Chicago served as the avenue for the formalization of jazz dance by attracting
dancers to its 1930s big band scene, club scene, and opportunity for economic
gain. In this way, Chicago transformed the informal nature of jazz into a base
form which other sects of dance like pole, vogue, and burlesque used to elevate
their technique.
Context: The Great Migration (1915-1970)
From 1915 to 1970, America saw a massive African American migration from the southern to Northern and Western states. Approximately 6 million people moved due to the harsh racial climate that was so prominent in the south. The post Reconstruction era was horrendously discriminatory towards southern Black Americans in virtually every way of life: Marriage, housing, education, healthcare, and so on. The KKK also saw a resurgence in the early 20th century, leading to violence and murder that targeted Black individuals.
World War I also contributed to the rise of the Great Migration; it created a vacuum for labor in the North. Demand for manufacturing skyrocketed, while foreign immigration plummeted. This created an opportunity and a reason for African Americans to migrate to the North to work. In 1915, the Black population in Chicago had reached around 100,000. By the end of the Great Migration in 1970, this population represented one third of the city’s total population: about 1 Million people. -Greg Zola |
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Dance and Economic Gain
Throughout the twentieth century, Chicago has played a leading role in the performance, recording, and artistic evolution of jazz. There are several reasons for Chicago's powerful musical influence. First, the city's industrial might attracted young workers from throughout the nation and the world during the first two-thirds of the century. Many of these younger people had discretionary income to spend on musical entertainment and arrived at the time of the Great Migration of African Americans from the southern states. Their increased numbers created a new demand for cabarets, cafes, restuarants amusement parks, and movie houses, particularly on the South Side, while also stimulating the market for musically accomplished entertainment there and in the city's “bright light” districts. The city's bright light districts provided an opportunity for new coming performers to be influenced by the jazz music as well as jazz dance. Until the mid 1950s, the term "jazz dance" often referred to tap dance, because tap dancing (set to jazz music) was the main performance dance of the era. During the later jazz age, popular forms of jazz dance were the Cakewalk, Black Bottom, Charleston, Jitterbug, Boogie Woogie, Swing dancing and the related Lindy Hop.
After the 1950s, pioneers such as Katherine Dunham took the essence of Caribbean traditional dance and made it into a performing art. With the growing domination of other forms of entertainment music, jazz dance evolved on Broadway into the new, smooth style that is taught today and known as Modern Jazz, while tap dance branched off to follow its own, separate evolutionary path. The performance style of jazz dance was popularized to a large extent by Bob Fosses work, which is exemplified by Broadway shows such as CHICAGO, Cabaret, Damn Yankees, and The Pajama Game.
Today, jazz dance is present in many different forms and venues. Jazz dance is commonly taught in dance schools and performed by dance companies around the world. It continues to be an essential element of musical theater choreography, where it may be interwoven with other dance styles as appropriate for a particular show. Jazz dancing can be seen in music videos, in competitive dance, and on the television show, So You Think You Can Dance. Chicago is the city that jazz dance has been very big in becuase of the growth of enterainment, and because of the artists who have had the technique for jazz dance and music.
-Kayla Kurns
After the 1950s, pioneers such as Katherine Dunham took the essence of Caribbean traditional dance and made it into a performing art. With the growing domination of other forms of entertainment music, jazz dance evolved on Broadway into the new, smooth style that is taught today and known as Modern Jazz, while tap dance branched off to follow its own, separate evolutionary path. The performance style of jazz dance was popularized to a large extent by Bob Fosses work, which is exemplified by Broadway shows such as CHICAGO, Cabaret, Damn Yankees, and The Pajama Game.
Today, jazz dance is present in many different forms and venues. Jazz dance is commonly taught in dance schools and performed by dance companies around the world. It continues to be an essential element of musical theater choreography, where it may be interwoven with other dance styles as appropriate for a particular show. Jazz dancing can be seen in music videos, in competitive dance, and on the television show, So You Think You Can Dance. Chicago is the city that jazz dance has been very big in becuase of the growth of enterainment, and because of the artists who have had the technique for jazz dance and music.
