HISTORY OF JAZZ,

CONTEMPORARY & JAZZ, CONTEMPORARY,

AND MODERN DANCE

MODERN DANCE
JAZZ DANCE
Jazz dance is a form of dance that combines both African and European dance styles.
This high-energy dance has a liveliness that sets it apart from traditional dance
forms, such as classical ballet. Like jazz music, jazz dance features improvisation.
Dancers respond to the music with their body movements, changing their motions
with the musicians’ spontaneous instrumental creations.
Today, jazz has branched out to include various styles, including Broadway, hip-hop,
funk, Afro-Caribbean, Latin, pop, and tap dance.
CHARACTERISTICS OF JAZZ
DANCE
Jazz dance pairs animated expressions with sharp yet fluid motions. One of the most
distinct characteristics of jazz dance is the use of isolation, a jazz technique in which
dancers isolate one part of the body. While this one part moves, the rest of the body
remains still. Oftentimes, dancers isolate their head, shoulders, ribs, or hips.
Another characteristic of this American dance form is a dance technique known as
syncopation. This is when dancers stress an offbeat note to grab the audience’s
attention. By bending their knees, jazz dancers also maintain a low center of gravity
to enhance different movements.
JAZZ DANCE MOVES
Jazz is an expressive form of dance with many types of dance steps and footwork, each with a unique flare and technique.
Here are a few dance moves:
1. Pas de bourrée: This is a sequence of footsteps used to transition from one dance move to the next. Completing a full
pas de bourrée begins by stepping back. Dancers then step to the side and back to the front. The movement is often repeated
quickly to travel across the dance floor.
2. Ball change: A ball change uses the balls of the feet to shift the dancer’s weight from one foot to the next. Like the pas
de bourrée, you can use a ball change to transition between dance moves. Dancers transfer their weight to the ball of one
foot, and then step forward with the other foot.
3. Pirouette: A pirouette is when a dancer turns on one foot. While one leg remains planted on the ground, the other leg
spins, turning the dancer’s body.
4. Jazz walk: Jazz walks are a stylish form of dance walking that use a tiptoeing step to turn the walk into a cat strut. Jazz
walks are ways to transition from one movement to the next, or you can use them as a statement dance move on their own.
5. Jazz square: The jazz square is a versatile and foundational step in jazz dance. This movement involves four steps that
form the shape of a square on the dance floor. You can do jazz squares rapidly or slowly depending on how the dancer
wants to exaggerate and shape the movement.
6. Flying Charleston: Dance partners face one another to perform the flying Charleston. Dancers move counterclockwise
to form a large circle across the dance floor. This dance step allows the dancers to use the entire dance floor.
HISTORY OF JAZZ DANCE
The history of jazz dance dates back to the 1600s during the West African slave trade. A social
dance, jazz dance originated in the United States of America as a celebratory movement when
enslaved people (and, later, freed Black Americans) gathered to sing and dance. Rhythmic and
expressive movements characterized this early form of jazz, which had both Caribbean and African
dance roots.
With the birth of jazz music in New Orleans, jazz dance gained popularity during the twentieth
century. Jazz also began appearing in vaudeville acts with ragtime music. In the 1930s and 1940s, 
big bands popularized jazz dance in ballrooms, and the era of swing jazz began. Dancer and
choreographer Katherine Dunham played a pivotal role in showcasing jazz dance to the world
during this time.
Modern jazz emerged in the 1950s as Broadway show choreographers in New York City began
incorporating jazz on the stage. Choreographers Jack Cole, Bob Fosse, and Gus Giordano have
particularly influenced modern jazz. Today, commercial jazz is a popular form of jazz dance,
combining elements of hip-hop and pop into stylized choreography.
CONTEMPORARY DANCE
Contemporary dance is a style of interpretive dance that embraces innovation, blending
techniques from various genres, including classical ballet, jazz, modern dance, and 
lyrical dance. This genre of dance, which focuses more on floor work over leg work and
pointe, isn’t restricted by the rules that govern traditional dance forms. Instead, it relies
on improvisation and versatility and is characterized by freedom of movement and
fluidity, letting dancers explore the mind-body connection and ideally evoking emotion in
the audience.
Contemporary dance is sometimes considered a form of storytelling, and dancers may
use the medium to portray characters, replay events, or convey personal stories. Its
routines may also communicate abstract ideas, such as ethical values, acceptance of self,
and timely social issues. Costumes typically reflect the topic or tone of the accompanying
