Jazz Dance History in America

as researched by Bob Boross

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AFRICAN CONTRIBUTIONS

Emery states that "A fundamental element of African aesthetic espression was the dance ... Dance could ... be of a recreational or secular nature and in one form or another pervaded all of African life." Africans danced in celebration of birth, puberty, marriage, and death. There were also dances to demonstrate competitive skills. Movement was a participatory event, and an entire community from children to the elderly would dance in a communal expression of their cultural beliefs. Dances were primarily accompanied by the beat of various types of drums, as well as string instruments, chimes, reedpipes, and other percussion instruments. This reliance on dance movement to interpret life carried over to the culture of the African-American during the time of slavery. Jean Sabatine, in her book Techniques and Styles of Jazz Dancing , asserts that "the story of jazz dance begins with the importing of African culture to America through the American slave trade."

African dance, according to the Stearns, has contributed the following characteristics to dance in America:

- a flat footed gliding action, dragging and shuffling the feet
- movement performed in a crouch,with knees bent and body bent at the waist
- movement that generally imitates animals
- movement that exhibits improvisation, allowing for freedom of expression
- movement that is centrifugal - exploding outward from the  hips
- movement that is performed to a propulsive rhythm To give a swinging quality
The term "swinging quality" is important to understand and recognize as a defining characteristic of African rhythm. Whereas European music tends to accent the first and third beat of a bar of music, or accent all beats equally, African rhythms tend to accent the second and fourth beats. This gives the feeling of a rebound, or as if the second and fourth beats were an answer to the first and third beats. It is a bounce, like a bouncing ball, that rebounds and continually renews the energy of the beat. Since it seems to generate its own momentum, the Stearns label the swing beat as " propulsive".( A more detailed definition of Swing Music).

Dolores Kirton Cayou, in her book Modern Jazz Dance, agrees with the Stearns characteristics but also adds the quality of "polyrhythm in body movements." This is the practice of moving individual parts of the body in opposing and separate rhythms. It is a feat of coordination and complexity. It is another of the important movement qualities that Africans brought to America during the slave trade that are still visible in the jazz dances of the twentieth century.