The impulse for the emergence of dance should be the language of the soul.

Isadora Duncan

If you are uncommon and eager to express your attitude to the world around you through movement ...

If your soul wants to fill the heard music with movement, plasticity, beauty...

If you think that the main thing in dance is control over your body…

If you dream of learning how to move in the same way as the artists of the sensational musicals on Broadway or the ballets of M. Bejart appreciated by the whole world ...

Your element - Jazz Modern!

This dance direction of extraordinary beauty impresses with its sincerity and apparent simplicity. The main difficulty in modern jazz - as well as the most interesting thing in its development - is that it opposes the laws in many respects. classical choreography, while being its logical continuation! BUT this is by no means a denial, but simply an option! Violating the rules of gravity, which is possible only in modern jazz, we comprehend the laws of classical dance. No wonder the greatest ballerinas in the world did not hesitate to perform original numbers in this style - remember Maya Plisetskaya!

The roots of this trend should be sought in the dance culture of African Americans. Improvisation, inherent in the very nature of Afro-jazz, receives its logical continuation in modern jazz and reaches a certain stage. historical development. The clarity of lines, the completeness of movements, while not denying the smooth flow of poses from one to another. The quirkiness and, to some extent, "cosmism" of the choreographic solutions reflect the musical idea - following the music, the body sensitively repeats its whimsical pattern! A lot of emphasis in dance is on finding balance and using the body to create form in space.

The most important feature of jazz dance is improvisation. It helps the dancer to reflect the changes that are taking place in the surrounding world (aesthetic and social). Distinctive features jazz dance is also sensuality, emotionality. The soul in jazz dance lives with the body, in the same rhythm, mood...

blues jazz- a slow, sensual and emotional dance performed to blues music. Blues-jazz dance can express loneliness, sadness, melancholy, suffering, anger and joy, as well as love, passion - any experience from the whole spectrum of human feelings and emotions. Expression is a very important factor in jazz dance. Music is expressed through dramatic grandiose movements.

contemporary jazz- dance offers unlimited possibilities, requiring creativity and individuality from the performers. Someone wants to have fun, someone seeks to convey the mysterious, incomprehensible vicissitudes of life, others are fascinated by pure movement, composition, rhythm ....

Jazz modern is the basis of pop dance. Modern has its origins in classical choreography and focuses on finding balance and using the body to create form in space.

Africans and African-Americans are considered to be the creators of jazz dance. Improvisation is inherent in the very nature of Afro-Jazz, with the help of which a person expresses his emotions and mood. The movements are clear and complete. The body sensitively repeats the whimsical pattern of music! The emphasis of the step is not on repulsion, as in ballet jumps - on the contrary, the momentum of movement is directed towards the ground.

Blues jazz dance- a more plastic version of jazz, maintaining a clear rhythm. A striking feature of jazz dance is the independence of body parts from each other, in which they each move along their own trajectory. Parts of the body are so prepared that they can move not only in isolation, but also in opposite directions.

Today's jazz dance- these are hard rhythms, emotional pressure, even some aggression. It contains elements of hip-hop, break, rap, funk. The dance figures combine complex hand translations and intricate body movements that fit into the intense rhythm of the music. Broken movements, asymmetrical figures, spectacular throws to the floor - the dance depends on the music and the choreographer's imagination.

History of jazz dance

jazz dance came out of Africa. African culture was gradually connected with the European tradition. It was especially intense at the beginning of the 20th century. People were fond of such musical and dance styles as reg, Charleston. Jazz has touched many areas of modern art. The African essence of jazz was especially revealed in popular music and dance, which were thoroughly transformed by American show business at the beginning of the century. The professional study of jazz, the basics of jazz dance, began in the 1940s. The outstanding artists of this generation were Jacques Colet(Jack Cole) Catherine Dunham(Katherine Dunham) Pearl Primus(Pearl PRIMUS).

Jack Cole, trained as a modern dancer, developed jazz styles, emphasizing the isolation of a technique strictly based on black and oriental dance traditions. Catherine Dunham and Pearl Primus included black original ethnic themes in their choreography. They inspired and stimulated the development of black American modern dancers in the 1940s.

