Hi guys, here is a selection of some books that are a really good read for anyone who is passionate about Jazz and Jazz dancing.
Let’s start with this one
https://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Dance-History-Roots-Branches/
Wonderful and quite an easy read. The book is a collection of jazz – dance related articles written by the practitioners and scholars and provides an in-depth look at the rich and varied history of jazz dance, from its African roots in early American society until today
For me, one of the most interesting parts were the articles related to the nature of Jazz dance, exploration of what are the components that define Jazz and what is the idea that “Jazz” name carries, why some things that we call Jazz are Jazz in fact.
In this book, I discovered many different interesting names of people, dancers, and choreographers who worked with Jazz Dance, who shaped the way jazz dance was codified and performed from 1930-1980. I immediately set down next to my laptop with the book and started searching for each person and watching videos of their work. That was so inspiring for me to see what other people were doing in Jazz and with Jazz dance throughout different decades as well as discovering how they were thinking about the dance and form. That immediately gave me ideas for my own work.
The Chapters of the book explore questions such as :
- what is jazz dance
- jazz dance history
- masters and choreographers 1930 – 1990
- related forms and styles
- perspectives on teaching
- contemporary topic in jazz dance
