Origins of American Jazz Notes
Originated as a way to tell stories - South African Book Dance - Into the Earth. Especially talking about slavery.
Slaves were more valuable if they could dance, which led to them being used as entertainment - dancing for white men not themselves - 'buckdancers' - flat footed, no toes or heels, progressed from there. Then other influences affected buckdancing - irish, west african. Irish oversaw black slaves. Irish - 'clogging'.
Afircan dancing eventually became something called 'buck and wing'
A lot of African people have irish blood - mixed like tap.
Irish clogging looked refined, gentelman dance
Irish clogging: heel taps, straight body
Buck and Wing: grounded, knees bent
Minstrelsy - travelling shows where white people blacked up to imitate black dancing. Wider than hip width stance, 2 4 rhythm, knees bent
Tap dancing name from 1920s, because of the metal 'taps' attached to heel and soles of dancing shoes
Talking films made tap popular as audiences could now hear as well
Bill Bojangles Robinson most famous tap dancer at time, used stairs in his performance. Style mainly irish not African - split sole clog shoes, on ball of feet, upright, danced from waist down
John Bubbles was his rival - more African style - dropped heels to have bass notes.
Fred Astaire - really a jazz dancer. Was said to steal from black dancers.
Tap was biggest in '40s-'50s America, escape from WW2. Black people called it hoofing. Tap had higher legs while hoofing in the ground, lower. Tap was designed to make the sounds, while hoofing was an ode to their roots. Tap driven by jazz music. Because it aimed to make sounds, can be considered more a form of music than dance.
Cotton Club was the biggest place in Harlem, the centre of the jazz craze. Exclusively black dancers.
The Nicholas Brothers - uncelebrated but possibly best tap dancers. Child stars in Cotton Club. Often danced in a 'Challenge Dance' - the way tap evolved between Irish and Black dancers. Got a contract with 20th Century Fox, lasted 2 years. Got rid of because they were too threatening. Danced with sophistication and suaveness, away from roots. Fred Astaire said that their last film 'Stormy Weather' was the most beuatiful form of tap dance that he'd ever seen on film.
Theatres closed so there was nowhere to dance after WW2. Little done to preserve it. 50s - 70s great tap drought. Sammy Davies Junior kept hoofing alive. Very famous. Fast feet and body, like Nicholas Brothers. Baby Lawrence - around in 40s and 50s but didn't make any films, Sammy Davis Junior brought other dancers out to the forefront like him.
Arthur Duncan - 1964 for 18 years onwards he appeared on the Laurence Welk Show, longest tap performace set in history. As he appeared on mainstream tv, had to strike a balance between tapping and hoofing.
Cakewalk
Originated from slaves imitating the dance of the whites, which allowed them to openly mock their masters as the owners thought it was for their entertainment. At these events, slaves would dress as finely as possible and imitate the movements of the whites, while comically satirizing them with extreme movements.
Was originally called the 'Chalk White Walk', where pairs would carry a bucket of water on their heads in a straight line, and whoever spilled the least won. This dance was eventually revitalized into the Cakewalk by Charles B Johnson. Called the Cake Walk as a large, extra sweet coconut cake was awarded for the winners
Was always seen as fun and casual, hence it is the origin of the phrases 'a cake walk', piece of cake'
Was eventually satirized by white minstrel shows (ironic, as the Cake Walk in itself is satire of white dancing), and performed exclusively by men until 1890
Charles B Johnson and his wife, Dora Dean, in the 1893 production of 'The Creole Show', specialised in the Cake Walk. Including women on stage opened up the dance to improvisation, resulting in it becoming a 'grotesque dance' (comedic)
Turkey Trot
Popular from 1900 - 1910
Quickly fell out of fashion with the youth who danced it in favour of the waltz and Fox Trot
Achieved peak popularity after being denounced by the Vatican for being too suggestive
Was one of many dances at the time to have animals in its name - the FoxTrot, Grizzly Bear and Bunny Hug to name others
Rag Time
Originated in African American communities
Ernest Hogan credited with first putting rag time on sheet music, or 'rags', while Scott Joplin was known as the 'King of Ragtime' for his contributions to the genre, Ben Harney is attributed to bringing the genre to the masses
Ernest Hogan - La Pas Ma La and All Coons Look Alike to Me
Scott Joplin - Maple Leaf Rag
Fell out of favour with the masses as jazz took over, although some artists performed both genres at the time, and later in the 1940s, due to the similarity and time cross over
Came from the jigs and marches African American bands played at the time, sheet music were called rags or jigs interchangeably early on
Slaves were more valuable if they could dance, which led to them being used as entertainment - dancing for white men not themselves - 'buckdancers' - flat footed, no toes or heels, progressed from there. Then other influences affected buckdancing - irish, west african. Irish oversaw black slaves. Irish - 'clogging'.
