Jazz Dance Research Articles

Empowering Students to Take Risks: Redefining the Introductory Jazz Course

ABSTRACTIntroduction to Jazz Dance is an elective course for undergraduates in a midsize, liberal arts college, whose students are typically risk-averse in the academic environment. Therefore, the course was created with an emphasis on accessible vernacular movement to empower the students to express their individuality. The one-semester course exposes students to the history of jazz dance in cultural and historical context, both kinetically and cognitively, from its West African roots to present-day evolution in popular culture and on stage. Because vernacular and traditional dance is essentially social dance, students become increasingly comfortable with the self-expression that constitutes jazz dance.

Let's Dance: An Exploration of Male College Students' Internal Process on Dance Class

Gender stereotype is an important issue in sport psychology. However, whether male students have negative attitude toward Jazz dance, or just consider dance as female students' activity, or dance activity cannot achieve the goal of physical activity, are the worthy questions to investigate among male students. The purpose of the present study was to investigate male college students' internal process on Jazz dance by using the ground theory approach. This study conducted one-on-one or in-depth interviews for 15 male college students. Interviewed transcripts, field observation notes and focus-group interviewed transcripts were integrated for inductive analysis. By using the grounded theory approach, we construct a hierarchical and multi-dimensional model of male students' internal process on Jazz dance. Results showed that there are four higher-order themes, including 〞touching〞, 〞struggling〞, 〞amazing〞, and 〞changing〞 underlying their Jazz experiences. The amazing category comprises of 3 sub-themes, such as 〞fruitful learning content〞, 〞positive social interactions〞, and 〞positive teacher induction〞. This study suggests that male college students have changed their gender stereotypes due to positive feelings derived from learning Jazz dance, and they have changed their attitudes towards dance and they have been in favor of dance courses.

Moving bodies, shifting selves: integration and incorporation through ‘jazzing’ and ‘salsa’ dance in Cape Town

This article looks at two social couple dance forms, ‘jazz’ and salsa, the first emerging in the 1970s, and the second in the 2000s in Cape Town. The focus is on how concepts of geography, body, space, community, heritage, tradition and identity have become conflated within processes of social change. ‘Jazzing’, otherwise known as ‘Cape jazz’ dance, or ‘jazz’, danced to what is locally known as ‘jazz’ music (mostly R&B and soul ‘covers’), is associated with the apartheid-constructed ‘coloured’ community, a historically contested identity in the Western Cape. Salsa, as a globally popularised and commercialised dance form, danced to salsa music, started in central Cape Town in the early 2000s, incorporating participants from diverse backgrounds. Because of similarities in style, and the informality and fluidity of both dance forms, tensions emerged in the mid-2000s, when many jazz dancers, influenced by the local salsa scene, copied and incorporated what were described as ‘salsa moves’ into jazz routines, resulting in contestations over whether what was seen as a ‘local’ tradition was under threat. At the same time, the crossing over of dance styles and dancers between venues resulted in modes of racial integration and inclusivity within a highly segregated society. The study argues for the use of dance as a lens to explore, contest, interrogate and problematise a rapidly transforming society, and what it means to be South African today.

Embodied Subjectivities: Nine Young Women Talking Dance

The purpose of this paper is to examine nine Australian young women's embodied experiences of dance. The young women were all amateur dancers involved in weekly jazz, tap, and ballet dance classes at the same dance studio. In this paper, embodiment is defined as multidimensional (Burkitt 1999). The authors explore the ways the corporeal and the discursive converage to make possible particular experiences in dance and particular gendered selves. The analysis highlights the dominance of traditional notions of femininity and beauty in shaping the embodied experiences of these young women dancers. This paper discusses the need for conceptualizing the body's role in the production of gendered selves. Teachers can encourage students to question and challenge the dominant gendered discourse, while also recognizing the importance of the bodily investments of individuals in particular gendered identities.

Exposure to classroom sound pressure level among dance teachers in Porto Alegre (RS).