The names of the performers who worked with Kole, Dunham, Primus, we see among those dancers and choreographers who have achieved outstanding results. These are Matt Mattox, Gwen Verdon, Carol Hyney, George and Effil Martin, Baz Miller, Talley BEATTY...

After World War II, an active offensive of jazz began on the European continent. A special interest in jazz dance was fueled by numerous musical films, the peak of such public interest was a grandiose success" West Side Story(Westside story). Jazz dance in America has achieved impressive success - the Alvin Ailey dance troupe introduced the audience to the richness of African-American traditions and to the highest results that they have achieved by seamlessly combining ballet, jazz and ethnic dance.

Jazz dance moves forward through the use of various material: ethnic dance, ballet, tap, as well as street styles. Modern jazz dance destroys the boundaries between them, bringing together all styles, forms, directions.

The transformation of jazz dance into dance theater and the combination of professional technique and choreography created modern jazz dance. Modern jazz dance challenges the modern dance language spoken throughout Europe.

Jazz is a dance that is not bound by rigid boundaries. The fantasy of the dancer and choreographer is in free flight, and music and movement, soul and emotions are organically connected together, contributing to the creation of real masterpieces

Jazz dance is a direction in choreography that has the same name as musical style, but formed separately from it. It is necessary to distinguish between jazz as a direction of music and jazz as a dance. Combine music and dance trends general principles creations: improvisation, polycentry, polyrhythm (analogous to musical polyphony). Less significant ones follow from these three basic principles: isolation, momentum, wave, collapse (reset) and others.

The history of the origin of the dance

The birthplace of jazz dance is Africa, and its creators are the inhabitants of the black continent and African-Americans. Negro melodies and rhythms, along with slaves, penetrated America, absorbed the folklore of many nationalities living in the United States, and, as a result, a unique musical and dance phenomenon was formed.

An attempt to study and comprehend this cultural layer was made in the 40s of the 20th century. Outstanding figures of the dance art of that time, Jacques Colet, Pearl Primus, Catherine Dunham contributed to the promotion of jazz in Europe. Particularly active promotion of jazz on the European continent begins after the 2nd World War. Jazz has penetrated many areas of art. Connecting with American show business, jazz dance absorbed and transformed elements of modern, swing, tap, and later hip-hop and funk. The flourishing of the jazz dance style falls on the 60s of the last century, simultaneously with the flourishing of jazz music.

Jazz dance today is energy, hard rhythms, pressure of emotions bordering on aggression, impulsiveness. The dance contains elements of rap, breakdance, hip-hop. Modern jazz choreography blurs the boundaries between styles and trends, organically combining tradition and novelty.

What is jazz dance?

Jazz dance is an original combination of original African-American traditions, ballet, modern choreographic trends and ethnic dance. The jazz technique is quite complex. It combines intricate poses, original dance figures, asymmetrical broken movements, complex spectacular hand movements, throws to the floor. Peculiar music requires fresh solutions from the choreographer, which will allow you to convey bizarre musical turns with body language. In jazz dance, the movements of the soul and emotional sensations are organically combined and embodied by means of choreography.

Jazz dancers learn and use ballet technique. The reversible positions of classical dance coexist with parallel ones. The roundness of the arms, characteristic of the classics, is combined with straight positions.

Jazz dance types and features

Improvisation is one of the main features of jazz. She allows this dance to always be modern, reflecting the latest trends in life and art.

Jazz Modern

At the beginning of the 20th century, having absorbed the trends of modernity, jazz dance was replenished with its own variety - modern jazz. Unlike classical dance, where the emphasis is on repulsion, as in ballet jumps, in jazz dance the movement is directed towards the ground. A jazz-modern dancer performs her dance steps on her fingers; acrobatic stunts are often found in the dance. Jazz-modern is actively mastering the technique of other dance styles, such as lyrical dance, hip-hop, modern dance.

blues jazz

A more plastic version of jazz dance. Its feature is the apparent independence of body parts from each other. The performance of this dance requires great skill and long, hard training. The movements of the dancer are perfected, performed with ease and clarity, and the viewer is unaware that this filigree technique was preceded by years of hard work.

