Original subtitles

[Moncel Durden]

to think about something.

All right. So, I want y'all

Think to yourself,

what is the first sound,

song, rhythmic structure

that I can remember?

[heartbeat pumping]

You're hearing

the heartbeat.

You are getting rhythm.

You get accustomed

to sounds

- and the rhythm patterns - Of those sounds.

- And so you are - Passing down information.

- Before you're even here, - That memory

is coming from

mother to child.

- So, we're getting - This information

and we're growing up with it

and it just makes sense.

- We might not - Be able to explain it,

but that way of

moving a body,

this is how the people

in my community move.

So when I start dancing,

I'm right there with you.

- You don't have to teach me - How to do a dance.

It's in my blood.

It's in my community.

I just do it.

[upbeat drum

[theme playing]

[Debbie Allen] I view dance

as the original art form.

Man was standing his feet

upon the planet,

leaping, spinning.

Before we could write,

before we could even talk,

we were dancing.

[Saleemah Knight] Jazz dance,

it's the way that we live,

breathe, and speak

on a daily basis.

It's a conversation.

- It's about seeing - The people around you

and really feeling,

with empathy,

who those people are

and understanding

how you relate to them

through movement.

[Melanie George] If jazz is

about humanity, and it is,

there are

infinite ways of being,

- and we should be allowed - To move through

all of those spaces

and claim jazz.

- The one thing that - I ask of every single person

when they're working

with this material is,

- say where you got - This stuff from,

and if you're not sure,

- investigate - And do the research.

- In the same way - That no one owns jazz,

- no one's - Really making up anything

that didn't come from someplace.

A part of why our history

is not understood

- is because we - Don't attribute

- and we don't call back - To what came before.

We are always steeped in,

like, now and there.

Like, what's beyond?

The history allowed us

to get to now,

so it's our responsibility

to the form

- to attribute - Where stuff comes from.

[Julie Andrews' "Le Jazz Hot"]

♪ About 20 years ago ♪

♪ Way down in

New Orleans ♪

♪ A group of fellas ♪

♪ Found a new

kind of music ♪

♪ And they decided

To call it ♪

♪ Jazz ♪

♪ Oh, baby, won't

you play me ♪

♪ Le Jazz Hot maybe ♪

♪ And don't ever

let it end ♪

♪ I tell you, friend ♪

- ♪ It's really something - To hear ♪

- People all over the world - Love jazz dance.

They just don't realize

that they love jazz dance.

- It is very hard - To define what jazz is.

- But then when you see it, - You see it.

Liz Thompson used to say,

"Jazz dance

is dance's bastard child."

And if I can't say that

on camera,

- jazz dance is the illegitimate - Child of dance.

♪ Oh, so baby ♪

♪ Le Jazz Hot may be ♪

[George] I don't know what's

more American than jazz.

Enslaved culture,

migratory culture,

indigenous culture

can be found in jazz.

It's such a Hodge-podge,

- a ragout - Of lots of different things

that came into the pot.

And so,

in that very American way,

we sort of steal from

new.

everybody and find something

When people speak,

they tend to lie about things

and dance is honest.

- It's all - The backgrounds of everybody

and it's really

what they feel

- in their heart - And their soul.

Jazz has a heartbeat

and a rhythm

that makes people move

very differently

from any other dance form.

Jazz is inspired

by the rituals, the rhythms,

the sounds, the earth,

the community.

What was happening with

music

dance, with jazz, dance, and

here in this country

what was happening

was actually mirroring

- in the country - Historically, politically.

Jazz is always political

because it's imagining

a future that we could share.

- And how great - Could that be?

♪ Oh, before ♪

[men vocalizing]

♪ It's time ♪

♪ I got nothing ♪

[Durden] The culture of dance

is deeply embedded

in Afro-diasporic people,

deeply embedded.

We dance even

if there's no performance.

It's just in us to dance.

It's emotionally freeing.

- It's how we deal - With day-to-day life.

- It's how we express - Our self through joy,

through sorrow,

through pain.

♪ I went ♪

♪ Went in the valley ♪

[Lindsay Guarino]

the way that racism

You can't dismiss

has impacted jazz dance.

The greatest misfortune

- that I see today - In jazz dance

- is that a lot of the times - The roots aren't acknowledged,

and a lot of people

don't even know that

the movement they're doing

is stemming from that place.

The atrocities that a lot

of our ancestors had to face,

they put into their dance,

into their music.

They expressed

tension

themselves and released their

and their stress

through their art.

If they didn't have

these outlets, man,

I don't know

if they would've survived.

♪ Yeah ♪

♪ My soul... ♪

[Knight] We never start

slavery.

African or Latin history at

- We start before that. So we - Look at what was going on

in those countries

or on those continents

before it was

interrupted.

So, when we're looking at

the lineage of jazz dance,

- we take the Juba and the Shika - Dances of the Nigerian peoples

- and we bring that - To the United States

- by way of - The transatlantic slave trade.