Summary Introduction: Dance teachers are exposed to high sound intensities. Aim: To verify the sound intensity of music used by dance teachers during classes. Method: This was a transversal and prospective study. Dance teachers were evaluated with a sociodemographic questionnaire, and sound intensity level measurements were taken at the beginning, middle, and end of dance classes. Results: The sample comprised 35 teachers (average age, 31.8 years). The duration of their career as dance teachers was 1–37 years; they worked daily for approximately 1–10 h. Among the classes followed, there were 15 (42.85%) classical ballet classes, 4 (11.42%) tap dancing lessons, 5 (14.28%) jazz dance classes, 2 (5.71) Arab dance lessons, 6 (17.14%) street dance classes, and 3 (8.57%) ballroom dancing lessons. The average values observed at the beginning, middle, and end of the classes were 80.91 dB (A), 83.22 dB (A), and 85.19 dB (A), respectively. The music played in the street dance classes exposed teachers to the highest sound intensity. Conclusion: The average level of sound intensity of the dance classes in this study was either below or equal to the limit considered harmful for hearing health. Analysis of different class types showed that the sound densities of street, ballroom, and tap dance classes were above the recommended limits.

Hip Joint Mobility in Dancers. Pilot Study.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of dancing on hip joint mobility and to assess the relationship between active movements of the hips and injuries among dancers, which may be important in planning rehabilitation in this group. The sample comprised 49 dancers (37 women and 12 men) aged 15 to 32 years. The participants were the professional dancers of the Kielce Dance Theatre and members of two youth jazz dance teams from the Kielce Dance Theatre. The active range of motion of the hips was measured in three planes using a goniometer in order to assess the influence of dance training on hip joint mobility. A questionnaire-based survey was also conducted. The range of flexion, extension and external rotation was significantly greater in the group of long-time dancers (p <0.05). There was a significantly greater range of flexion, abduction and external rotation in previously injured hip joints (p<0.05). 1. Injuries to hip joints in dancers may result in increased ranges of motion, which may lead to disturbances of joint stability. 2. Being a long-time dancer and the female gender were associated with an increased range of hip joint motion.

Re-remembering the (Almost) Lost Jazz Dances of 1980s Britain

A case is made to consider, through the historical process of re-remembering, the styles of jazz dancing practiced in clubs in Great Britain in the early 1980s as an important aspect of British dance heritage. A particular jazz dance battle that took place between dancers from the groups IDJ (I Dance Jazz) and Brothers in Jazz serves as a focus for the discussion of how a generation of dancers established hybrid British styles of virtuosic dancing. In so doing they generated new forms of dance praxis that challenge received categories bifurcating dance into social versus theatrical dancing and popular culture versus high art.

It's All in the Hips: Sexual and Artistic Minority in Canadian Concert Jazz Dance

Contemporary sexual norms in Canada continue to dictate how sexuality should be presented on the stage in many styles of theatrical dance. Jazz dance is not excluded from this practice; in fact, since the early days of social dancing, jazz dance has often been considered synonymous with gratuitously deviant sex and sexuality. In contemporary artistic circles, concert jazz dance often finds itself subject to an additional classification as low-art because of this perceived relationship between sex and the dancing. This artistically marginalized position of concert jazz implies a conservative heteronormativity in Canada that is contrary to our apparent inclusion of subjugated sexual minorities as “normal.” “It's All in the Hips” explores sexuality in contemporary Canadian concert jazz dance to illustrate the potential for representations of marginalized sexualities on stage, and the perceived threat to artistic hegemony. While there is growing research into sexuality on the American stage in ballet and modern dance through scholars such as Jane C. Desmond, Jennifer Fisher, Susan Leigh Foster, and others, and also into jazz's roots in social dancing by Susan Manning, Anthea Kraut, Julie Malnig, and a growing host of scholars, very little work has been done on the Canadian concert jazz scene, save for the work of Iro Tembeck, Mark Miller, Meilan Lam, and a handful of dancers. This paper examines the intersection between sexual and artistic minority in Canadian concert jazz dance and problems that arise for positioning the form to dance audiences as high art.

Improvisation som ett didaktiskt och konstnärligt verktyg i jazzdans

Abstract In my work as a Senior Lecturer in jazz dance and a dance teacher I have been able to explore the possibilities and difficulties I see in the teaching of jazz dance. This article focuses on a currently ongoing pedagogical and artistic project I am involved in. The goal of the project is to create teaching methods that are contemporary, flexible and individually adjustable, and have a clear starting point in the characteristics of the genre. My wish has been to articulate and clarify the artistic potentials of jazz dance. This article describes my work with improvisation in jazz dance: the purpose and the process with course of actions and use of the dance form.