Broadway Jazz

The development of American jazz dance followed the path of its theatricalization. The famous productions of musicals on Broadway have created a new genre of theatrical and dance art. Jazz dance became an integral part of famous productions and led to the emergence of its new variety - Broadway jazz.

"On the fingers", the dancer rises from her knees, maintaining the balance of the body on her toes. A dancer - an acrobat performs a split in a jump, which is also found in jazz dance.

Modern jazz is often influenced by other dance styles such as acrobatic dance, ballet, contemporary dance, lyrical dance, hip hop. In turn, many dance styles are influenced by jazz.

As with most types of dance, technique is the basis of all movements in jazz dance. In particular, jazz dancers benefit from a knowledge of ballet technique and therefore ballet training is usually included in the jazz dance curriculum.

In modern jazz there are various techniques, such as:

Control of the center of the body

By considering the center of balance as the point from which all movements emanate, it becomes possible to maintain balance and control while performing movements that would otherwise throw the dancer off balance.

Location

This allows the dancer to maintain balance and control while performing turns such as pirouettes and fouettes, while reducing the effect of dizziness from repetitive rotation.

toe foot

Dancers extend the ankle and point with the toe to align the foot with the line of the foot in a pleasing aesthetic manner.

> Basic styles of jazz dance

CLASSICAL- borrowed from classical dance the discipline of movements, the positions of the arms and legs. The founder of classical jazz, Matt Matox. If speak about classical jazz dance, then there are three main "whales" here - improvisation, polyrhythm and polycentry. If everything is clear with the first, then the other two mean the movements of various parts of the body in different rhythms. Movement can come from the head, shoulder, knee, very often through impulse. Polycentricity, of course, requires mastering the technique of isolated movement for each part of the body. The body is used here as a metronome: it beats the rhythm given by a musical instrument.

BLUES- In the turbulent flow of jazz dance, it is a feeling of a deep fall. Like a plaster snake, he coils and descends, lamenting the oppressed mood of an African-American devotional song. Initially, the blues was danced exclusively to blues music, however, then any non-fast music of a certain tempo began to be used for dancing, in particular, rock and Rn "B music. The blues gained popularity, and many variations appeared, such as, for example, slow drag Now the blues is widespread not only in the US, but throughout the world.

Jazz dance blues acrobatic. He is different slow flow the language of movements, this feeling of a deep fall, the serpentine plasticity now twists, then descends, emotionally mourning the oppressed mood of religious Negro songs. Blues is the slowest of the jazz dances, so it also requires appropriate performance. Incredibly stylish and very simple, this dance is a pleasure to learn and is increasingly seen at various dance parties and even as a wedding dance.

LYRICAL is a dance style created from the fusion of ballet with contemporary jazz. Differs in a large number various movements per unit of tempo, performed very gently, without visible tension. Movements, with all their complexity, are performed with maximum stretching in time.

HOT- this style is full of high expressive steps and exciting movements, in this style of jazz dance there are many elements of step, because. the rhythm is too fast, the poses may allow for a stooped back, raised shoulders and swaying hips, most often this style is performed in television, commercial shows and musicals.

Hot jazz is considered to be the dancing of the New Orleans pioneers of the second wave, whose highest creative activity coincided with the mass exodus of New Orleans jazz musicians to the North, mainly to Chicago. This process, which began shortly after the closure of Storyville due to the entry of the United States into the First world war and for this reason the declaration of New Orleans as a military port, marked the so-called Chicago era in the history of jazz.

The very name of this type of jazz is connected with the emotional intensity characteristic of the manner of performance of these solo parts. The term Hot was originally synonymous with jazz solo improvisation to highlight the differences in approach to soloing that occurred in the early 1920s. Later, with the disappearance of collective improvisation, this concept began to be associated with the way of performing jazz material, in particular with a special performance that determines an individual and different style of performance, the so-called hotting or hot intonation: special ways rhythmization and specific intonation features.

BROADWAY(Theatrical) - Broadway jazz has become one of the most popular types of modern dance. This style arose back in the 20s of the twentieth century, at a time when jazz began to be practiced professionally. We have long known the musical direction of jazz, but jazz dance has little to do with it. Jazz dance technique was the result of the huge popularity of Broadway musicals and took its name from the New York street Broadway, where the famous theater is located. For Americans, the musical became a real holiday and stood out as a separate theatrical art, and dance was an indispensable element in it. Broadway jazz has evolved into a special direction of dance, thanks to numerous theatrical performances. Musicals, which became popular in the 20-30s of the twentieth century, demanded ever stronger choreography, understandable and incendiary for the viewer. This is where the style, later called Broadway Jazz, appeared. In fact, now it combines elements of the play, show and contemporary choreography.

