Jazz Dance Definition: 6 Jazz Dance Moves

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.

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.

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 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.

Practice ballet with Misty Copeland, the principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre. Get the MasterClass Annual Membership and learn how to put individual barre techniques together to create powerful performances and introduce artistry to your choreography.