An interpretative phenomenological analysis of how professional dance teachers implement psychological skills training in practice

The aim of this study was to examine how dance teachers work with psychological skills with their students in class. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six female professional teachers in jazz, ballet and contemporary dance. The interview transcripts were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (Smith 1996). Results revealed that all teachers used psychological skills training techniques such as goal setting and imagery and worked toward the following outcomes: group cohesion, self-confidence, and anxiety management. They strove to create a task-involving climate in their classes and the students were encouraged to participate in, for instance, the goal setting process and imagery applications. The teachers also placed significant emphasis on performance preparation, evaluation, and feedback, although some found it difficult to give positive feedback. Many of the findings can be associated with contemporary theories in sport psychology. However, the dance teachers had almost no formal training in performance psychology, but had instead developed their teaching methodology through their own experiences. Further skills development and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Mechanics of Jazz Shoes and Their Effect on Pointing in Child Dancers

There has been little scientific investigation of the impact of dance shoes on foot motion or dance injuries. The pointed (plantar-flexed) foot is a fundamental component of both the technical requirements and the traditional aesthetic of ballet and jazz dancing. The aims of this study were to quantify the externally observed angle of plantar flexion in various jazz shoes compared with barefoot and to compare the sagittal plane bending stiffness of the various jazz shoes. Sixteen female recreational child dancers were recruited for 3D motion analysis of active plantar flexion. The jazz shoes tested were a split-sole jazz shoe, full-sole jazz shoe, and jazz sneaker. A shoe dynamometer measured the stiffness of the jazz shoes. The shoes had a significant effect on ankle plantar flexion. All jazz shoes significantly restricted the midfoot plantar flexion angle compared with the barefoot condition. The split-sole jazz shoe demonstrated the least restriction, whereas the full-sole jazz shoe the most midfoot restriction. A small restriction in metartarsophalangeal plantar flexion and a greater restriction at the midfoot joint were demonstrated when wearing stiff jazz shoes. These restrictions will decrease the aesthetic of the pointed foot, may encourage incorrect muscle activation, and have an impact on dance performance.

Physical Activity Levels of Adolescent Girls During Dance Classes

The aims of this study were to describe the physical activity levels of girls during dance classes and to identify factors associated with moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) in those classes. Participants were 137 girls (11 to 18 years-old) enrolled in ballet, jazz, or tap dance classes from 11 dance studios. Participants wore an accelerometer during the selected dance class on 2 separate days. Factors hypothesized to be associated with MVPA were dance style, instructional level, instructor's experience, percent of class time spent in choreography, and participants' age, race/ethnicity, BMI-for-age percentile, and years of dance training. Data were analyzed using generalized linear mixed models. Girls engaged in 9.8 minutes of MVPA, 6.0 minutes of moderate, 3.8 minutes of vigorous, 39.3 minutes of light, and 10.9 minutes of sedentary behavior per hour of dance class participation. Jazz/tap classes provided more MVPA than ballet classes, and intermediate level classes provided more MVPA than advanced level classes. Girls with more dance training obtained more MVPA than girls with less dance training. Dance classes provide valuable opportunities for adolescent girls to be physically active.

Letters to the Editor and Poems: &lt;em&gt;Mambo Leo&lt;/em&gt; and Readers' Debates on &lt;em&gt;Dansi, Ustaarabu&lt;/em&gt;, Respectability, and Modernity in Tanganyika, 1940s––1950s

In British Tanganyika, school-educated African correspondents used the Swahili-language and English press extensively to comment on issues relevant to their lives. With a focus on post–World War II letters to the editor and rhyming poems ( mashairi ) on dansi (urban jazz and ballroom dancing) in the government-controlled Mambo Leo ( Current Affairs ), this article shows that debates in print offer insights into culturally specific and sometimes conflicting ways in which ustaarabu (civilization), heshima (respectability), and modernity were discussed, articulated, and performed by self-consciously modern Africans. Broader questions on writers and their creation of networks with their rivals and readers/audiences are asked.