- [DeFrantz] That's part of - What the Middle Passage did

- that's quite different - Than how the dances

- might have developed - On the continent

- because there's - So tiny room

for Black Americans

to maneuver socially

that the embodied movement

that becomes jazz

takes on that much more

urgency.

potential, possibility,

- [Knight] So, - We arrive here

- and we've got - This automatic sense

of percussiveness in the body

and how important that became

- when you're also - Thinking about a group of people

whose cultural practices

were taken away from them.

- Now you're just who you are - As a person,

devoid of what

your once identity was

in your original country.

- [Michael Blake] - For slaves,

their dance and their music

for themselves.

was all they owned

[Dr. George Faison] It

could reach the hypnotic

level of releasing them

to that other place

where they weren't slaves,

where they...

they were free.

[African music playing]

[Jason Samuels Smith]

The Slave Act of 1739

wouldn't allow Africans

to use drums

and the reason was the revolt

that was organized

in this year was organized

by playing drums.

- They communicated - With each other

with different rhythms.

And so, after that,

if any African was caught

playing drums,

their hands were cut off.

So, this rhythm and this music,

this spirit

was then redistributed

throughout the body.

Juba is a social dance

that started on the plantation.

What they did was use

their bodies to make the sounds

- and to still communicate with - Each other

and really continue

that community.

- [DeFrantz] So, Patting Juba - Almost immediately

sets a standard for jazz as

this exploration of rhythm

and playful fun but also

a political possibility.

So, information can be shared

through how the rhythm

is disrupted or arranged.

[Smith] And that grew

into more social dances

where you entertain the idea

of being elevated,

of being white, of mimicking

European court dances.

So, that's where the cakewalk

evolved from.

The cakewalk was a dance

done on plantations

where the Africans

who were enslaved at the time

would literally make fun

of their masters.

- They would present themselves - And their partner,

- and they would be dressed - In a certain way.

And so, Africans would

create these dances

to mimic and

imitate them.

[Camille Brown] It was

Africans

a way for the enslaved

to resist and in the moment

of oppression,

they found a

way to release

and to find humor and joy.

- [DeFrantz] The cakewalk - Is the foundation

- for all of - Broadway dancing

- and thus, the foundation - For jazz.

The cakewalk

is the originary moment

- where something - New is produced

by this American experiment,

if you will.

But also this way that

Black Americans are disavowed

and pushed to this place

where creativity

is aligned with

political possibility.

Black Americans

had zero possibilities

for professional life.

We have our first forms

of occupations

around minstrel shows.

So, the foundational avenues

of employment

that lead to jazz

dance are tied

up in this history

of denigration

and of flattening

the complex social

and political lives of a

people

really diverse group of

into two-dimensional

stereotypes.

The traits of

jazz dance are

variations and rhythmic

patterns,

because when you think

of jazz, jazz moves.

It speeds up, it slows down,

it has a variation.

So, it's not just one thing.

And what jazz is, is

it took this African

predisposition to

syncopate, if you will,

to overlay a rhythm

rhythm.

different from this ground

And it made the rhythmic life

of jazz dancing

filled with surprises.

I think one of the key

tenets of jazz is improvisation.

Without you bringing

your own interpretation of it,

it's not jazz.

- [Graciela Danielle] You are - Not up here like in ballet.

You are down there.

You are digging on the ground.

That power, that passion,

that sex.

What else is

there in life?

[Siegenfeld] The great

polyrhythm.

significant trait is

Meaning there's a beat going on,

the boom, boom, boom,

boom, boom,

boom, boom, boom, boom.

You know, if that just keeps

going on and keeps going on,

we're gonna fall asleep.

But what the jazz people

did was individuated against it.

Come on.

Come on. Come on.

- [Knight] The Harlem - Renaissance, we look at it

- as the African-American - Enlightenment movement

in the United States.

Circa the 1920s,

you've got music,

dance, philosophers,

writers.

All doing great things

at the same time.

And during this time

divide.

there was a very big racial

- But in New York, - There were white bodies

that were really

the movement.

interested in being a part of

[Allen] Black America

was setting the trend,

then like

we are now.

The Savoy Ballroom

in New York

was one of the first places

where they could not stop whites

from coming and having

this wonderful socialization

with Blacks over dance.

It was unheard of,

but you couldn't stop it,

it was just so hot up

in that ballroom.

[jazz music playing]

- [Siegenfeld] The - Savoy Ballroom,

it was the very first

integrated public space

in the United States.

- The dancing - Was so extreme

that they had to replace

the floor every three years.

- [Knight] And it would just be - People dancing

to classical jazz music,

doing swing dances,

jitterbug, Lindy Hop,

- all the dances that you imagine - When you think about

the origins of jazz dance.

