What is this dance style?
We specialise in vintage jazz dances from the early twentieth century – especially the 1920s, 30s and 40s. We dance them to hot and swinging jazz music, the original style of music they were danced to and evolved alongside.
Like jazz music itself, these dance steps were born in African-American communities in the early 20th century. It’s important that we celebrate jazz dance as a joyous and important part of Black history, honour its creators and preserve its culture & values. Jazz dance is also closely related to tap dance – we dance many of the same steps, but without metal plates on our shoes.
Also known as
This dance goes by a few different names, depending on who you are talking to. Here’s a few of them…
Jazz Roots: in most commercial jazz dance classes today you will learn “Modern Jazz” – the style that evolved from around the 1950s onwards (and often has very little to do with jazz music anymore). The vintage dance steps we teach are the roots of modern jazz dance so sometimes this dance style is called “Jazz Roots”.
Vernacular Jazz: this style of dance is part of what’s called the “African American Jazz Dance Vernacular”, so sometimes we call it “Vernacular Jazz” to highlight its roots as a Black dance and pay tribute to its African American creators and innovators.
Solo Jazz: this dance is popular in the swing dance community, who often refer to it as “Solo Jazz” or “Solo Charleston”. Jazz dances (solo) and swing dances (partnered) are related and interconnected, because they share a history and music. So swing dancers often call it “Solo Jazz” – just referring to the fact that it’s their solo dance, done alone without a partner.
Authentic Jazz: another name you might see, referring to the fact that our style of jazz dance is authentic to its roots and music. We dance authentic vintage dance steps to real jazz music.
