The Evolution of Jazz Dance

Like any dance style, Jazz didn’t appear suddenly or exist in a cultural vacuum.

It was a slow evolution that changed with the times –– and the most popular music of
each era.

Though Jazz dance started becoming popular in the Black spaces in the late 1800s, it
wasn’t until the 1920s that Jazz music and dance spread to other communities.

In New York City, a large influx of Black families moved to the Harlem neighborhood
where increasing Black pride kickstarted a period of creative exploration known as the
Harlem Renaissance.

Concert venues and clubs sprang up across the neighborhood, and white audiences
began visiting to hear live Jazz music and watch dancers perform on stage.

Meanwhile, Vaudeville acts –– traveling shows featuring comedy, dance, magicians,

and more –– began traveling the country and spreading Jazz music and dance even
further.

The influx of money from white spectators pushed Jazz dancers to focus on creating a
spectacle for the audience in front of them, rather than simply one-upping those on the
dance floor around them.

This is why dances like the Charleston skyrocketed in popularity. They could be done
facing forward so the audience could see the intricacies of the move –– and try learning
it on their own.

And as white dancers flocked to venues like The Savoy Ballroom and The Cotton Club,
they took the moves home with them.
Eventually, Jazz musicians who wanted to avoid appropriation from white audiences
began shifting to Bebop, which was centered around improvised singing and
instrumentation that many club-goers found less danceable.

As a result, choreographers like Jack Cole and Jerome Robbins began appropriating
traditionally Black Jazz dances for purposes outside of the club.

They added more Ballet-inspired steps and brought the newly codified moves to
Hollywood and Broadway, just as the Golden Age of film began.

Choreographers started using highly trained dancers who were tasked to perform more
precise versions of Jazz dances, which ushered in a new era for the style.

Unlike most dance styles you’d watch on stage, professional Jazz dancers were
expected to effortlessly balance uniformity and personality. 

After all, personality and individual style were a vital part of Jazz’s initial culture, but you
couldn’t have an entire theater company executing different moves!

Choreographed productions would usually involve a set of background dancers who

executed very similar, precise Jazz moves, while a few couples or solo performers
would lead the company, executing acrobatics, stylized steps, and showy, playful acting
sequences.

Then, as the Golden Age of film gave way to television, Americans were introduced to a
greater number of cultures, which allowed other styles like Caribbean and Latin dances
to begin mixing in with Jazz too. 

Eventually, Jazz music’s popularity started to wane, as Rock, Funk, Disco, and Hip Hop
took over.

But when MTV launched in the 1980s, and music videos became the number one way
young people consumed dance content, Jazz saw a resurgence in popularity.
People wanted to learn the fun and flashy moves they saw on TV, and looked to dance
studios, workout tapes, and the competitive dance scene as a place to learn and
perform.

Jazz was a familiar, accessible style that had become synonymous with American
performance culture, so once again, the style was re-codified to fit with the types of
music people enjoyed.

This led to the proliferation of Jazz subgenres, workouts like “Jazzercise,” and large-
scale competitions across America.