- [Brown] There is a dance, - There is a social dance

that comes from the

heart.

community, that lives in the

- It's in your blood, - It's in your spirit.

- It's that vernacular dance - That was homegrown

- that comes right - Out of the streets

and it's infectious,

it's joyful,

and it relates and connects

socially,

to what's happening

politically,

period.

culturally, at any given time

- [Karen Hubbard] These - Social dances evolved

- from the - Plantation dances

of the enslaved

embellished

Africans and then were

and performed on stage,

and national dance

crazes evolved,

like the Charleston

and the Lindy Hop.

- The Lindy Hop is - Social dancing.

The dance movements

come from the community.

Lindy was, everybody come

to the club,

learn what it is,

and you can add

- your own signature - Thing to it

- that influences everybody - Else to be as creative

as you are being,

and you're all dancing.

- [George] We're disenfranchised - In most parts of this city

but we get to go

to this ballroom

- and we get to compete - Against each other,

and it's about pride,

- and it's about reputation. - It's about self-esteem

- and we're expressing it - Through movement.

- This was really the time - When Black and white bodies

- were in conversation - With each other,

kind of became okay for a girl

from Upstate New York

- to start moving her hips - In that way.

- And the Harlem - Renaissance

was really the beginnings of

those conversations.

[DeFrantz] We get to the

whites

1930s and there are progressive

who were curious

about Black culture,

not only the parts

that they're allowed to see

but something closer

to how Black Americans

imagine themselves

among themselves.

And these ballrooms

make this possible.

And then we start

to get towards jazz dance.

Broadway changes.

The dances on Broadway start

to look more like the dances

that African Americans

do at home.

They get more

rhythmically sophisticated,

they get less knowable

and more open.

And then we really see

a shift and this happens

up until the second World War.

[upbeat jazz music]

- [Smith] You can't talk - About American success

without tap dance

being a part of that story.

- It's important for people - To know that

it came out of a place of

struggle and oppression.

It wasn't just

this happy dance

that was made for

other people's enjoyment.

It was made to express

and to communicate

a certain feeling.

- There's always been - A big argument

whether it was tap

dance that created jazz

or jazz that

created tap dance.

[Smith] Tap dance

is older than jazz

and it led to certain social

dance forms

like Lindy Hop and swing

dance.

dance which then led to jazz

- [Knight] There's - Also a relationship

- between African - And Irish culture

- where we see this - Percussiveness coming into - play,

with Irish traditional

jig dances

and also African Juba

interplaying with each other.

[Smith] The roots of tap

are African dance,

West African

dance 2.0.

It's what happens when

style

you take a culture and a

and you put it in a different

part of the world

and you put the people

that experience that art

- under extreme - Pressure

and under the worst

conditions humanly possible.

Most Black people

in America can tap.

I don't know.

It's just a thing.

You're born, you're Black,

you can tap.

Don't get me wrong.

I love to dance.

I love to dance and I got work.

I was cute.

Cute little colored kid.

They called us colored

in those days.

Cute little colored kid

tapping away.

Oh, I was a real novelty.

Of course, by the time

I grew up,

it's a different story here.

He's an adult Black man now,

he's not so cute.

-Give him a broom.

-Raymond.

The rich don't patronize tap.

- [Smith] There's a little bit - Of a fear still

to embrace tap dance

culture entirely

because of the ugly history

that it's attached to,

which is

American history.

- And unfortunately, - I don't think a lot of people

are willing to face the truth

of what happened or is

country.

happening right now in this

And we're always going

to reflect those truths,

whether or not

they can handle them.

[Allen] It's kind of

dancing

impossible to talk about jazz

independent of the music,

because the music truly

through the ages,

defined how the dance would go.

- This to me could also - Come through

as how important is oxygen

and nourishment?

Every person in my family

was a classical musician

and to hear that jazz

deep in my soul.

music, something shifted really

There is an emotionality

and a depth

- that is in that - Music for me

that I'm always trying

describe

to get to and to be able to

with movement because

there's such honesty,

such heart honesty.

[Kimberley Cooper] When I

choreographer,

hear that sound as a

that springs images and

and makes my body...

movement in my head

It gives me that

music does.

invitation, that I feel jazz

Jazz music has

all the accents

and the moments that

happen in between

that you don't expect,

and being off the beat

and being pushed

and just all the

percussive nature

variation of styles and

and elongated notes,

it's all in there,

which, physically,

as a dancer,

you can relate to

and connect to.

At one time, the music,

jazz dance and jazz music,

went together.

- And the dancers - Were performing to live music

and it was an exchange

dancers.

between the musicians and the

[Parker Esse] It is

so overwhelmingly fulfilling

to dance with

a jazz orchestra live.

I don't think there's anything

like it, because you...

you're an extension of that...

of that music, it's powerful.

- Years and years ago, - Jazz music was to move to,

it was to dance to.

