the dances of traditional African cultures and the dances of black Americans,”1 and the influence on American social, popular, and theatrical dance, the continuum is established. We understand that the roots of jazz music and dance lie deep in the traditions of West African cultures, in which music and dance are functional aspects of everyday life—its passages, its joys, its sorrows. Vernacular jazz developed with the times on the plantations and, after the Civil War, in the juke joints of the South and the honky-tonks and dance halls in the North. Animal dances like Buzzard Lope, Turkey Trot, Scarecrow, and Fishtail, like the descriptive Itch, Slap the Baby, and Pickin’ Figure 1.1. Miguel Perez, 2000. Photo by Ed Flores: edflores.com; dance and art photography , Tucson, AZ. 4 · Patricia Cohen Cherries, were observed by white people who found the dances intriguing if intimidating because of their loose-limbed and articulate torso movements. Thus during the dance-crazy ragtime era, instructors like Irene and Vernon Castle “cleaned up” the dances, making them more dignified, less sensual, and therefore more acceptable to whites. Black dancers adopted Eurocentric verticality for their Cakewalks and later the closed ballroom position for the Lindy. Black musicals of the 1920s combined the joyous sensuality of black dance into choreographed segments, which replaced the Africanist element of improvisation. Whether via appropriation or blending, depending on the viewer’s perspective, jazz dance evolved through the first half of the twentieth century to include elements of both Africanist and European dance. The influence of black vernacular dance and creativity on whites during this period is clear. As a college-level jazz dance teacher, I have begun to ask my students, “Where’s the jazz?” rather than the elusive “What is jazz?” We have adopted a social and kinetic guide compiled from scholarly observations of West African dance, African-American vernacular, and authentic jazz dance as a point of reference and a teaching tool. They include the following: Social elements Community—the circle Individual creativity within the group Vocal encouragement Lack of separation between performer and spectator Friendly challenges among the dancers Confrontational attitude (“in your face”) Joyousness Call-and-response Interaction (conversation) between musicians and dancers Kinetic elements Use of the flat foot Bent hip, knee, and ankle joints Articulated, inclined torso Body part isolations Groundedness (earthiness) Improvisation Jazz Dance as a Continuum · 5 Embellishment and...