Jazz dance began as the popular dance moves of the early 1900's. At the time, jazz music was the popular music heard on the radio. The dance steps took on the name jazz because of jazz music. There, that wasn't so hard, was it? Pretty simple actually. Yet, that leads us to another question, does the dancing we call jazz today fit its name?

Ballet is easy to recognize. As soon as you see the turned out feet, hair in a bun, and fancy arms, you know that you are watching ballet. Jazz is tougher to figure out. It is a label we put on dances seen in Broadway shows, MTV videos, concert dance companies like Hubbard Street, street dancers, drill teams, and tap dancers. While these styles seem very different, they all have a common root.

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The key elements of jazz music are syncopation, individual style, and improvisation. The original jazz dancing carried these same elements. Syncopation is what gives jazz music and dancing its edge and excitement. It is not monotonous and dry. Changes happen often and are unexpected. Sudden.

The various styles of jazz dance have grown from the emphasis on individual style and improvisation. As seen in the hip-hop dancers of today, jazz dance emphasizes individual expression. Each teacher, dancer, and choreographer brings a unique style into the mix. Conformity is frowned upon.

In addition to syncopation and individuality, connection with the music is another element of jazz dance. The music and the dance go hand in hand. Jazz dance directly expresses the music; whether it is jazz, blues, or rap.

Now imagine jazz dance to be a huge oak tree. Okay, it may take quite an imagination but please humor me. At its roots, we find jazz music. The trunk of the tree is made of the three elements: syncopation, which makes it exciting, individuality, which brings variety, and musical expression, which keeps it real. Now imagine from the trunk there are four main branches that spread out.

The first and oldest branch is that of popular dance. Hip-hop, break dancing, disco, twist and swing are all popular dance crazes done to the music of their time. The original jazz steps were exactly this. Popular dance places strong emphasis on individuality and musical expression. But wait, you say, most of these forms do not use syncopation. This is true. When rock and roll was born, syncopation disappeared from popular music. Yet, what we see in popular dance is a 'visual syncopation.' Frequent dynamic changes and unexpected movements make the dances exciting.

The second branch is that of musical theater dance. Ballet is the dance of kings and queens. Musicals needed dances that came from the common people. So, it used popular dance steps to go with its songs. With jazz dance growing in popularity in musicals, jazz technique was born. Musical theater dance uses all the elements we have mentioned. It is dynamic, individualistic, and directly related to the music.

The third branch to develop is concert jazz dance. No, I do not mean dancing in a Janet Jackson concert. Concert dance is primarily the world of ballet and modern companies. After the birth of formal jazz techniques in musical theater, it found its way into concert companies. Jazz dance became mixed with ballet and modern techniques. In this form, it is often called Modern Jazz. However, some companies have begun to bring jazz that is more traditional to the concert stage.

The fourth branch is that of dance/drill teams, cheerleading and gymnastics. Now, I am going to go out on a limb here (rimshot) and state that this is more like a twig than a branch. I say this because these styles are further removed from the trunk of the tree. The emphasis they place on precision and conformity hinders individuality. The use of repetitive music and constant accents hurts the excitement of syncopation. Yes, they are high energy. However, when an accent is placed on every beat it is no longer unexpected or exciting. It is yelling! Syncopation requires a variation in dynamics. Dance/drill teams, cheerleading, and gymnastics use the same steps as the other branches, but they are not directly connected to the trunk and heart of jazz dance.

By now, we have a picture of the jazz dance tree firmly implanted in our minds. Oh, will the puns never end? Sorry, last one I promise. Now imagine from the three branches (and one twig), hundreds of limbs reaching out. Each one representing a teachers personal style. Finally, imagine that from these limbs sprout thousands of leaves to represent each jazz dance student. However different our styles may be, we are all part of the same magnificent jazz dance tree.