And then as people

doing improvisations

- got more and more adept, - Then it became about

- "Look at my skill - In improvising."

- And maybe not quite - So danceable.

- -And then bebop... - -And then bebop messed it up.

For jazz dance.

The musicians of

bebop messed it up.

And as the music

as the styles change,

changes over time,

- then the dancing that's - Done to the popular music,

popular styles,

also changes.

The music got too crazy

to dance to, really.

So, music and dance

went their separate ways.

♪ Forget your troubles

Come on, get happy ♪

[Francis Roach] The jazz

know

dance that we all iconically

from the Hollywood days,

that's different than

of the Roaring '20s.

the jazz dance

♪ The sun is shining,

come on, get happy ♪

During that time, when

Age,

Hollywood was doing its Golden

- that was after - World War II.

- The whole world - Was in turmoil

and needed some uplifting

and some joy.

♪ Across the river,

in the tide ♪

wash your sins away

The idea of male role

far between.

models for dancers is few and

- I didn't know - Any professional dancers,

- I didn't know - Any male dancers,

- I was the only boy in my - School but I knew who Gene Kelly - was,

I knew who Fred Astaire was.

It's just those

character men and women

that I really...

that's what I wanted to do.

My mother would watch old

movie

movies and I fell in love with a

- uh, I didn't know the name - Of at the time,

- but of course everybody - Knows it, which is Singing in - the Rain.

And I liked Gene

Kelly a lot.

The way he was...

I guess his articulation,

- the way he was accentuating - The music

- but then also - His character

- and the way - He was telling the story always

and how the dance was kind

of infused into the storyline

and I got kind of drawn to that.

- [Warren Carlyle] Gene - Is athletic and masculine

and it always felt like

watching him dance.

watching the Olympics,

And Fred is just... is

nonthreatening.

beautiful and elegant and

- You know, he's romantic - And, yeah.

- They were - The two different qualities

- and the two different - Male dancers

that I grew up watching.

And then I also grew up

watching movie musicals.

- So, you know, - I'm seeing Fred Astaire,

- I'm seeing - The Nicholas Brothers,

I'm seeing Bill Robinson,

- I'm seeing - All these famous dancers,

and I'm seeing very vivid colors

and sets, and costume,

- and as a kid, it's just, - It's like watching cartoons,

it just grabbed you.

I would kill

to be Cyd Charisse's partner.

I would kill for that.

[laughter]

[DeFrantz] What

'50s

happened in the 1940s and

that is a turning

point for jazz

is it started

to be codified.

- And what's interesting - About this

is it could almost

never be codified

by Black Americans

because we still

didn't have access

to courts of law

or legal systems of support.

So, almost all

the jazz dance techniques

are initiated

by white men.

- [Hubbard] There are - Like two different worlds.

The worlds where ballet

and extensions

and turns,

battements are valued.

Training is valued.

And then, there is the

social swing dance world.

And it's, like,

two different worlds

but the swing dancers understand

the vernacular vocabulary

and the evolution of jazz.

- What happened was - That the modern dancers

and the ballet dancers

- got a hold of jazz, - Pulled it into the studios

and made it be

what they wanted to do

and they called it jazz.

- [Natasha Powell] And we - Had ballet choreographers

or modern dance

their interpretation

choreographers who are doing

of what they

consider jazz to be.

And then, you have critics

- who are writing about - What they think jazz is,

- not having - Any historical reference

- to the form - Or any connection to the work.

Now, how does that change

how society thinks

- or believes - What jazz to be?

- And how does that change - The form and evolvement

of what it was

in that?

and who was instrumental

[Wendy Oliver] There

were two big streams.

- People who felt - That jazz dance

was this original

vernacular form

that only happened

in the '20s to the '40s.

And there were people who

felt that jazz evolved.

And jazz became

something different

over time but

it's still jazz.

[DeFrantz] Something else

about how Black American

social structure works

is that we believe

in each other and sharing.

It's communal.

We don't really

have long traditions

of individual ownership.

We're not so big up on

claiming it as our technique

or our style

or "this is my dance

and no one else's."

That's quite

a European-American formation

or a capitalist formation.

So, there's a real,

like, problem

- when people start naming names - And saying,

"This is who invented a step

or a style or made a technique."

- And Black - American culture,

- it just doesn't operate - That way.

So, it's hard in jazz dance,

- because we know it comes from - A lot of that lineage,

to really put a thumb on

who the mother or father is.

Although, in America,

to Jack Cole.

we tend to give the credit

- But I think, when we - Look at the true origins of - jazz,

that may not be the

look

right lens through which to

at how jazz came about.

So, around the 1940s,

Jack Cole is looking

at classical Indian forms

- and starting to incorporate that - Into his jazz dance movement.

So, you see

this idea of isolation

- that is indigenous - To jazz dancing,

- a lot of that - Really starts there,

- where the head may - Move from side to side,

the arms may have

some very particular,

- angular motions - To them.

