“The foundation of the jazz technique we practice today comes from traditional African dances. ”

By Madison Huizinga, DWC Blog Editor

*White’s Lindy Hoppers (Left to Right) Frankie Manning, Naomi Waller, Jerome Williams, Lucille Middleton, Billie Williams, Mildred Cruse, photo from* *Pointe People*

In June 2021, the hashtag #BlackTikTokStrike went viral on TikTok. Many Black creators decided to refrain from creating new TikTok dances until they received credit where it's due. Since TikTok’s conception, Black creators have been paving the way for the popular dance trends that become instantaneously viral online. For example, the viral “Savage” dance to the popular Megan Thee Stallion song was created by then-teenager Keara Wilson and has received tens of millions of views and even a recreation by Megan Thee Stallion herself. One of the most popular dances of all time on the app is the “Renagade” dance, performed to K Camp’s “Lottery.” This dance was created by 14-year-old Jalaiah Harmon and made popular by TikTok superstar Charli D’Amelio. However, as Natachi Onwuamaegbu of The Washington Post points out, D’Amelio, a white creator, “gained millions of followers before she acknowledged the dance’s Black creator.” Similarly, white TikTok star Addison Rae Easterling was invited on The Tonight Show to perform eight viral TikTok dances, none of which she choreographed. Credit to the original creators was not given.

While the #BlackTikTokStrike may seem like a contemporary issue, there is a long history of white people stealing, appropriating, and making viral the art of Black artists without giving credit in America. Jazz dance, one of the cornerstone genres of dance in America, has deep roots in African and African American culture. However, throughout the 20th century, white dancers and choreographers claimed jazz dance as their own without acknowledging its salient history.

*Frankie Manning, photo from* *Harlem World Magazine*

The foundation of the jazz technique we practice today comes from traditional African dances. When enslaved Africans were kidnapped and forcefully moved to the American colonies in the 16th and 17th centuries, they brought with them traditional African styles of dance. Journalist Benna Crawford writes that “African dance was woven through religious ceremon[ies] and social assemblies and served to preserve the sense of identity and personal history [among enslaved people].” In Steppin’ on the Blues: The Visible Rhythms of African American Dance, Jacqui Malone writes that “music and dance gave African Americans a sense of power and control - it had a direct impact on their psychic and emotional states and allowed them to drop their masks and articulate their inner feelings.”

Enslaved Africans created new, unique dances, such as the “cakewalk,” which served as mimicry of ballroom-style dances often performed by white elites and plantation owners at the time, as well as continued styles of dance from their native countries. The “Juba” was a form of dance many enslaved people performed during the 18th century, involving the slapping of hands, legs, and body to make music. This act of making music to accompany their dancing often came about out of necessity, as enslaved people were denied rhythmic instruments.

The hallmarks of African dance involve “accentuat[ing] the rhythm of the music into isolations and movements of the body,” which can be seen in jazz dance today. Professor N. Cayou of Laney College shares that “there are some main characteristics of jazz dance that can be seen in traditional African dance” including “the use of bent knees, keeping the body close to the earth...the isolation of body parts in movement….the use of syncopated movements….carrying as many as two or three rhythms in the body at once, combining music and dance as a single expression…[and] individualism of style within a group style.” According to Malone, while most Europeans would traditionally separate music and dance as art genres, traditional African conceptions “couple music with one or more other art forms, including dance.”

*Josephine Baker, photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images*

Eventually, white minstrels began copying the choreography they witnessed enslaved Africans performing and appropriated it in their shows, using blackface to create offensive parodies. African American minstrel companies were eventually established and found success but not until after the Civil War. The choreography performed at these shows eventually traveled to the stages of vaudeville and Broadway. Malone shares that by 1910, “5,606 black musicians and 1,279 black actors and actresses” resided in the United States, revolutionizing the entertainment industry as we know it.

During the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, traditionally African styles of movement inspired dance trends like the Charleston and the Lindy Hop. After the Juba dance acquired musical accompaniment, it greatly influenced the Charleston, which peaked in popularity in the 1920s. The dance begins with the dancers’ feet flat on the ground with their palms facing down. The dancer moves their left foot forward, then their right, before giving the left foot a tap with the heel of their right foot. The sequence is then reversed, with the right foot moving back, then the left, before the heel of the right foot is tapped with the left foot.

The Lindy Hop originated in the 1920s and 30s in Harlem, New York, during the Black cultural revolution known as the Harlem Renaissance. It’s a partner dance consisting of 8 count and 6 count steps with some footwork reminiscent of tap dance and the Charleston. The dance can be incredibly fast, with energetic kicks and lifts. Swing dance legend Frankie Manning is credited for transforming the Lindy Hop with moves like the “Lindy air step and synchronized ensemble Lindy routine.”

*Katherine Dunham, photo by Dennis Stock/Magnum Photos*

During the 1930s, jazz pioneer Jack Cole also began adding elements of East Indian and African dance to his jazz choreography. This created a great influence on the jazz masters of the 20th century, including Bob Fosse. From the 1920s and onwards, a collective of prolific Black jazz innovators came onto the scene, including Josephine Baker and Katherine Dunham.

However, in my dance education, I haven’t learned much about these Black jazz masters or the history of dance in African and African American culture. My jazz history knowledge has largely been limited to Bob Fosse’s contributions to Broadway, as well as the contemporary commercial jazz dance scene we see on competition stages today. As is the case with an abundance of art, Black creators’ contributions have been glossed over, ignored, or downright censored. Similar to the dance crazes circulating on TikTok at the moment, we would not have jazz dance if it weren’t for Black artists.

We’re doing students a disservice by not fully disclosing the rich history of jazz dance. Not only is it preventing students from fully immersing themselves in the style to help master it, but it’s wrongly denying credit to the major creators and innovators of the art form. By learning the full history of jazz dance in America, dancers can have a more nuanced understanding of its technicalities and more appropriately honor the Black creators who created the beloved genre.

For more information, check out Jazz Dance Direct created by the Jazz Is...Dance Project.

Resources:

Blog

A Brief History of Jazz