-Kayla Kurns
Formalization
As explained on the about and music relationship pages, Jazz as a form of music and dance began in Lousianna and grew out of African tradition with creole and caribbean influences. Its audience and performance in the south was very informal and Jazz was performed mostly in clubs and on the streets. When it came to Chicago however, it became far more formalized. Due to its midwestern location, which catered more to more factory work as opposed to the agricultural work needed in the south, Chicago's audience was of the business and industrial working class variety. As such, the form shifted to cater to them. These people were wealthy and as Chicago's manufacturing, meatpacking, and railroad industries took off promoters from SouthSide clubs had the money to attract the best Jazz musicians from the south like Louis Armstrong. Naturally, with the migration of Jazz musicians and big bands to Chicago, came the migration of the dancers as well. While these dancing bodies also brought the authenticity of the south, they were not left untouched by this formalization of form to fit its new audience. Jazz became the soundtrack for Chicago's center of industry and with that came money and opportunity to be had from it. And as always if there is money to be had, everyone wants to have a hand in it. So different bodies started to inhabit the form and from there we've seen it grow and change from a more swing-like form into the modern and theatrical Jazz forms that we are familiar with today. In this way, Jazz has even become a base form for other varities of dance.
-Krystal Turner
-Krystal Turner
Jazz Informally
What do pole, vogue, and burlesque dancing have in common? They are all sexy forms of dance that incorporate Jazz dancing. Now these three forms don’t just consist of jazz, but they certainly use it. Although, they are not the only ones. Elements of Jazz dance can be found in Musical Theatre, music videos, competitive dance, and in almost every form of dance. Throughout the years, Jazz went from a singular, independent form of dance to being incorporated into many other forms. It’s easy to spot dance in different forms of dance. All you have to do is watch out for the flick of the wrist, the looseness of a body, the sexuality thrown around, and the all over relaxed feel of the dance. Such elements of like the sexuality, the costumes, and in some types, gender roles.
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The Jazz Age in Chicago
The Jazz Age began in 1918 in the United States. Cities like Chicago and New York City were particularly influential for jazz music and jazz dance because of how they were cultural centers for breeding and growing the art form. Chicago really laid the groundwork for a cultural phenomenon that would spread across the globe through the 20th century.
Jazz music and dance was introduced to Chicago because of the Great Migration, which led to the genre taking off around the globe. Chicago was, and remains to this day, a racially segregated city. Jazz music and jazz dance was primarily dominated by black bodies which led to black vaudeville houses, black ballrooms, and black nightclubs. While the city remained extremely segregated in the daytime, during the nighttime the city became more diversified and white people often visited the black vaudeville houses and ballrooms.
Entrepreneurs started opening up ballrooms as the public dance craze became popular along with jazz music and dancing. The Trianon Ballroom was one of the first influential ballrooms in the city of Chicago. It was located on the south side of the city and owned and operated by the Karzas brothers who opened the Aragon Ballroom on the north side of Chicago four years later in 1926. Both the Trianon and Aragon ballrooms capitalized on jazz music and dance and merged the two together making them suitable spots for white people to participate in the jazz phenomenon. Non-whites were banned from the Trianon Ballroom from the very beginning and it remained that way until after World War II. At these ballrooms, while they were always considered elegant and sophisticated for middle-class dancers, it was never a place for cutting-edge jazz music or dance. Only white bands were hired. These types of ballrooms had rules, specifying the closeness of the dances and the types, specifically no jitterbug allowed, which, at that time, were popular social dances in the "black-and-tan" dance halls where people of color congregated. The jazz dances most often performed at these all-white ballrooms were the foxtrot, the charleston and swing. The real, true jazz hotspots were to be found in the black-and-tan clubs of Bronzeville, though were not places that white people felt comfortable attending. The dances performed at the black-and-tan clubs and ballrooms were faster and less “sophisticated” for the time period, like the black bottom, jitterbug and the lindy hop, which didn’t take over as suitable social dances until the late 1920s/early 1930s.
In 1927, the Savoy Ballroom opened in the “Harlem of Chicago.” Unlike the Trianon and Aragon ballrooms, this ballroom catered to black people. The ballroom began booking some of the hottest jazz bands in the country and instantly became a hotspot to listen and participate in the jazz dances. The Defender, Chicago’s leading black newspaper at the time, wrote in a review after the Savoy opened and commended them on the lavishness of the ballroom and their fair hiring policies. Though the Savoy attracted mostly black people, there was finally a place where all races could enjoy jazz music and participate in dance.