But how is the technique of Broadway jazz different? This style was created by African Americans and takes its origins from the dances of the peoples of Africa.

Remember how Africans dance? They are completely immersed in the dance, conveying their every emotion with movements. Even Jeffrey Howard, a famous traveler, noted that black people convey any event in life, joy or sorrow, through dance, life without dance is unthinkable for them. Dance in this sense means rhythm. Of course, certain dance movements are superimposed on the rhythm, but the whole crowd and the soloist himself are constantly improvising.

Of course, Broadway jazz has its own principles. In this case, we can talk about improvisation, polyrhythm and polycentry. Improvisation stems from the very nature of African dance. Polyrhythm is based on the movement of different parts of the body in different rhythms, and polycentry involves the occurrence of movement in different parts of the body. Very often, by means of an impulse, the movement can start from the head, shoulder, knee. It is the polycentric that requires special skills, because it is necessary to learn how to master the isolated movements of each part of the body.

Each dancer not only performs movements, but also solves acting tasks, plus shows his individuality as much as possible.

The main goal is entertainment.

AFRO- combines traditional African dance with elements of jazz. Makes extensive use of body, shoulder, hip and head movements. Ethnic music and its arrangements are used as musical accompaniment.

MODERN JAZZ- an energetic and expressive dance, figurative dance, which took all the best from jazz choreography and modern, besides, it noticeably improves the coordination of movements.

Ballet and dances of various directions mixed up, and as a result, a completely new dance direction was born, which was called "jazz". It is believed that jazz dance was created by Africans and African Americans, and the technique is based on Negro folklore mixed with dances of other emigrants living in the United States. The basic principles of jazz dance are similar to the principles of jazz in music. This, perhaps, was the reason for the common name. The main principles are improvisation, polyrhythm, polycentry (the last two are akin to musical polyphony). In modernity, the inner content of movement, the clarity of lines, the ability to work with breathing matter.

Jazz modern technique is widely used in almost all modern dance. Most Western stars of pop culture study modern jazz as the basis of choreography and widely use it in their shows and videos.

The body prepared by jazz-modern technique is strength, flexibility, plasticity, endurance, excellent shape and excellent posture. Classes develop musicality, a sense of rhythm, proper breathing, body positioning, coordination of movements and the ability to control your body. Broken body movements, spectacular choreographic moves, incredible acrobatic figures move in different rhythms - the dance is completely dependent on fantasy, the unity of its inner world with the world of space.

Jazz dance has several characteristic features. Firstly, rhythm is the coordination of movements with the rhythm of music; secondly, syncopation is the rhythm between strong beats of music (this is a very important skill in jazz dance; by practicing syncopation, you will learn to hear the rhythm of the music you are dancing to); thirdly, in Broadway jazz, the movements of the hips and pelvis are often used, which gives the dance a special expressiveness; fourthly, isolated movements - the mobility of only one part of the body, while the whole body remains motionless or moves in the opposite direction (like rotation of the hips; isolated movements emphasize the rhythm of the music - it seems as if the music passes through the dancer's body).

ROCK N ROLL

ROCK: this is a more percussive style of jazz, based on the nature of the music, a free, unconstrained manner of the performer with the inclusion of specific effects characteristic of the creative personality of the dancer.

Rock and roll (dance)

Acrobatic Rock 'n' Roll refers to a sporty, competitive form of dance that originates from the Lindy Hop.

Acrobatic rock and roll is performed to rhythmic music (48-52 beats per minute). The average duration of a dance program is one and a half minutes. The dance program in acrobatic rock and roll is characterized by a combination of characteristic foot movements and the performance of acrobatic or semi-acrobatic elements. The dance pattern of acrobatic rock and roll is based on the so-called "basic competitive move": characteristic throws of the legs for half a beat "5-6" - this is a kik - ball change and one beat "1-2-3-4" - this is kik - step kik - step of music (kik - ball change - kik - step - kik - step). Acrobatic elements are an ornament to the dance and are strictly regulated, in accordance with the complexity of the program and the class of the performance.

