5 Tap, Jazz, Musical Theater, and Television and Film
5 Tap, Jazz, Musical Theater, and Television and Film
The development of jazz and tap dance forms resulted from West African dance forms that were eventually blended with other cultures, beginning with the transatlantic slave trade in the mid–late 16th century. While slaves were transported to what we now know as the United States, the ship’s captains wanted to keep their cargo healthy. The enslaved people were brought on top of the ship to actively perform what was called “dancing the slaves.” They stayed shackled; however, they came up with creative ways to exercise and mimicked the percussive sounds derived from drums that were an integral part of their culture. The Africans used their bodies to maintain some of these sounds and rhythms, such as hambone. From African, Spanish, Irish, and other cultural dance roots, tap and jazz dance forms were unstructured, and over time, became structured forms of dance that have blended and evolved over the years. The American inventions of tap and jazz were built from African drumming rhythms mixed with other forms of dance cultures and rhythms. It is important to note that jazz dance, tap dance, and jazz music are some of the forms of dance and music created in the United States by our enslaved African ancestors.
As the country changed, adding immigrants from Europe, the Middle East, the Caribbean, South America and Africa, social dances absorbed all these flavors and produced exciting new forms. Minstrel shows of the early 1800s were replaced by vaudeville shows after the Civil War. Post–World War I, ragtime music was disappearing into jazz. Shows began incorporating jazz and swing music, which called for a new style of dancing. These shows, in turn, were replaced or supplemented by Broadway and Hollywood musicals and eventually movies and television. In this chapter, we will look at how the dance forms continue to evolve in television, film, and music videos.
Learning Objectives
- Identify key techniques and prominent figures in tap, jazz and musical theater dance genres.
- Understand the history of tap, jazz and musical theater dance and summarize major events in the course of its development.
- Demonstrate a culturally informed dance aesthetic.
Sometimes dancing and music can describe a true image of the customs of a country better than words in a newspaper.
—Gene Kelly
Tap
Tap Dance Characteristics
- Dancers wear shoes that can be either flat-soled or heeled, usually with metal “taps” attached, which strike the floor to make percussive sounds. Each part of the shoe makes a particular beat and sound.
- Dance steps use quick polyrhythmic and syncopated sounds.
- Dancers often use improvisation to create their own rhythms.
- Some sub-styles include hoofing, soft shoe, flash act, Broadway tap, and rhythm tap.
When enslaved people were forbidden to play percussion instruments by plantation owners fearing an uprising, they found other ways to communicate and keep their culture alive, mainly by slapping the