2. Brief History

The roots of jazz dance come from West African Dance. Therefore, African dance is pivotal to jazz and shares a lot of elements with jazz dance.

The spirit of Jazz was formed in the crucible of oppression and extreme hardship. Before the Civil War, people from the Caribbean, Africa, and South America were brought to North America to work as slaves through what was called the ‘middle passage.’ In 1724, the Louisiana Code Noir was implemented, giving slaves a day off. Because of this law, slaves would gather at Congo Square in New Orleans on Sundays to sing, dance, and play music from their respective cultures. Congo Square, also known as Louis Armstrong Park, has become a melting pot of different musical cultures. The creation of the blues form, which preceded Jazz, can be directly traced back to these gatherings. Jazz dance did start, like many other genres, in tandem with the music of the time and the evolution of new art, culture, and styles along with new artistic sensibilities.

Although jazz dance and music are rooted in West African culture, it is the blending of African diasporic and White European movement and music in the United States that created jazz.

What we call jazz dance today can include the long lines, pointed toes, and often upright nature of ballet, but this wouldn’t be the primary aesthetics of jazz dance, nor would it be authentic jazz, as these characteristics are Eurocentric. Scholar Brenda Dixon Gottschild uses the term “Africanist” to describe the “concepts, practices, attitudes, or forms that have roots/origins in Africa and the African diaspora.” African aesthetics planted the seeds for the movement characteristics unique to jazz: rhythm generated from the inside out, improvisation, personal style, and individuality within the community.