In rock and roll, tricks are valuable not in themselves, but in connection with the dance. This situation fundamentally distinguishes acrobatic rock and roll from the performance of mixed doubles in sports acrobatics. Another difference is the lack of balance elements in rock and roll, which is also associated with the need for a combination between acrobatics and active, dynamic dance. Racks and balances do not correspond to the nature of rock and roll. In addition, the performances of the dancers take place on a hard floor, and not on a soft gymnastic carpet, which increases the responsibility of the athletes for the quality of the tricks.

Traditional African musical instruments, as a rule, are percussion: drums tuned to different pitches, a xylophone several meters in size, rattles and rattles. The howl of the saxophone is much closer to the traditional songs of France than Africa.

A black man, according to the famous traveler Joffrey Howard, is one who conveys his emotions and moods through dance. Birth or death, wedding or funeral - the black man is dancing. Without dancing, he is not able to live even a week. In this case, dance means rhythm. They say about a good dancer in Africa: "He has good ears." Of course, quite often the rhythm is superimposed on quite certain steps, however, the entire crowd entering the trance, and even more so the soloist, constantly improvise.

Almost every village in Black Africa contains a group of professional dancers with a repertoire that includes unique dance given area, costumes, etc.

The basic principles of jazz dance are similar to the principles of jazz in music. This, perhaps, was the reason for the common name.

So, basic principles:

• improvisation;
• polyrhythm;
• polycentric (the last two are akin to musical polyphony).

Less important principles of jazz dance, partly derived from the first three: isolation, contraction-release, collapse (reset), impulse, wave.

We have already spoken about improvisation, it follows from the very nature of African dance. Polyrhythm means that different parts of the body move in different rhythms. Polycentric provides for the emergence of movement in different parts body. Movement can come from the head, shoulder, knee, very often through impulse. Polycentric certainly requires mastering the technique of isolated movement for each part of the body.

Contract-release- not so much a jazz principle as a characteristic pair of movements, essentially opposite to each other. Contraction is a distortion, for example, of a straight line of the spine in one or another of its departments. Contraction is not contraction ( muscle clamp disrupts the flow of energy and therefore harms any dance technique, although, of course, it can be used as an expressive stage tool), but on the contrary, lengthening.

Agree: a curved line is always longer than a straight line. Release- the opposite of contraction, liberation from curvature and even greater elongation. Jazz is very diverse. In the literature they call musical jazz - a lightweight direction that allows the dancer to sing at the same time as using dance, ballet jazz, Broadway jazz ...

Well-known jazz dancers (for example, Matt Matox in France, Gus Jordan and Luigi in the USA), who organized their jazz dance schools, often became the founders of a new direction. They created certain approaches to teaching dance, developed sets of movements and their combinations, which give a peculiar flavor to the performances of each jazz school. And the terms “Mutt Matox technique”, “Luigi jazz”, Simons jazz” appeared.

Jazz absorbed the exercise of classical dance (in jazz, parallel positions of the legs coexist with eversion, and the arms lose their roundness inherent in the classics and take on the form of one or more straight lines), movements and techniques of modern dance, folk dance. Here we come to ethno-jazz with its most famous varieties of Afro-jazz, a style that, on the next turn of the spiral, returns to its roots and invites a new interpretation of reckless dances from Black Africa, incendiary samba and viscous dreamy rumba.

History of Jazz Dance

Jazz was born as a result of a complex path, a synthesis of many elements of American and African cultures. The birth of jazz refers to the moment in history when the mass importation of slaves began with West Coast"black" continent to the New World.

The living conditions of the slaves were extremely difficult and humiliating. However, the owners allowed them to play music, because. believed that this contributed to the growth of labor productivity. In addition, it was believed that a slave who plays, sings, and dances does not think about escaping. Slave traders, based on the same practical considerations when calling "living" goods from Africa to the New World, were allowed to take musical instruments with them, encouraged singing and dancing during the long and exhausting journey.