- And Jack Cole was taking - A lot of these ideas

and incorporating it

into his choreography

and the dances that

he was creating.

I saw Mr. Cole

in a convention.

This kind of tall-ish,

evil-tempered person,

which is intriguing,

- and everyone seemed to be - In love

with that kind of

maybe.

antagonistic attitude,

- We didn't know - Who he was.

He came in with

boots, khakis,

a tied shirt, and a drum,

and he was crazy.

- [instructor] - Seven, eight.

Walk, two, two, two,

three, two. Work.

Jack Cole

created a technique.

Was it taken from Ted Shawn,

Ruth St. Denis,

the Denis-Shawn years?

Yes. Absolutely.

Everyone was involved

in his life that

he put into his pot.

They didn't call

their stuff jazz.

Sell those bananas.

Let's do it again, ladies.

[applause]

- [Chet Walker] When you look - At Marilyn Monroe today,

it was Jack Cole who gave her

that persona,

Rita Hayworth,

same thing.

Marilyn wouldn't do it

without him.

If you'll go and you'll look

at Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

and you'll look at

a Girl's Best Friend,

Diamonds Are

she is never looking into the...

into the camera ever

because he's over here

and he is doing it with her.

But when you think about that,

"Oh, what?"

Then you look at it,

- and you go, - "It's amazing."

Because she's not playing

to a camera.

- She's taking - From the master.

And they had a connection

that was like no other.

He wanted audiences

to understand

what dance was all about.

- Dance didn't have - A prominence.

It was background

material.

The stars were the most

important thing

and not the dance.

- You can't talk about jazz dance - In America

- without talking about - Katherine Dunham.

- I know you can talk - About Jack Cole

but you got to talk

about Katherine Dunham.

For us, she is the mother

of all dance in America

because it is that

African heartbeat

that has defined

to the world.

the style of America

She was influenced

by Afro-Caribbean movements

combined with Graham

and classical ballet.

And she, not

unlike Jack Cole,

had studied

Eastern dance.

[Smith] She actually started

as an anthropologist.

And through her studies

in anthropology,

that led her to dance.

Because she realized dance

was one of the oldest things

that humans have been

doing on this planet.

[Danny Buraczeski]

puritanical ideas

Americans have these

- about the body - And about sex.

And because it was so...

uh, it wasn't sexy,

- but it was so sensual, - They had completely devalued

what she was doing even

extraordinary.

though it was just

And she was a scholar,

researcher,

- made a phenomenal - Movement.

- I mean, the Dunham technique - Is just breathtaking

- but they just - Devalued it.

As a child growing up

in Houston, Texas, in the '50s,

everything was segregated.

Water fountains, white only.

Movie theaters,

white only.

Restaurants, white only.

And the dance schools

were no different.

They were not really allowing

Black children

to train and dance

with white children.

- I went to the local school, - Mr. DeBato,

and I learned tap dancing

and a little ballet.

But I had a bigger image

of what I wanted to learn.

And it was actually

Patrick Swayze's mom,

Patsy Swayze,

who taught jazz dance,

who saw me outside

of her school.

I was peeping through the window

and she and that wonderful

Southern drawl,

"Little girl,

what you doing out here?

Can you dance?"

I said, "Yes, ma'am."

She said, "Well, bring

your shoes tomorrow."

And so, she allowed me

to come and take the class.

[Rick Odums] I just happened

to see a dance performance

and I was fortunate enough

to meet

the principal dancer,

who was Debbie Allen.

- And she was from - Houston like me.

So, I asked her,

- "Where can I learn to do - This?" And she told me,

- "You need to go see a woman - By the name of Patsy Swayze."

- Because unfortunately, - At that time,

or fortunately for us,

she was the only dance teacher

in the entire state of Texas

that would accept Black people

at her school.

Patsy was considered to be

jazz dance teachers.

one of the prominent

- And from my - Understanding,

- Patsy had basically - Based her work

- on the teacher that - She had studied with,

who was Matt Mattox

at that time.

[Bob Boross] Matt never

called his work jazz dance.

- He was of the thinking - Real jazz dance

is the social and

vernacular forms of jazz.

Back in the late 1940s,

was creating a class

Eugene Loring

- called freestyle, - Where he's saying,

- "I want to take the best - Of the ballet, - The best of modern,

the best of jazz,

and put them in together

the best of this,

to one American form of dance."

So, Matt was there

during that process

and would teach there.

So eventually, when Matt

Loring

left, he had that from

- and then he had worked - With Jack Cole,

- so he had the style - Of Jack Cole.

And those two things

came together

in his later teaching.

[counting in

[foreign language]

- [Nat Horne] I heard - Someone beating a drum,

- one of those tom-tom drums, - Down on the hall and I said,

- "Who was beating this drum - Every day I come to class?"

And they said that's the

class by Matt Mattox.

