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Jazz Steps IV – Signature Breaks
In this chapter you will learn some of the classic jazz “break” steps.
“Improvisation, for the black idiomatic dancer … is the key element in the creation of vernacular dance. From the turn – of – the – century cakewalk through the Charleston of the twenties and the lindy hop of the thirties and forties, black dancers inserted an improvisational “break” that allowed couples to separate at various points so that they could have maximum freedom of movement”.
Important to mention that couple dances are a derivative from european tradition in African American dances like cakewalk, charleston, lindy hop, shag, foxtrot, etc. There doesn’t seem to be any tradition of close embrace dances in west Africa. Dancing apart allows for the better dialog with the music.