The Jazz Dance - Literature review Example

College: The Jazz Dance Jazz dance is phenomenon stage dance choreograph work that dancers engage when dancing to jazz music. It involves body movements that usually in line with the sounds and rhythms of jazz music. Jazz as Garofoli explains it, is a dance that greatly focuses on the dancer’s ability to use this special skills (2). Most of jazz dance choreograph has an African touch. This research paper will explain the historical origin of Jazz dance, which is said to have been bone among the Black American’s hence the African nature. The paper will further explore the modern perspective of Jazz dance and the impacts of Choreographers to its stability growth and popularity. It will also look into how Jazz as a dance, is performed and requirements a person need to acquire to be a good Jazz dancer. The paper will finally finish by looking at the impacts of Jazz dance to the society; the impacts can be to the dancer, the choreographer and the audience. Jazz dance is one of the oldest dance styles in this planet believed to have been boned in the late 1800s from Black American vernacular(DeFrantz 3). It is said to have come the same period that Jazz music came into existence. Jazz is said to be an exercise strategy used during the slave trade period in America by slave traders to keep the African slaves physically fit. Most dance moves in the Jazz dance are said to have been created by African slaves in America. As the slaves danced however, their moves interested the American who found themselves joining in the dance. This lead to a crossbreed between the American culture, European jigs and African slaves movements. The first official Jazz dance performance was done in 1910 by Joe Frisco. He was an American dancer who performed it in vaudeville. According to Garofoli (14), the modern day Jazz is attributed to have been fathered by a great Choreographer known as Bob Fosse. His teachings and training on Jazz dance are highly recognized in places like Chicago and Cabaret. In the old days, Jazz dance was mainly performed in restaurants and night clubs. From 1940, Choreographers started teaching it in studios. This made the dance even more popular and widely danced all over the world. The dance has also diverse from using vaudeville acts and it is now being performed in Broadway shows and musical comedies. The modern day Jazz is sometimes confused to be tap dance. This is because of the similarities in the music used. This explains why Jazz dance of these modern days no longer uses Jazz music as it main music source. It is an unpredictable dance style that sometimes the dancer may move in slow moves and abruptly changes to fast and sharply leaps. Up to date jazz is still recognized as one of the greatest dance style in the world (DeFrantz 32). The performance of Jazz dance is very interesting. But before undertaking its performance one needs extensive practice on the same. Schrader(18) says thata firm classical ballet foundation need to be laid to ensure strong body to dance to the Jazz steps. For one to perfectly perform the Jazz dance, a person needs to understand its history. A person needs to be able to capture well the leaps and turns of the dance. To dance well to the Jazz dance, a person need to creatively improvise new skills and ideas that will not only appeal to the audience but also to the dancer himself. This feature make Jazz dance to be loved by many different dancers across the globe. To dance Jazz well, one needs to attend classes to be taught on the moves by the Choreographer. Maintaining a good body shape is also a fundamental to ensure effective dancing to Jazz. Jazz is ranked as one of the most popular dance style due to its continued creativity. Jazz dancing has many advantages to both the dancer, the choreographer and the audience. To the dancer, the advantages are many as compared to the other two groups. The first advantage of jazz dancing to the dancer is making the dancer’s body flexible. In most jazz dancing classes, the choreographer will start by instructing the students to warm up and do several stretching exercises. To effectively dance jazz, dancers are required to perform moves that demand bending and stretching which makes them flexible naturally. According to Garofoli (21), jazz dancing help in reducing or doing away with tension, stress or depression. The way Jazz dancers make different jump and heap moves as they dance to a particular song greatly contributes in relieving stress hormone. This makes the person fresh and looking beautiful. Jazz dancing is a fun activity and thus a person gets excited when dancing to it. Dancing involves every part of the body thus jazz dancing ensures good posture. Continued exercising on jazz dancing ensures weight loss. This occur especially if the dancer dances for at least one hour in a day. This is very advantageous for women since the have fat in places where it is hard to melt. Dancing contributes to a sense of high self-esteem and belonging. Jazz dancers have the advantage of travelling to different parts of the world to meet new and different people. The interaction of the dancers with these new people will boast their confidence and many people use this advantage to realize their potential. The self-confidence of the dancers will also be boasted and they will thus be able to express themselves in a clear manner. Another advantage of jazz dancing to the dancer is that it makes the dancer to forget his worries and troubles. Garofoli (24) explains that when a sad person puts on his favorite song and start to dance to it, he will automatically forget all the problems that were in his mind. Jazz dancing is therefore preferred to cure of stress and sadness. The high jumping and leaping into the air during jazz dance increases the strength of the dancer. The leg and hand muscles of the dancer are forced to resist the body weight thus increasing strength in them. The long time dancing and exercising of the dancers during jazz performance and training respectively increases endurance in the dancers.Endurance can be termed as the ability of the dancer to practice and dance for long hours without getting fatigue. On the economic side, jazz dancing can also be advantageous to the skilled dancer since they may be required to appear in movies at a price. Skilled dancers can be hired by many movie producing companies just to showcase their skills and this may be their source of income.These skilled jazz dancers may also be required to perform their dance in different parts of the world for a price. This may be their source of livelihood. They may also be required for Broadway productions. All this can only be achieved by a hardworking and skilled dancer. Therefore thorough practice is expected for dancers who want to gain the most from their talent. To the choreographer, jazz dancing has also several advantages. First, the choreographer can work to grill dance teams at a price. The choreographer can train more than one dancing group and earn good amount of income. The choreographers can also work in television commercials and they will be paid. This is also a source of livelihood to them. The more the choreographer keeps training students, she also gain strength, relieves herself from of stress and keep her body stable. The audience also gains from jazz dancing by seeing and enjoying the performance. In as much as they may pay some fee to watch the performance, they will enjoy the value for their money by outstanding performance of the jazz dancers. This to them is a moment of relaxation and have fun and forget their daily life routine. In as much as jazz dancing has tremendous advantages, it also has its limitations. First disadvantage is that jazz dancing is not a high paying profession. In order for a person to be employed as a dancer he or she must make sure that they are the best. There are few job opportunities for dancers in the job market. The second disadvantage is the high energy required to make the jazz dancer dance well. Since the jazz dance highly strains the muscles and make them fatigue, a lot of energy is required to give back to the muscles. Jazz dancing is a risky job. A dancer can easily break her leg or any important body part in the course of dancing or during their training. After many years of jazz dancing, it causes hip and knee replacement due to wear and tear of the bones, ligaments and cartilages. In conclusion, jazz dancing is one of the oldest and most popular dance in the world having been in place during slave trade period. Jazz is still practiced in modern world and as discussed above, jazz dancing has many advantages over disadvantages. Some of the advantages include being a source of income to both the dancer and the choreographer, reduces stress and increases strength and endurance to the dancer. Its few disadvantages such as few job opportunities and riskiness of the job can easily be countered by ensuring the dancer does his best effectively and carefully in order to avoid accidents. Works Cited Garofoli, Wendy. Jazz Dance. Mankato, Minn: Capstone Press, 2008. Print. Schrader, Constance A. A Sense of Dance: Exploring Your Movement Potential. Champaign, Ill: Human Kinetics, 2004. Print. DeFrantz, Thomas. Dancing Revelations: Alvin Aileys Embodiment of African American Culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006. Print. . Read More