Our jazz teacher.

So, I opened the door

- and I went in and I looked, - I listened.

And I saw all these

training.

isolations, and the

They stood in one spot

for almost half an hour

- or 45 minutes just doing - Body isolation,

head, shoulders,

rib cage, hips, legs,

parallel legs,

turn their arms.

All of these different

to ballet."

position. I say, "That's close

- To me, that was - The closest thing

- to ballet technique - I can get.

And so, that's

why I started it.

- [Boross] So, Matt was taking - These ideas from Jack Cole.

- He said, "When I first - Started teaching in New - York,

- I was teaching for two years, - Anything I learned - from Jack Cole

- and the students - Could not do it because

- of the isolated nature - Of the movement."

And that's when he

exercises so they figure out

said, "How do I make up

how to move individual

parts of their body?"

- So, between head, - Shoulders, rib cage, pelvis,

- those were, you know, - The things that led him

to create the exercises

that he did.

Accent, reflex,

rhythm, dynamics, relax.

[Horne] Matt and Jack did not

face.

want any expressions in their

No expression.

Keep that all inside.

And I wanted to express

what I was feeling.

- Matt would say, - "Why are you smiling, Nat?"

- I said, because I can feel this, - I'm enjoying the music.

"No smiles." Cut.

[Martine]

Matt was a very integral

and simple

and truth man.

He never try to be false

or to use...

he was always doubting

about himself.

- And trying always to get... - To get better

because it was never enough,

you know,

and I have learned that

about him.

I have a great respect and love.

Each people would teach

his technique.

Teach the way

they understand it.

And then they put back with

it their own sensibility.

[Vicki Willis] One of

my teachers in Calgary

came back from New York

with this crazy technique.

And she had been studying

with Matt Mattox.

And so, she was a very

thorough teacher

and we were really immersed

in Matt's technique.

- Then, at one point, - She came back

from her New York travels

and all of a sudden,

- we had our arms above our head - And we were stretching this way.

And we started doing Luigi work.

The Luigi Technique,

much of the most,

important draw about it

was the man himself.

[man] First port de bras.

Five, six...

- [Bill Waldinger] Luigi - Had been in a car accident

and he was paralyzed

on one side of his body

and the doctors told

again,

him he would never walk

And determined to dance

again because he was a dancer.

He developed a way

of rehabilitating his body.

- Stretch the right arm - Over to the left.

[Roach] His exercises were

nature

much more of a serious

because of what

they had to do.

His technique had to rebuild

a really broken spirit

and a really broken body.

He used the image

of pressing down on the bar.

Right? There would be

and he would press down on it

this imaginary bar

and use it to lift his

leg.

weight out of the paralyzed

Both arms in front of you.

- He would start - Out at the bar,

use the bar for support,

do these exercises

- and then step away - From the bar

and press down on

this imaginary bar.

And that is the foundation

of the technique,

this idea of using the space

in the room for the support.

Passé and down.

And so,

extremely slowly

he would do these exercises

- and talk about what everything - Felt like.

- It really was not - About what it looked like.

It was about what it felt like.

- -Now, 15 seconds... - -The energy in that room

was not like

anybody else's class.

He was really, really

remarkable in that way.

Left arm in your chest.

- [Blake] He was so intensely - Involved in it

that it just didn't...

it was infectious.

- Like, when he starts - Moving his chest and shoulders,

it was like you could see

he was in a trance practically.

And we just loved it.

I mean, I had to follow that.

And I did for quite a while.

In five, six,

seven, brush.

A one, two, toe, heel,

toe, heel.

Passé back. Brush.

Repeat. Toe, heel.

- [DeFrantz] It's complicated - To try to understand

how Latin rhythms

or Latin expression

becomes embedded inside

jazz.

something we think of as

So many of the enslaved

African people

were brought through

to the Caribbean.

the Middle Passage

And most Africans were then

stolen to South America.

So, these affiliations

and sort of windings

through and

sharings are as old

as the slave trade.

[Sekou McMiller]

that came into Brazil

These are rhythms

and into the Caribbean

and into New Orleans

and they're starting

to fuse them.

- And people say, - "Oh, it's new music.

Oh, it's new music."

But really, it's more like

a great reunion

of a culture of music

that was once one.

[Brenda Bufalino] Cuban music

jazz.

had a great influence on

Then when the bars

went up on Cuba,

American jazz switched

to Brazilian music

for its influences.

And so then,

we started having cool jazz.

[Joshua Bergasse]

about musicality

There's something

and syncopation

that excites me.

I was doing a show

and the songwriter,

he was on my case about

syncopated.

everything being so

- I was talking about my father - Who's from Brazil.

And he said,

"Oh, that's what it is."

"You're Brazilian.

- That's where all of - Your syncopation comes from.

- That's why - You're driving me crazy

with this syncopation."