“Theah’s Life Anywheres Theah’s Booze and Jazz”: Home to Harlem and Gingertown in the Context of National Prohibition

“Harlem was the paradise of bootleggers,” Claude McKay recalls in Harlem Glory (1999), his brief, posthumously published account of this prominent African American community during the 1930s, and he further notes that “Prohibition had made the defiance of the laws general and racketeering respectable” (15). McKay’s retrospective assessment of Prohibition-era Harlem was fairly accurate; like many urban neighborhoods, Harlem was awash in bootleg liquor during the nearly fourteen years of National Prohibition (1920–1933). McKay himself was a habitual violator of the Prohibition laws, and underground drinking establishments such as cabarets and buffet flats frequently surface in his fiction. Yet McKay seldom commented in his writing specifically on the federal liquor legislation that so dramatically changed American life. However, understanding the context of National Prohibition and the significant effects it had on American society in general and the Harlem community in particular allows twenty-first century readers to appreciate better the political undertones of McKay’s novel Home to Harlem (1928) and his collection of short stories Gingertown (1932), both published prior to the 1933 repeal of Prohibition. When National Prohibition went into effect in January 1920, the saloons and cabarets that dominated the social life of Harlem closed their doors. In their place, scores of illicit speakeasies and nightclubs sprang up to supply bootleg liquor to their thirsty patrons. Protection money paid to police and underworld kingpins allowed these businesses to avoid raids and remain in operation. Harlem establishments ranging from the swanky Cotton Club and Connie’s Inn to the low-down speakeasies such as the Coal Bed, the Air Raid Shelter, and the Glory Hole not only served illegal alcohol but also provided entertainment in the form of jazz singing and dancing (Lewis 242). In his 1927 essay “Negro Life in New York’s Harlem,” Wallace Thurman describes a “typical” speakeasy, located in a “musty, damp basement behind,” called the Glory Hole: It is a single room about ten feet square and remains an unembellished basement except for a planed down plank floor, a piano, three chairs and a library table. The Glory Hole is typical of its class. It is a social club, commonly called a dive, convenient for the high times of a certain group. The men are unskilled laborers during the day, and in the evenings they round up their girls or else meet them at the rendezvous in order to have what they consider and enjoy as a good time. The women, like the men, swear, drink and dance as much and as vulgarly as they please. . . . Such places as the Glory

San Telmo: Being a Tourist in My Own City

I love San Telmo because its streets, bars, houses, and the entire neighborhood are so different from all other places in Buenos Aires; so much so, that when I walk by I feel like a tourist. San Telmo is one of the oldest quarters in the city. In its beginnings, it was inhabited by the wealthiest families of Buenos Aires until the 1871 yellow fever epidemic forced them to move North. With the passing of time, San Telmo's appearance changed and became a sightseeing must, where historic, valuable architecture can be experienced and appreciated. Among the interesting spots you'll find are the Orthodox Russian Church (1904), La Defensa Alley (typical 18th century large house that recreates the Colonial Buenos Aires), and Colonel Manuel Dorrego Square (every Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., there is an antiques fair here) where you can spend some time at a coffee shop as well as tango or jazz dance clubs. The virtue of the San Telmo neighborhood lies in those interesting places one gets to know while walking, following cobbled pavement and narrow streets surrounding colonial buildings that house businesses such as antique dealers and ateliers. If you want to experience something different, it is worth the journey. Particularly, I love to sit on one of the corner bar tables or walk around and watch the people passing by, pretending I am a stranger in my own city.

Imagem corporal e bailarinas profissionais

A imagem corporal é um tema que sempre está em evidência quando se aborda a dança em suas diferentes modalidades. A busca da imagem corporal ideal em bailarinas vai além dos parâmetros da população em geral e, na medida em que elas se tornam profissionais, a necessidade de manter o peso adequado vai aumentando. Este estudo tem como objetivo verificar o nível de satisfação de bailarinas de balé clássico e de dança jazz com sua imagem corporal, identificando as diferenças e semelhanças entre os dois grupos. Pretende-se ainda identificar semelhanças e diferenças no nível de satisfação com a imagem corporal de bailarinas clássicas de países diferentes. Trata-se de uma pesquisa de campo descritiva. A amostra foi composta por 15 bailarinas adultas profissionais de balé clássico e 16 bailarinas de dança jazz de Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil, e por nove bailarinas adultas profissionais radicadas em Nova Iorque, Estados Unidos. O instrumento utilizado para avaliar o nível de satisfação com a imagem corporal foi o Questionário de Imagem Corporal - BSQ, que mede o grau de preocupação com a forma do corpo, a autodepreciação devido à aparência física e a sensação de estar gordo. Os dados foram analisados com auxílio do programa estatístico SPSS 15.0. Para a comparação dos dados foram aplicados os testes Qui-quadrado e Anova, sendo considerados significativos valores de p &lt; 0,05. Os resultados encontrados mostram que as bailarinas, independente de sua modalidade de escolha, apresentam níveis de insatisfação e distorção de sua imagem corporal. Não houve diferenças estatisticamente significativas (p = 0,96) entre os três grupos avaliados. Destaca-se, em conclusão, a importância de estudos sobre imagem corporal em grupos considerados de risco, visando a identificação de distúrbios graves em concomitância com transtornos do comportamento alimentar, que trazem consequências nocivas para a saúde de bailarinas.

