Jazz

Jazz dance, although technically an umbrella term incorporating several subsets of dancing, for swing dancers, more commonly refers to authentic jazz dancing. Jazz dancing focuses on movements that are created from your body’s center. The focus on movement from your center allows jazz dancers to create dramatic and energetic movements while maintaining balance and precision. Jazz dance also grows symbiotically with many other styles of dance; ballet, contemporary, hip hop, swing dancing and more. The influences change jazz and in turn, dancers within other genres continually borrow from jazz in order to add variety to their own dancing. Many of the improvisational movements that swing dancers perform are either authentic jazz movements or inspired from them. These authentic jazz movements are a great way to add vocabulary to your dancing and to spice up your swing. A short list of jazz steps:
Shim Sham
Suzie Q
Rusty Dusty
Boogie Backs
Fish Tail
Shorty George
Boogie Forwards
Scarecrow