Jazz roots

Jazz roots classes are solo dance lessons that teach the movements and choreographies typical of the beat of jazz and swing music roughly from the 1920s to the 1940s.

The dance covers a variety of styles ranging from 1920s Charleston and flapper style to 1940s big band swing. Rhythm and play are especially characteristic, and the dance can be free and improvised or ready-made choreographies. Jazz roots is specifically a solo dance, but similar forms of partner dancing at the same time include Lindy hop, Balboa and Shag. Jazz roots is a great dance for those who want to develop body control, choreographic memory, self-expression and improvisation, all of which are also useful in partner dances. The dance is also called solo jazz, Authentic jazz, Vernacular jazz and solo Charleston.

The history of Jazz Roots extends to the black population of the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the United States, and especially to Harlem in New York. As a dance, jazz roots have evolved side by side with jazz music. The development of the dance has been influenced by several dances, such as cakewalk, black bottom, African dances and steppe.