“Stealing Steps” and Signature Moves: Embodied Theories of Dance as Intellectual Property

This essay asks how notions of intellectual property played out among African American vernacular-dance communities during the first half of the twentieth century, when copyright law did not extend to choreography and when racial segregation governed the dance world. On the one hand, tap and jazz dancers’ liberal borrowing of steps from one another defied the logic of US copyright law, with its prohibition against the unauthorized reproduction of another’s original work; but on the other, the extra-legal measures that performers developed to protect their moves bore notable affinities to Western constructions of intellectual property. The examples provided by these dancers also prompt a reconsideration of the fit between copyright law and dance more generally.

Effect of Jazz Dance on the Bone Marker, Metabolic Related Substrates and Energy Metabolic Regulation Hormones 20′ Female

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of jazz dance on the bone metabolic related substrates and energy metabolic regulation hormones. The subjects for this study were 20 females and divided into 2 groups: jazz dance group(JD, n=10) and control group(CG, n=10). The jazz dance programs was warm up, cool down and main exercise 3 times a week for 12 weeks. And the change of bone metabolic related substrates(osteocalcine(OC), dexiripyridenoline(DPD)) and energy metabolic regulation hormones(growth hormone(GH), thyroxine(T4), insulin, glucagon, cortisol, epinephrine) had been measured. OC of the JD was increased after 12 weeks(p&lt;.05). OC of the JD was higher after 12weeks of exercise(p&lt;.05) than CG. DPD(p&lt;.05) of the JD was decreased after 12 weeks(p&lt;.05). And there was significant difference between the groups(p&lt;.05). GH of the JD was increased after 12 weeks(p&lt;.05) but there was no significant difference between the groups. Insulin and cortisol of the JD was decreased after 12 weeks(p&lt;.05) and there was significant difference between the groups(p&lt;.05). T4, glucagon, and epinephrine were no significant difference between the groups and time. It is concluded that aerobic activity, rapid music of jazz dance affect the positive bone metabolism and energy metabolic regulation with decreased life stress.

재즈댄스 프로그램이 초등학생의 운동능력과 창의력 향상에 미치는 영향

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a jazz dance program for a group of elementary school students on their motor ability and creative thinking abilities. Another purpose was to provide data from a jazz dance course and contribute to the literature in the field of jazz dance, regarding the improvement in the jazz dance students` motor ability and creative thinking abilities. The subjects of this study were seventeen female first graders enrolled in an after-school program at an elementary school in Suwon, Kyeong-gi, Korea. The students had two sessions a week(ninety minutes for each session), for the period of twelve weeks. The students` motor ability and creative thinking abilities before the program and those after the program were compared and analyzed to answer the research questions. the results were follow; 1) Regarding the students` motor ability after the course: the students` Muscle strength, Muscular endurance, agility, power, flexibilty, balance improved and balance showed the biggest improvement. 2) The analysis of the students` creative thinking showed that their fluency, originality, and delicaty improved and their delicaty improved the most among the three. There was no significant improvement in the students` abstractness of titles and resistance to premature closure even though there was a slight difference was noticed in average. In conclusion, this study showed that the jazz dance program was satisfied the young students` desire to move and improved their motor ability and creative thinking abilities.

재즈댄스 참여여성의 참여만족에 따른 사회적 지지와 자기 존중감과의 관계

재즈댄스 참여여성의 참여만족에 따른 사회적 지지와 자기 존중감과의 관계