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Black Tradition In American Dance
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Free Essay Submitted by bignerds on 06/28/2008 08:11 PM
- Category: Music and Movies
- Words: 1030
- Pages: 5
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- Popularity Rank: 641
Black Tradition In American Dance
Since the 1920s, the term \"jazz dance\" has been used to describe a constantly evolving form of popular and artistic dance movement. It is a reflection of a popular culture, and as the culture changes so does the face of jazz dance. Dance is Unique and has individuality no matter what. It is this factor that allows it to either stay the same or change with every new year. Therefore, social dances of the 1920s like the Charleston and Black Bottom are known as jazz dances, but so are the theatre dances of choreographer Bob Fosse. The style of the syncopated sounds of tap dancing can be considered as jazz dancing, but so can the body popping movements of breakdancing. The common theme tying these seemingly disparate entities together is rhythm, or more specifically, rhythm steeped in African influences. The variation in style results from individual approaches and applications. Although a style of jazz dance movement may surface and soon disappear, it is rhythms - born in Africa and refined in America - that form the basis, the common element, of American jazz dancing.
Jazz dance is a blend of African and European traditions in an American culture. They feel that European movement contributed an elegance, and that African movement gave a rhythmic idea. The importance of rhythm in African music and dance is by using the metaphor of a drumbeat for the heartbeat of Africa. It would seem that, although European movement has given a shape to jazz dance, African rhythmic style is the factor that has given jazz dance its character and appeal. To trace the history of jazz dancing in America, it is therefore necessary to begin in Africa.
Africans danced in celebration of birth, puberty, marriage, and death. There were also dances to demonstrate competitive skills. 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,...
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