Jazz music and dance began getting a reputation of being immoral, especially since it was associated with illicit speakeasies during Prohibition. While it became a demeaning factor about jazz, Chicago became the incubator for “hot jazz” or “dixieland” jazz and managed to keep the jazz culture alive and flourishing throughout its rough patches. This mixture of “dixieland” jazz, blues and soul is now called “Chicago-style” jazz. Some notable artists of “Chicago-style” are King Oliver, Bud Freeman, Frank Teschemacher and Jelly Roll Morton.
- Betsy Neis
Jazz music and dance was introduced to Chicago because of the Great Migration, which led to the genre taking off around the globe. Chicago was, and remains to this day, a racially segregated city. Jazz music and jazz dance was primarily dominated by black bodies which led to black vaudeville houses, black ballrooms, and black nightclubs. While the city remained extremely segregated in the daytime, during the nighttime the city became more diversified and white people often visited the black vaudeville houses and ballrooms.
Entrepreneurs started opening up ballrooms as the public dance craze became popular along with jazz music and dancing. The Trianon Ballroom was one of the first influential ballrooms in the city of Chicago. It was located on the south side of the city and owned and operated by the Karzas brothers who opened the Aragon Ballroom on the north side of Chicago four years later in 1926. Both the Trianon and Aragon ballrooms capitalized on jazz music and dance and merged the two together making them suitable spots for white people to participate in the jazz phenomenon. Non-whites were banned from the Trianon Ballroom from the very beginning and it remained that way until after World War II. At these ballrooms, while they were always considered elegant and sophisticated for middle-class dancers, it was never a place for cutting-edge jazz music or dance. Only white bands were hired. These types of ballrooms had rules, specifying the closeness of the dances and the types, specifically no jitterbug allowed, which, at that time, were popular social dances in the "black-and-tan" dance halls where people of color congregated. The jazz dances most often performed at these all-white ballrooms were the foxtrot, the charleston and swing. The real, true jazz hotspots were to be found in the black-and-tan clubs of Bronzeville, though were not places that white people felt comfortable attending. The dances performed at the black-and-tan clubs and ballrooms were faster and less “sophisticated” for the time period, like the black bottom, jitterbug and the lindy hop, which didn’t take over as suitable social dances until the late 1920s/early 1930s.
In 1927, the Savoy Ballroom opened in the “Harlem of Chicago.” Unlike the Trianon and Aragon ballrooms, this ballroom catered to black people. The ballroom began booking some of the hottest jazz bands in the country and instantly became a hotspot to listen and participate in the jazz dances. The Defender, Chicago’s leading black newspaper at the time, wrote in a review after the Savoy opened and commended them on the lavishness of the ballroom and their fair hiring policies. Though the Savoy attracted mostly black people, there was finally a place where all races could enjoy jazz music and participate in dance.
Jazz music and dance began getting a reputation of being immoral, especially since it was associated with illicit speakeasies during Prohibition. While it became a demeaning factor about jazz, Chicago became the incubator for “hot jazz” or “dixieland” jazz and managed to keep the jazz culture alive and flourishing throughout its rough patches. This mixture of “dixieland” jazz, blues and soul is now called “Chicago-style” jazz. Some notable artists of “Chicago-style” are King Oliver, Bud Freeman, Frank Teschemacher and Jelly Roll Morton.
- Betsy Neis
Jazz Is Not Dead
Lots of people say jazz is dead, but in Chicago that is not even remotely true. There are numerous jazz clubs in Chicago and jazz is very much alive. Chicago is the city that remains one of the true jazz capitals of the world. Of course, the rise of jazz is inextricably linked with the blues. The city hosts the mammoth annual Chicago Jazz Festival in Millennium Park on Labor Day weekend. Here, you can sit and enjoy traditional swing and bop. You can sip gin at the Green Mill, just as Al Capone did. You can also witness the cutting edge, listening to wild saxophone skronk at Elastic or grooving to the modern bop of the Umbrella Music Collective in a bar. You can even see a lot of the Umbrella guys working behind the scenes at the Pitchfork Music Festival. Here’s a list of the best jazz clubs in the city that incorporate the music, dancing, and of course great food; Andy’s, Constellations, Elastic, Davenport’s, Hideout, & Hungry Brain. And that is only just a few! There are a bunch of jazz shows happening all over the month of December at places like Lou Conte Dance Studio, Harris Theater for Music and Dance, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, & Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. Clearly, jazz is certainly not dead.