The fate of slaves developed differently depending on the geography of the population, on the socio-economic conditions in which they found themselves, on what national cultures their culture encountered - with English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, etc.

Under the new conditions, the psychology of blacks changed. Slave owners often deliberately mixed representatives of different tribes, which deprived them of the opportunity to communicate and gradually led to the disappearance of distinctive regional traditions. Mixed dialects arose, but, which is significant, in the presence of various kinds of barriers (linguistic, religious, etc.), music and dance were a factor of rallying and unification for representatives of different tribes.

AT Latin America African traditions merged with Portuguese and Spanish. Creole music arose, which gave impetus to the emergence of new genres: habanera, tango, bolero, rumba, beguin, calypso, conga, samba, etc.

In the southern regions of the country lived the bulk of the slaves who worked on the plantations. Their owners - Catholics (Spanish or French) - were more tolerant of all sorts of remnants in the ideas of blacks, including purely religious African cultures, than Protestants in the north of the country. The church was the place for the slaves, where they could get at least some opportunity for a short, but still escape from the real, full burden, scary life. In general, the Negroes did not resist conversion to new faith, because it gave them, albeit an illusory, but still hope of liberation - this is how they interpreted the doctrine of the salvation of the soul, from deliverance from all adversity. Prone to pictorial cult symbols, costumed theatricalization of their religious ceremonies, idolatry, Negroes found analogies and parallels to their ideas of catholic church, with its richly decorated ritual, icons, statues of saints, various solemn processions with music and singing. A peculiar dualism of saints arose, who were considered by the Negroes from the point of view of both African and Christian religion. For example, the image of St. Patrick driving snakes out of Ireland was easily associated with the image of the African god Damballa, the patron saint of snakes in Dahomey. Dressed in rags, Saint Anthony evoked an analogy with the Dahomean god of roads and crossroads Legboi, the archangel Michael with a sword in his hand resembled Ogun, the god of war of the Yoruba tribe, etc. Offering their prayers to Catholic saints, as a result of such a dual assessment of their role and significance, the Negroes included their primordial traditions, which have African roots, in the ceremonial.

Baptism and Methodism became the leading directions of the Negro church. The ecstatic state during the Baptist service perfectly corresponded to the similar in meaning and emotional level ceremonial in pagan African cults, which contributed to the organic fusion of all Christian and Negro elements in the church. In an effort to avoid the guardianship of the whites as much as possible, Africans begin to organize secret religious sects, society. At their meetings, members of such organizations allowed more freedom, both in the ideological sense and in the form of expression, which often took the form of a rite closely associated with elements of native African cult ceremonies. For example, the cult of "Vudu" ("water", "vodun"), which has spread in a number of places Central America, was also reflected in the beliefs of the blacks of the South of the United States, in the musical design of the festivities on Congo Square in New Orleans.

A vivid example of the fusion of European and African traditions that met on American soil and gave new artistic forms is the ring-shout genre. It is a group dance with singing, which was the culmination of a prayer meeting of blacks. The performers move in a circle one after another counterclockwise, without taking their feet off the floor, as if shuffling, their shoulders are bent, their arms are apart, the advancement occurs due to quick and sharp movements of the body, which gives the dance intensity and dynamics. Those located to the side rhythmically clap their hands and stamp their feet, which creates a complex rhythmic pattern.

If you are outstanding and crave through movement to express your attitude to the world around you, if your soul wants to fill the heard music with movement, plasticity, beauty, if you think that the main thing in dance is mastery of your body, if you dream of learning how to move in the same way as artists of sensational musicals on Broadway or M. Bejart's ballets appreciated by the whole world, then jazz modern is your element. This dance direction of extraordinary beauty impresses with its sincerity and apparent simplicity.

The main difficulty in modern jazz - as well as the most interesting thing in mastering it - is that in many respects it opposes the laws of classical choreography, while at the same time being its logical continuation!

But this is by no means a denial, but simply an option! Violating the rules of gravity, which is possible only in modern jazz, we comprehend the laws of classical dance. No wonder the greatest ballerinas in the world did not hesitate to perform original numbers in this style - remember Maya Plisetskaya!

Principles of Jazz Dance

The roots of this trend should be sought in the dance culture of African Americans. Improvisation, inherent in the very nature of Afro-jazz, receives its logical continuation in modern jazz and reaches a certain stage of historical development.

