Jazz Dance Research Paper

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Historical and Social Origins
Jazz dance came about around the same time as jazz music gained popularity in New Orleans in the early 1900’s. Jazz dance was first used to describe the dances done to new-fangled jazz music. The origin of the jazz dance came from dance originating in Africa, by slaves who were uprooted to America. Over time, jazz dance evolved from a street dance to a theatrical dance performed on stages all around the world. One of the pioneers of jazz dance was Jack Cole; he was called the “Father of Theatrical Jazz Dance”. Jack’s passion for dance originated in modern dance but eventually he ended up on the commercial side of dance, dancing in nightclubs which lead to his love for jazz dance and his choreography of many famous jazz routines. Later in the 1950’s Katherine Dunham, an American dancer and choreographer has been credited as one of the most successful jazz dancers in American and Europe of the 20th century. Katherine used her passion for Caribbean traditional dance and transformed it into a new stream of jazz dance. …show more content…

In one Hawaiian legend, Hi’laka danced to sooth her volcano goddess sister Pele. Pele had asked her sisters to dance and sing for her and Hi’laka stepped forward out of all the sisters and danced for Pele. Legend has it that the hula originated from the dance that Hi’laka performed for her sister. (huladancehq.com) As such, Hi’laka is also known as the goddess of hula. Hula dancing has been around since the 19th century and was even recognized by many as a religious ceremony. Hula dancing was also used as a form of prayer to the gods. Hula dancing brought many people together to dance and to worship the gods. Hula has many sub-styles and special chants that went along with the hula and were passed down from generation to

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