Jazz dance, with its origins in African music and culture, has long been a way to celebrate, communicate and entertain. The history of jazz dance isn’t often taught in the studio setting, but understanding where this commercially successful form of dance comes from, and how it has evolved, is an important part of improving as a jazz dancer.
If you are a new dance mom, or a new dancer yourself, you might be overwhelmed by the amount of supplies you need to buy for dance classes! You will need leotards, tights, hair accessories, and of course, the proper shoes! Is there any way to use the same pair of shoes for different styles of dance, so you don’t have to buy so many things?
One of the coolest things about jazz dance is how varied the style can be! From lindy hop to street styles, Latin jazz to social dances, jazz dance lives in many worlds, and there is no shortage of movies that have some sort of jazz dancing included.
A beginner jazz class will last between 45 minutes to an hour and a half, and dancers should be learning some traditional jazz steps along with basic motor skills. For very young dancers, jazz may be offered alongside ballet or tap as a combo class.
Swing culture originated in the United States in the 1930s and 1940s after the rise in popularity of swing music. The swing movement includes a signature sound – a style of jazz music – as well as fashion and swing dancing.
Pom Dance is dancing while using Pom Poms and is a style mainly performed by high school and college students at halftime during basketball season and other school athletic events, but pom dancers may travel to compete as well. Pom dance is sometimes also known as a school or college dance squad or dance team.
Leaps & Turns is typically offered as an additional training opportunity for dancers enrolled in jazz and ballet dance classes.
Theatre jazz, or theatre dance, is a style of dance which includes traditional jazz dance technique with the addition of storytelling through acting. Jazz dance by itself sometimes includes elements of storytelling, but in theatre jazz, it is required.
Street jazz is a lively, eclectic and unique form of jazz dance that focuses on movement that evolved outside of a studio setting; “in the streets”, if you will. Drawing from an individual form of expression, street jazz includes elements of house, vogueing, wacking, locking, popping, and improvisation for a high energy class.
Lyrical Ballet or Lyrical Jazz? Are they different types of dance or the same? Ironically they are the same but different! Lyrical dance can be more ballet or more jazz. It can be more contemporary or even more hip hop. So if a style of dance can be both Ballet and Hip Hop what exactly is it?