Vocab
En dehors
Outward (clockwise)
Chaine
Consecutive half turns traveling and rotating in a single direction
Flea Hop
Sliding hop directly to the side
Vernacular dance changed after minstrelsy with the advent of …
Vernacular dance after minstrelsy came with the advent of ragtime music and ballroom dancing after 1910. During this decade, songs whose lyrics described how to do a dance were being written by Negro composers. A barrage of animal dances, indirectly inspired by African animal dances, swept white ballrooms
Which pioneer of jazz is said to have inspired generations to come
Jack Cole
Who are Vern and Irene Castle and what were they known for.
Irene and Vernon Castle popularized the Turkey Trot in the Broadway show The Sunshine Girl and made dancing popular in high society. The invasion of ballrooms with vernacular inspired dances set the stage for the same process to occur in the white world of Broadway
What major event delayed Luigi’s practice and how he overcame it.
Car Crash
Cross Lateral
The diagonal relationship between the upper and lower body
Sugar
A twisting step that alternately accents a rotation of the leg and foot, pushing the ankle outward, keeping the weight forward on the balls of the feet
Pencil Turn
A turn on one foot with the other leg held straight beside the turning leg.
Who is the “Father of Theatrical Jazz Dance”
Jack Cole
Who was the choreographer of “West Side Story”?
Jerome Robbins'
Explain how shows like “Shuffle Along” shift the content and audience of musicals in the 1920’s.
Shuffle Along also brought tap dance to white audiences, and black musicals were now in vogue.
List three characteristics of Bob Fosse’s style.
His technique, which was seen as sensual, sexual, sinewy, with meticulous isolations, had signature dance trademarks that included turned-in knees, sideways shuffling and rolled shoulders.
Clip Turn
A turning jump with knees bent and lifted in front. A chasse sauté en tournant with bent knees.
Pony
A social dance step from the 1960’s that steps with a plié on one leg, step into releve on the opposite leg, return to plié on first leg. Down up down, down up down.
Popcorn
The back leg pops forward with the weight transfer from the back to the front, "poping" up.
What are some of the animal dances?
A barrage of animal dances, indirectly inspired by African animal dances, swept white ballrooms. Some of these were the Turkey Trot, the Monkey Glide, the Chicken Scratch, and the Bunny Hug.
Where in the body Gus Giordano believed movement started from
To Giordano, "the jazz dance form is movement ... that starts in the stomach or solar plexus and creates a mood."
Explain how social dances of the 1960’s compare with those of the 20’s and 30’s
Social dances of the 1960s had dancers who related more to the floor and themselves rather than their partners (like the lindy), and the beat didn't swing.
Name three important ways West Side Story changed jazz dance
West Side Story is considered to be one of the first shows to require the “triple threat”, the performer who could sing, act and dance. This marked the beginning of a new respect and professionalism for jazz dance.
West Side Story, and the prominence of dance acts like the June Taylor Dancers on television shows, theatrical jazz dance began to receive widespread popularity in the 1950s. Choreographers needed trained theatrical jazz dancers, but in many cases had to devote extra time to retraining classical dancers in jazz-inspired movement. The form was new, and since it tended to assume the individual style of each choreographer a standard training regimen was not in existence.
Spotting
Focusing on one focal point while turning in order to prevent dizziness
Stag Leap
A grande jete with legs in attitude.
Cuban Walk
A stylized walk with weight on the foot in forced arch and the hip opposite of the weight bearing foot. May be done traveling forward or to the side.
What musical theater show created a sensation by using the Charleston.
In 1921, Shuffle Along featured a jazz-inspired dance called the Charleston that created a sensation due to its unbridled energy and irrepressible spirit.
Who is the choreographer of “Cabaret”?
Bob Fosse
List three characteristics of Jack Cole’s style
When trying to describe Cole's movement, it is best to identify certain predominate characteristics. A partial list would include dancing in plie; with isolated body movements; with compressed or stored energy; and with a keen sense of manipulating rhythm, spatial levels, and attack.
Improvisation
The approach to creating movement that is spontaneous and immediate.
Chug
a hop that travels sideways and stays low to the ground
Pique Turn
Turning step directly on relevé of the working foot in any desired direction or position with the other foot raised in passé.
What musical theater show introduced social dances in a theatrical setting?
Darktown Follies opened at the Lafayette Theatre in Harlem in 1911. It introduced social dances in a theatrical setting, and its popularity began affecting how white producers assembled their shows.
What is the style of dance Matt Mattox based his class structure on?
Mattox had taught for Eugene Loring's School of American Dance in the early 1950s and then began teaching "everything I knew from Jack Cole" at New York's Showcase Studios.
Explain what the dilemma of training jazz dancers in the 1950’s was?
the prominence of dance acts like the June Taylor Dancers on television shows, theatrical jazz dance began to receive widespread popularity in the 1950s. Choreographers needed trained theatrical jazz dancers, but in many cases had to devote extra time to retraining classical dancers in jazz-inspired movement. The form was new, and since it tended to assume the individual style of each choreographer a standard training regimen was not in existence.