-Sam Ashurov
-Sam Ashurov
Jazz Dance Technique
Jazz steps include basic turns including chaines, piques, pirouettes, jazz turns, and some ballet turns, to name a few. Leaps include grande jetes, turning jumps, and tour jetes.
Signature to jazz dancing is the "jazz walk." Jazz walks can be performed in many different styles. Another popular jazz move is the "contraction." A contraction is accomplished by contracting the torso, with the back curved outward and the pelvis pulled forward. Learning jazz dance technique takes a lot of practice.
Signature to jazz dancing is the "jazz walk." Jazz walks can be performed in many different styles. Another popular jazz move is the "contraction." A contraction is accomplished by contracting the torso, with the back curved outward and the pelvis pulled forward. Learning jazz dance technique takes a lot of practice.
Jazz Then & Now
Jazz has become one of the most popular dance styles in recent years, mainly due to its popularity on television shows, movies, music videos and commercials. People enjoy watching jazz dancers, as the dancing is fun and energetic. Jazz dancing is a form of dance that showcases a dancer's individual style and originality. Every jazz dancer interprets and executes moves and steps in their own way. This type of dancing is energetic and fun, consisting of unique moves, fancy footwork, big leaps and quick turns. To excel in jazz, dancers need a strong background in ballet, as it encourages grace and balance . Jazz steps include basic turns including chaines, piques, pirouettes, jazz turns, and some ballet turns, to name a few. Leaps include grande jetes, turning jumps, and tour jetesSignature to jazz dancing is the "jazz walk." Jazz walks can be performed in many different styles. Another popular jazz move is the "contraction." A contraction is accomplished by contracting the torso, with the back curved outward and the pelvis pulled forward. Learning jazz dance technique takes a lot of practice.
A lot has changed over the course of years with jazz dance . The sexiness and the culture of jazz will remain the same and Jazz will always be a very popular dance but people need to put their own twists on things so jazz can very much stay alive .
You will want to try to make each step your own. In a jazz class, dancers are encouraged to add their own personality to make each step unique and fun .
-Kawaun Saunders
A lot has changed over the course of years with jazz dance . The sexiness and the culture of jazz will remain the same and Jazz will always be a very popular dance but people need to put their own twists on things so jazz can very much stay alive .
You will want to try to make each step your own. In a jazz class, dancers are encouraged to add their own personality to make each step unique and fun .
-Kawaun Saunders
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Classes and Access
There are many studios to take jazz classes in Chicago. The cost to take a jazz class is $15.00-$36.00 but it all depends on what studio you attend. Each studio is different, so they might have different prices on taking a class. Gus Giordano Dance School is a great place to take a class. If you only wanted to take a jazz class there, it would just be $15.00 but if you want more classes then the price will go up. Another dance studio is Le Ballet Petit. The cost to see an amazing jazz dance/ music performance is $50.00-$75.00. The performance is called Chicago Philharmonic.The studio that is with that performance is Visceral Dance Chicago. But there are other performances are $14.00-$17.00. Those are more of a school dance performance or a dance team performance for a studio. Base on how the prices are for a class or show you can see that it all depends on how your budget is. The people who are able to spend a good amount of money are the upper class which is the rich people. I think they would want to spend on better classes and performances. The people who wouldn’t want to spend that much is the middle or lower class because maybe they don’t have that much money to afford to take a class at a big company. It is possible for everyone to join a class, just know what’s your budget and find a studio that works for you.
Le Ballet Petit: 4630 N Francisco Ave Chicago, IL 60625 Gus Giordano Dance School: 5230 N Clark Street Chicago, IL 60640 Visceral Dance Chicago: 2820 N Elston Ave Chicago, IL 60618 Chicago Philharmonic Performance: March 5, 205 E Randolph St, Chicago, IL 60601 - Stefanie Farfan |