Old school jazz dance

Old school jazz dance (also known as UK jazz dance) refers to an improvised dancing style that originated in the UK in the 1970s. The style grew up in clubs in the UK, mainly in London and in northern cities, to the sounds of bebop, Afro-Cuban jazz, fusion, swing and other Latin-influenced jazz and funk.

Innovative DJ Paul Murphy is generally credited with having begun the trend of playing high tempo jazz, bebop and fusion records to dancers in the early 1980s in London nightclubs such as The Horseshoe (or "Jaffa's") on Tottenham Court Road and the Electric Ballroom on Camden High Street, both most widely regarded as the birthplaces of the UK jazz dance scene.^[1][2][3]

The development of the dance style has been influenced by jazz, tap, hip-hop, breakdance and lindy hop. Dancing is often performed as a solo in a circle of other dancers, each taking a turn to outperform the previous competitor.

Pioneers of the old school jazz dance style include the groups "The Jazz Defektors" being the first to form amd perform, IDJ, Jazzcotech, The Floor Technicians, Brothers in Jazz, The Backstreet Kids and others.

References

1. ^ Jazz Fusion UK website, accessed 19th May 2008
2. ^ Afroart website, accessed 19th May 2008
3. ^ From Jazz Funk & Fusion to Acid Jazz: The History of the UK Jazz Dance Scene. Mark "Snowboy" Cotgrove (AuthorHouse/ Chaser Publications).

External links

• Video footage of The Floor Technicians dancing with a group of B-boys in Bristol on YouTube
• Video footage of the Brothers in Jazz battling with The Backstreet Kids in a televised competition on YouTube
• Video footage of the Jazzcotech dancers performing at the Jazz Cafe, London on YouTube
• Video footage of The Jazz Defektors at Men's Bigi Fashion show Tokyo Japan title first few and last minutes on YouTube