Line clarity, completeness of movements, while not denying the smooth flow of poses from one to another. The quirkiness and, to some extent, the “cosmism” of the choreographic solutions reflect the musical idea - following the music, the body sensitively repeats its whimsical pattern! A lot of emphasis in dance is on finding balance and using the body to create form in space.

Also important principles of modern jazz - especially its variety of Blues-jazz dance - are some randomness of movements, the intricacy of hand translations emphasizing the intense rhythm of the music.

In our time, jazz dance, of course, has changed. He seems to have “grown up” as children grow up. Rigid rhythms, emotional pressure, even some aggression are sometimes heard in it.

In modern jazz, elements of hip-hop, break, rap, funk are organically intertwined. And it still attracts fans all over the world!
The musical basis of jazz dance is usually jazz music which is distinguished by its stylistic diversity. But today, the greatest interest and difficulty for jazz dancers is the comprehension of the fusion of jazz and electronic music ...

Many people think that jazz is only for the older generation, music that you can relax to, dine or fall asleep to, easy listening music. In fact, jazz dance can be performed to the uptempo, sometimes even aggressive rhythms of Swing / Bebop, Afro Cuban, Brazilian, Latin, Funky Jazz.

The most important feature of jazz dance is improvisation. It helps the dancer to reflect the changes that are taking place in the surrounding world (aesthetic and social). Distinctive features of jazz dance are also sensuality, emotionality. The soul in jazz dance lives with the body, in the same rhythm, mood ...

Blues jazz is a slow, sensual and emotional dance performed to blues music. Blues-jazz dance can express loneliness, sadness, melancholy, suffering, anger and joy as well as love, passion - any experience from the whole spectrum of human feelings and emotions. Expression is a very important factor in jazz dance. Music is expressed through dramatic grandiose movements...

Modern jazz dance offers unlimited possibilities, requiring creativity and individuality from the performers. Someone wants to have fun, someone seeks to convey the mysterious, incomprehensible vicissitudes of life, others are fascinated by pure movement, composition, rhythm ...

Technique

The technique and style of each artist depends on the level of his training. Today we find many variations in styles. Some are attracted by primitive African technique, others combine modern with ethnic dance, others use tap-dance... To excel in jazz dance, a dancer must also practice classical ballet technique, which allows him to perfectly control his body, give strength to muscles, improve balance (balance), as well as perform sharp and clear movements inherent in jazz dance.

Isolation technique

Among the technical principles of jazz dance, the idea of ​​isolation is central. There can be no jazz dance without it. An artist in jazz dance can completely free his body, make it an instrument of dance only when he masters the technique of isolation.

Tension and relaxation

Another important factor is awareness of the need for tension-relaxation (contraction-release). Without this, the dancer cannot work in isolation. Tension and relaxation coexist. If one part of the body is relaxed, then the tension is held by the rest of the body.

Pelvic region

Many jazz educators today emphasize the importance of this area, which is associated with many movements in jazz dance and which gives the dance sensuality and passion.

Some basic elements jazz dance: ball change, twist, pivot step, touch step, Pique passe, stag leap, jete', pencil spin, barrel turn, fan kick, jazz walk, jazz run, hip walk, chasses, cat walk and the catch step .

Jazz and other dance styles

Modern jazz dance has borrowed terminology and individual movements from various dance styles. From ballet, he took French terminology and some movements, positions of arms and legs. Modern gave jazz dance the greatest freedom in liberating the torso and including it in active work.

The step was borrowed emphasized rhythmization of movements. ballroom dancing also influenced the formation and development of jazz dance. Popular dances also influence him. At the turn of the century it was a Charleston. When Latin American dances became popular, the basic steps were also borrowed (steps from Cha-cha-cha, Mamba, Samba).

The influence of hip-hop, r'n'b, latin, contemporary, funky, house, free style styles is also great. There were new movements of the arms, hips, rhythmic changes.

Jazz dance can intersect various styles- traditional ( classical jazz musicals), lyrical, afro or modern, contemporary. Because great importance in jazz dance has ingenuity and improvisation, many dancers bring completely different styles to their dance.