Afircan dancing eventually became something called 'buck and wing'
A lot of African people have irish blood - mixed like tap.
Irish clogging looked refined, gentelman dance
Irish clogging: heel taps, straight body
Buck and Wing: grounded, knees bent
Minstrelsy - travelling shows where white people blacked up to imitate black dancing. Wider than hip width stance, 2 4 rhythm, knees bent
Tap dancing name from 1920s, because of the metal 'taps' attached to heel and soles of dancing shoes
Talking films made tap popular as audiences could now hear as well
Bill Bojangles Robinson most famous tap dancer at time, used stairs in his performance. Style mainly irish not African - split sole clog shoes, on ball of feet, upright, danced from waist down
John Bubbles was his rival - more African style - dropped heels to have bass notes.
Fred Astaire - really a jazz dancer. Was said to steal from black dancers.
Tap was biggest in '40s-'50s America, escape from WW2. Black people called it hoofing. Tap had higher legs while hoofing in the ground, lower. Tap was designed to make the sounds, while hoofing was an ode to their roots. Tap driven by jazz music. Because it aimed to make sounds, can be considered more a form of music than dance.
Cotton Club was the biggest place in Harlem, the centre of the jazz craze. Exclusively black dancers.
The Nicholas Brothers - uncelebrated but possibly best tap dancers. Child stars in Cotton Club. Often danced in a 'Challenge Dance' - the way tap evolved between Irish and Black dancers. Got a contract with 20th Century Fox, lasted 2 years. Got rid of because they were too threatening. Danced with sophistication and suaveness, away from roots. Fred Astaire said that their last film 'Stormy Weather' was the most beuatiful form of tap dance that he'd ever seen on film.
Theatres closed so there was nowhere to dance after WW2. Little done to preserve it. 50s - 70s great tap drought. Sammy Davies Junior kept hoofing alive. Very famous. Fast feet and body, like Nicholas Brothers. Baby Lawrence - around in 40s and 50s but didn't make any films, Sammy Davis Junior brought other dancers out to the forefront like him.
Arthur Duncan - 1964 for 18 years onwards he appeared on the Laurence Welk Show, longest tap performace set in history. As he appeared on mainstream tv, had to strike a balance between tapping and hoofing.
Cakewalk
Originated from slaves imitating the dance of the whites, which allowed them to openly mock their masters as the owners thought it was for their entertainment. At these events, slaves would dress as finely as possible and imitate the movements of the whites, while comically satirizing them with extreme movements.
Was originally called the 'Chalk White Walk', where pairs would carry a bucket of water on their heads in a straight line, and whoever spilled the least won. This dance was eventually revitalized into the Cakewalk by Charles B Johnson. Called the Cake Walk as a large, extra sweet coconut cake was awarded for the winners
Was always seen as fun and casual, hence it is the origin of the phrases 'a cake walk', piece of cake'
Was eventually satirized by white minstrel shows (ironic, as the Cake Walk in itself is satire of white dancing), and performed exclusively by men until 1890
Charles B Johnson and his wife, Dora Dean, in the 1893 production of 'The Creole Show', specialised in the Cake Walk. Including women on stage opened up the dance to improvisation, resulting in it becoming a 'grotesque dance' (comedic)
Turkey Trot
Popular from 1900 - 1910
Quickly fell out of fashion with the youth who danced it in favour of the waltz and Fox Trot
Achieved peak popularity after being denounced by the Vatican for being too suggestive
Was one of many dances at the time to have animals in its name - the FoxTrot, Grizzly Bear and Bunny Hug to name others
Rag Time
Originated in African American communities
Ernest Hogan credited with first putting rag time on sheet music, or 'rags', while Scott Joplin was known as the 'King of Ragtime' for his contributions to the genre, Ben Harney is attributed to bringing the genre to the masses
Ernest Hogan - La Pas Ma La and All Coons Look Alike to Me
Scott Joplin - Maple Leaf Rag
Fell out of favour with the masses as jazz took over, although some artists performed both genres at the time, and later in the 1940s, due to the similarity and time cross over
Came from the jigs and marches African American bands played at the time, sheet music were called rags or jigs interchangeably early on
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