Jazz Dance: The Story of American Vernacular Dance

by Marshall W. Stearns, Jean Stearns

"The phrase jazz dance has a special meaning for professionals who dance to jazz music (they use it to describe non-tap body movement); and another meaning for studios coast to coast teaching 'Modern Jazz Dance' (a blend of Euro-American styles that owes little to jazz and less to jazz rhythms). However, we are dealing here with what may eventually be referred to as jazz dance, and we could not think of a more suitable title.

"The characteristic that distinguishes American vernacular dance--as does jazz music--is swing, which can be heard, felt, and seen, but defined only with great difficulty. . . ."

--from the Introduction

Genres: Jazz, History, Nonfiction, Music, Reference

508 pages, Paperback

Published March 22, 1994

About the author

Marshall Winslow Stearns was an American jazz critic and musicologist. He was the founder of the Institute of Jazz Studies

Reviews

[Victoria & David Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ably covers the whole history from African roots through plantation, minstrelsy, vaudeville, tin pan alley, Broadway, swing, bebop, and beyond. Based on extensive interviews and original research this history presents both an overview and an inside look at an original American art form. Although I have read extensively about the various eras of popular black (and pseudo black: i.e. blackface) performance, I never realized how intertwined music and movement were (and are).
Recommended !

[Ilyse · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bible for those studying American jazz dance.

[David Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hard to find but worth the search.

[George · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a masterpiece and a mandatory read for anyone looking into dance and Jazz history. As mentioned several times, dance and music, specifically vernacular dance and music, are intertwined. So the history of Jazz music is connected with the history of Jazz dance.

It contains a wealth of information and references, specifically about Tap dance and how that relates to other dances and generally entertainment business.

It's also quite funny how pretty much all of the other books on Tap history reference this book quite a lot.

[Katelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this for a tap dancing class to learn about the history of tap. It is absolutely fascinating how intertwined the histories of tap and jazz are combined, almost as if you cannot have one without the other. Interestingly enough, the majority of the text is specifically about or directly correlated to tap, not jazz, making it appear to be that tap is a type of jazz, a jazz offshoot rather than an art form distinctly its own. Either way, this a must read for all dancers and musicians, no matter what background the dancer or musician has in his or her art form.