The Development of Jazz Dance PDF

Preview

Summary

The pioneers of Jazz Dance. Professor: Julie Harlan....

Description

DAA 2100 Intro To Dance — Flex Class #7: The Development of Jazz Dance (10/24/18) As we discussed on Monday, Jazz dance stems from tap and from the popular social dance forms of the early 1900s.! We are going to look today at the pioneers of jazz dance, identify what makes their style unique, and place them within a timeline so you can see the development of jazz as a dance genre. Jack Cole (1911-74) is considered the father of jazz dance.! He developed his style with legs that faced parallel to each other, weight centered low to the ground (knees bent much of the time), and expressive, large moving arm movements with loose wrists and isolations of the shoulders and hips.! He was heavily influenced by dances of other ethnicities. He began his career with Denishawn, appearing for the first time in August 1930 at the Lewisohn Stadium. His early training was Cecchetti and he left Denishawn to study with Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman, performing with them on Broadway in School for Husbands (1933). Cole's mastery of India's bharata natyam influenced his personal jazz style, which emphasized isolations, placements, quick directional changes, and long knee slides. Among his Broadway works were Magdalena (1948), Kismet (1953), Jamaica (1957), and both Donnybrook and Kean in 1961. He established an important dance workshop at Columbia Pictures in Hollywood to train dancers, while choreographing movies, television, and casino shows. At Twentieth Century Fox he coached such stars as Ann Miller and Marilyn Monroe. Cole's films include Eadie Was a Lady (1945), Down to Earth (1947), On the Riviera (1951), and Some Like It Hot (1959). Revered by dancers, the Cole legacy has been continued by protégés Gwen Verdon, Matt Mattox, Marc Platt, Carol Haney, and Rod Alexander. 0. How does the following video highlight these technical elements? — All of the movements were really big especially in the arms and the hips. Most of the men’s dancing was more toward the ground to focus more on the women’s dancing. The women also used the skirts of their dresses to emphasize the dancing. Fun fact about Jack Cole— he choreographed movies and trained stars such as Ann Miller and Marilyn Monroe. Katherine Dunham (1909-2006) was heavily influenced by traditional dances of the Caribbean, and is known for combining elements of ballet and modern with afrocaribbean dance to form a new style, which has heavily influenced subsequent jazz and modern dance choreographers.!Often considered the grande dame of African American dance, Dunham was born in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. She began her formal study of dance in Chicago at age nineteen, where she trained with Mark Turbyfill, Ruth Page, and Ludmilla Speranzeva while also studying anthropology at the University of Chicago. In 1935-1936, with support from the Rosenwald Foundation, she spent ten months investigating the dance cultures of the Caribbean. Based on the rhythms and

movements she learned during her research, Dunham developed a groundbreaking new aesthetic and technique that also incorporated elements of ballet and modern dance. Her 1940 show at the Windsor Theatre in New York, Tropics and Le Jazz “Hot”, led to a featured role in the 1940 Broadway hit Cabin in the Sky, for which she also contributed choreography. From the 1940s to the 1960s, her company toured the United States, Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia, and Australia, introducing global audiences to her creative interpretation of African diasporic culture. In the meantime, she established a school in New York City, where the dissemination of her Dunham Technique greatly influenced modern and jazz dance, and a permanent residence in Haiti. Always committed to education and activism, she did not rest when the company finished touring in the early 1960s. Instead, she founded the Performing Arts Training Center (affiliated with Southern Illinois University) in East St. Louis and spent much of the next forty years of her life dedicated to the youth of that city. 0. What elements of the three dance forms can you find? — The dances had the kicks and spins of a ballet, but also integrated other movements from modern and Caribbean dances in there, as well. The music and the costuming also reflected this style too. Fun fact about Katherine Dunham— she founded the Performing Arts Training Center in East St. Louis and spent much of the last forty years of her life dedicated to the youth of that city. Matt Mattox (1921-2013) is a contemporary of Jack Cole, meaning he was mentored by Jack Cole.!There is one dancer to grace the stage and screen of the time that must not be overlooked – one whose colleague Jacques D’Amboise described as “one of the greatest male dancers that ever was on a performing stage” and “up there on Mt. Everest with Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly.” That talented man is Matt Mattox. He left an everlasting mark on jazz in both the US and Europe.!He is the man who created!much of the vocabulary and customs that formed jazz dance into a dance style all it’s own. In the process, he created a jazz technique still found in classes today. His dance training didn’t begin until his family moved from Oklahoma to Los Angeles when he was about 11 years old. There, Mattox began taking ballet, tap and ballroom dance. He later credited his dance training to tapper Willie Covan, vaudevillian Teddy Kerr and Louie de Prawn, noting how tap made a particular impact on his technique. His dance instruction was put on hold during his time as a fighter pilot with the Army Air Forces in World War II. However, that leave of absence from dance did anything but halt his career. On the contrary, some of his most memorable achievements took place after his return. Elaborating on Cole’s work over time, Mattox is known for developing jazz dance into a genre separate from the high-energy Broadway hoofing style it was previously associated with, making it appropriate for both theater and concert dance. Rather than use the term “jazz,” however, Mattox preferred to call his technique “freestyle,” and pulled from ballet, flamenco, tap, Spanish dancing and his own creations when teaching. He taught until he was nearly 90 years old. Mattox died in France in 2013, at the age of 91. While his contribution to dance has made a permanent impact, his passing was nevertheless a major loss to the dance world.