music, and dancers often perform with bare feet. Performers may perform this type of
dance to various musical styles, spoken word poems and songs, or silence.
HISTORY OF CONTEMPORARY
DANCE
Contemporary dance draws on both classical ballet and modern dance, whereas 
postmodern dance was a direct and opposite response to modern dance. Merce
Cunningham is considered to be the first choreographer to "develop an independent
attitude towards modern dance" and defy the ideas that were established by it. In
1944 Cunningham accompanied his dance with music by John Cage, who observed
that Cunningham's dance "no longer relies on linear elements (...) nor does it rely on
a movement towards and away from climax. As in abstract painting, it is assumed
that an element (a movement, a sound, a change of light) is in and of itself
expressive; what it communicates is in large part determined by the observer
themselves." Cunningham formed the Merce Cunningham Dance Company in 1953
and went on to create more than one hundred and fifty works for the company, many
of which have been performed internationally by ballet and modern 
dance companies.
Contemporary dance developed in the twentieth
century, thanks to some of the most notable pioneers
of modern, postmodern, and contemporary dance:
1. Isadora Duncan: In the early 1900s, American ballet dancer Isadora Duncan rejected the rigid techniques of classical
dance and ballet in favor of embracing the human body’s natural lines and energy. In doing so, she aimed to create a dance
style with more fluid dance movement and emotional resonance. Other renowned dancers and choreographers quickly
followed Duncan’s lead, with each one responsible for innovations that ultimately defined contemporary dance as we know
it today.
2. Martha Graham: American choreographer Martha Graham was a pioneer of modern dance. Her innovative style laid
much of the groundwork for the contemporary dance movement. She's also responsible for developing the Graham
technique, which takes its inspiration from the breathing cycle and has become an intrinsic part of modern dance forms.
Her revolutionary approach to dance paired movement with emotion, and her contemporary dance company, which was
found3. Lester Horton: Beginning in the 1920s and working for decades, American choreographer Lester Horton
developed modern dance techniques inspired by Native American dances. He was also one of the first American
choreographers to insist on racial integration in his performances. His legacy lives on in the work of notable contemporary
coreographers, including Alvin Ailey and Bella Lewitzky, who studied under Horton as part of his dance company.
4. Merce Cunningham: In the 1940s, American choreographer Merce Cunningham created the groundbreaking
Cunningham Technique, an innovative approach to dance training that emphasizes spatial awareness, rhythmic accuracy,
and clarity of form. He expanded the genre through his experimentation with technology and sounds other than music,
often inspired by the compositions of his partner, John Cage, whose influential sound featured some of the first prepared
piano music. Cunningham and Cage introduced a radical concept that was influential in the world of contemporary dance:
that composers and choreographers can create music and dance independently, yet still combine them for a single
performance.
5. José Limón: In the mid-twentieth century, Mexican choreographer José Limón developed a distinctive masculine
movement style while establishing the importance of men in contemporary dance. His choreography often explored
themes pulled from religion, literature, religion, and history.
6. Loie Fuller: Fuller was an American dancer who innovated the genre with her experimental colored lighting and the
use of silhouettes and silk. She may be best known for creating the serpentine dance, which was inspired by popular skirt
dances.
7. Ruth St. Denis: American choreographer Ruth St. Denis created the concept of music visualization, which explored
movement equivalents to the musical components, such as rhythm and timbre. Believing that dance should be a spiritual
act, she embraced themes that were once thought too philosophical for dance and often pulled techniques from
traditional Asian dance forms.
By the 1980s, the term contemporary dance described routines that didn’t adhere to the strict rules of classical dance.
Contemporary dancers of this era began to create new dynamics, exploring unconventional movements and pushing the
limits of the human form. Their moves combined dance styles from around the world. Some even traced back to ancient
techniques found in the practices of Eastern philosophies, such as Indian Hatha Yoga, pilates, and Zen Buddhism.
Techniques often included systematic breathing, expression of emotion, rapid oppositional moves, and contrasting
rhythms and postures. Many movements were also performed in prone and other non-standing positions.