Some of these innovators

start to claim Latin

as kind of their difference

in jazz.

But if we really

wanna understand,

I mean, that starts

from the beginning.

I grew up in Cincinnati,

Ohio, in the '70s.

- I went to a little - Dance school

- and so like - Many other kids in America,

- I started with tap ballet. - I started when I was three.

And in my teenage

Chicago.

years, I went to Giordano's in

That was the first time

I had gone away from home.

But it was the first time

class

also I felt like an adult in

and really had a mentality

and a fighting thing

- that was underneath - To say, "You can do this."

[Phil Laduca] From Gus,

I learned discipline.

I learned that the body

has to balance in a certain way.

It has to move

and counter move.

And those disciplines

were not what I was used to

in the freestyle improvising

of street dancing.

[Nan Giordano] The

Technique,

markers of the Giordano

the movement comes

from the pelvis.

- And that's where everything - Comes from.

So, it's got

a very organic quality.

It's combining

the groundedness,

influence from Africa

with the ballet world.

Very technical and you

have to have amazing technique.

And then the modern world,

it's really a combination

of the major

dance disciplines.

It's got to be real.

That was a slogan that my

father continually said.

The way that he lived

his life was with energy,

power, radiant,

and touching people's lives

through jazz dance.

- There's a misconception - About the relationship to...

between ballet and jazz.

- And it's really important - That people understand

that there has been this kind of

very deep relationship

that George Balanchine had

with the jazz dancing body.

Balanchine had direct contact

bodies

with some of these Black

during the time

of the Harlem Renaissance.

Josephine Baker,

in the United States.

she was a very prominent artist

Well, what Balanchine

appreciated about Josephine

was her ability to get down,

that polycentric body,

- multiple centers in the body - That could articulate and - speak

to each other

all at the same time.

And so, he was looking

at ballet and deciding that

- he wanted to make - Something new,

- thought, "Well, what if I take - These Africanist aesthetics

from this particular body

and the jazz dancing body

- and I incorporate that - Into ballet?

What does that do to take

ballet off of its axis?"

Somebody like Jerome

Robbins, his jazz

is absolutely

based in ballet.

But he's taken

on that jazz

to exemplify the character

that is being portrayed.

[Linda Murray] Robbins is

he was rejected

made by virtue of the fact that

- from school of - American ballet,

- which is the New York City - Ballet School,

the Balanchine School.

He was rejected from there

and he gets his start

with Gluck Sandor,

who's teaching modern dance.

A friend of mine said,

"Oh, you've got to see this."

- She called it a - Musical comedy.

- I said, - "I hate musical comedies."

Oh, I was such a snob too.

- -Oh, my God. - -What a snob.

- My chignon, my first position. - Are you kidding?

- -It's disgusting. - -I had never seen it.

-Disgusting.

in my life.

-I had never seen a musical

I had never been.

is movies, you know.

The only musicals I've seen

- And they were one of that, - "Oh, that's not for me."

- She said, "Well, - I think you should see this.

It's done by Jerome Robbins."

So, when she said,

and directed by Jerome,"

"It's choreographed

- -I said, "I'll go." - -Yeah.

And I saw West

Side Story.

And that changed my life.

I went out of

the Sarah Bernhardt Theatre,

sat by the Seine,

by the river, and said,

"I have to go to New York

to study that."

And that's what I did.

[Bergasse] The first

realized

movie, the first time I

- I wanted to do musical theater - Was when I saw West Side - Story.

- -West Side Story. - -West Side Story.

- -West Side Story. - -West Side Story.

-West Side Story.

-I mean, West Side Story.

Suddenly, a new world

had opened its doors to me.

That was jazz.

- That's what I - Wanted to do.

Jerome Robbins' work

kind of exploded

- and that straightaway - Captured me.

- His choreography - Is very muscular.

- It's very... - It's very grand.

It has great scale.

There's a lot of danger.

I fell in love with not only

Robbins' movement,

you know, it was this mix

of ballet and jazz

but also with his ability

to tell a story

and to convey character.

What West Side

Story showed me

was that you could be

a tough guy

and yet you could still dance.

I mean, how cool was that?

When they would do these

long, extended dance sequences,

I understood

why they were dancing.

I understood what

they were trying to say.

And that helped me

understand the story

- and understand - What these characters wanted

and needed and/or

were deprived of.

♪ Boy, boy, crazy boy ♪

I think, personally,

of good theater is

what the secret

is conflict that

leads to resolution.

Tension because

there is no answer.

- And then eventually, - Our hero finds the answer

and finds his way.

- Bob Fosse - Was the quintessential sculptor

of tension and conflict.

Sexual tension, conflict,

dysfunction that's so deeply

seated from childhood,

from past marriages,

from social injustice,

from whatever it is,

it's... it goes into the body

down.

and it crunches the body

He grew up dancing in a

lot of vaudeville houses.