0. What do you notice that are elements of Jack Cole's style? — Very low to the ground and very large, loose arm and hand motions. Fun fact about Matt Mattox— he was in that movie that we watched in class, “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers”. Gus Giordano (1923-2008)! is a contemporary of Katherine Dunham, with influence from other choreographers we will be learning about next week.! He is known for codifying the now standard use of isolations within jazz technique, and he founded the Jazz Dance World Congress, a gathering of the great minds of Jazz Dance which acted to promote and preserve Jazz as a dance genre.!The man remembered as the “Godfather of American Jazz Dancing” could check numerous titles off his list of accomplishments, including dancer, choreographer, master teacher, company founder, author and, ultimately, the person who led jazz to become a recognized and respected art form. Although a St. Louis native, Giordano is actually said to have had his first exposure to dance in New Orleans as a child. Watching his cousin dance to folk music during this trip not only intrigued him about dance – it ended up influencing the path of his entire life. Back in St. Louis, Giordano began taking dance classes, including ballet and modern, under the instruction of Minette Buchmann. Jazz, however, did not exist as an art to be studied at the time and was limited to show business outlets such as vaudeville and movies. Dance filled his life from that point on and didn’t even miss a beat during his time as a Marine in World War II, when he was assigned to a group that performed shows at military bases around the United States. Giordano later minored in dance at the University of Missouri, where he met his wife, supporter and business partner, Peg. Giordano created the Gus Giordano Jazz Technique as well as choreography for everything from TV to stage to film. In addition to impacting countless dancers in his classes and company, Giordano further influenced jazz dance’s reputation!with his founding of the first Jazz Dance World Congress in 1990. This gathering, which includes numerous jazz master teachers and companies, has since been held in numerous US cities and countries including Costa Rica, Germany, Japan and Mexico. Giordano also left a lasting impact by publishing several books. One such title, “Anthology of American Jazz Dance,” (1976) is credited as being the first of its kind. Giordano died in 2008 at the age of 84. His contribution to the dance world, however, is never to be forgotten. 0. identify the elements of Katherine Dunham, or if you are familiar with jazz dance, the elements of standard jazz technique that he uses in his choreography. — I’m not familiar with the elements of jazz dance but I can see aspects of ballet in Giordano’s choreography, which Katherine Dunham pulled from in her techniques as well. It’s incredibly graceful, the lifts and kicks and turns. Fun fact about Gus Giordano — his daughter, Amy continues her parents legacy and has made her father’s dream come true by moving Gus Giordano Dance School to the city of Chicago, which provides an emphasis on Giordano’s own jazz technique.

Bob Fosse (1927-1987) is one of the world's best known jazz choreographers.! He was a young performer in the late renditions of vaudeville, and his body, not well suited to dance or to leading roles, became his greatest fodder for his distinctive style.! He is known for using exaggerated finger movements; they utilized his abnormally long fingers.! He is known for using hats; they covered his balding head.! He is known for rolled shoulders; they masked his slightly hunched posture.! He is known for slightly turned in movements; they covered up his pidgeon toes. A prolific director and choreographer for musicals and films, began dancing in nightclubs at thirteen. During World War II, he served as a naval entertainment officer in the Pacific. Following theater and television work in the late 1940s, Fosse traveled to Hollywood in 1953 to perform in Kiss Me Kate, The Affairs of Dobie Gillis, and Give A Girl A Break. He choreographed both the original Broadway productions and films of Pajama Game, Damn Yankees, and Sweet Charity. His movie My Sister Eileen (1955) was closely followed by stage productions of New Girl in Town (1957) and Redhead (1959). Among Fosse's subsequent Broadway successes were How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1961), Little Me (1962), Pippin (1972), Cabaret (1972), Chicago (1975), and Dancin' (1978). He also created the television special, "Liza with a Z," and directed the semi-autobiographical film, All That Jazz (1979). Into a sexy and distinctive style, Fosse incorporated isolations, off-center body positions, tight vertical movement, and highstepping struts. A collage of his numbers that pays tribute to his inventiveness, Fosse won the 1999 Tony award for Best Musical. 5. His choreography seems to focus a lot with the hands. Hats played an important role in the first and last video and the dancers pulled off some very impressive high-kicks in both. In the second video, I really liked the dancers’ postures. Their hand movements were really fluid too. I really noticed the out-turned feet and rolled shoulder movements in the third video. The hand movements were really fluid in that one too. Fun fact about Bob Fosse— The film All That Jazz (1979) was directed by him and is semi-autobiographical....