I mean, he was around

stuff.

strippers and a lot of that

And you see a lot of that

influence in his work.

He would always say,

so I turned in.

"I couldn't turn out,

- And I had bad posture, - Or whatever, you know,

- so I let it come down - Like this."

He was, you know,

pigeon-toed.

- You know, he was - A little guy.

- There always seemed - To be something in Bob

that was just so cool.

It was just, ah, right in there.

It was addicting.

It was heady.

It was... it

was, ah, jazz.

I think that the turning

Game.

point for him was Pajama

And Gwen then

entered the picture.

She was his muse,

absolutely his muse,

and I really think that the

work with Gwen sealed it.

[Kim Greene] If you look at

cookie cutters.

his dancers, there were no

- It's not, "Oh, this is - Made up of bunch of this and a - bunch of that."

- It's like, there was you. - There was me.

- There was this person, - That person.

We were all different.

We all brought our own

thing to the table,

that he would then take

and just mold

and make a masterpiece out of.

- So, we were doing - The "Cell Block Tango."

- And, of course, - I was speaking in Hungarian.

- My whole monologue was - Hungarian.

And the only English

was "not guilty."

- He corrected and gave directions - To everybody.

Oh, I know this.

And he never said a word

to me, bad or good or... nothing.

So, one day I said,

what I'm doing?

"Bobby, is it okay

I mean, 'cause you haven't

said anything to me."

And he turned around,

looked at me.

He said, "Well, frankly,

a word you're saying,

I don't understand

and I made up my mind

that you are guilty."

Well, it was like a knife

she wasn't.

because I had decided that

- -My work on the character - Was that... - -This is so good.

- -...she was not guilty. - -This is so good.

- -I had a whole story going on. - -I have goosebumps.

-I'm having all those...

-It was like somebody had...

And just before leaving,

he turned around

and he went, "Right?"

I thought

that's the greatest cruel,

cruel, greatest direction

I've ever gotten

because he made me feel

like Hunyak felt.

-Yeah.

freaking show.

-During the entire

- -He was cruel. - -It was cruel...

- -He was cruel in that way. - -He was cruel.

- -But it was fantastic. - -But the whole thing was cruel

- -towards the Hunyak. - -Fantastic.

-I have goose pimples too.

-It was just... I know.

One of Fosse's main

descriptions for dancers

was that they were actors

bodies.

who communicated with their

- So, he didn't - Call them dancers.

They were the company

and they expressed themselves

and they told that story through

the movements in their body.

You could look at a dance

as if it were a script.

- So, the steps are like the words - In a script.

So, you dance the meaning

of the steps.

Not just steps

for the sake of steps,

any more than you would act

a script just with the words.

- You don't have to know - What it is.

- I'm the only one - That has to know the story.

But there has to be

something internally

going on with everything.

When we're doing

the number "Big Spender,"

- Gwen would say - Things like,

- "Think that you're - Pushing through Jell-O

- as you're moving - Through the number.

Roll your shoulder like

you're wearing a dirty bra."

You know, I mean, it's just...

all these amazing images

would be used.

- [Bonnie Lanford] These - Dancers lining up against the - bar

in the dance hall

and choose them.

waiting for these men to come

And they are broken,

they are broken dolls.

The minute you say that, it's

not girls posing on a bar.

It says so much more.

And, to me,

that just adds these layers

that make it so expressive

and deep

and at the same time, funny.

His big theory was contain

and explode,

so that you would

keep something very quiet

almost like a little secret,

and then go, "Ah!"

♪ Do you wanna

have fun? ♪

[Culbreath] A lot of times in

going on

dances, there's lots of stuff

- and you just sort of choose - What you wanna look at.

With Bob, everything

was specifically designed

to focus in on a hip

or one person's hand

or the nod of the head

- or suddenly there's a shimmy - Of a shoulder.

- [Blake] - It's the restraint of it,

- you know, having - To hold in,

it's like having sex

without having an orgasm,

- so it's just... - You know, it just...

it's bubbling up underneath you.

How's about it, palsy?

Yeah.

- I think there's a lot of - Ways to look at the history

and who's important,

and part of why

someone like a Mattox

and a Giordano and a Luigi

get talked about so much

was because they codified

their vocabulary.

And also, let's just be

frank, Mattox, Luigi,

Giordano have

a ballet influence.

And, for better or worse,

that told people

that it was legitimate.

But here's the thing.

What if the fundamental

construct of the reasons

why your movement exists

is based on

- not having that organization - That never changes,

- because that is - A very Eurocentric model?

So it isn't that the

people who didn't codify

hadn't thought it out,

it's that they're saying

the philosophy

- on which the thing - We're building

doesn't require

codification.

[interviewer speaking]

- So who are you - Identifying?

Whew!

It's an incomplete list.

It is a list that

has a colonist mindset.

- It's always - Gonna be an incomplete list

because the people

that we've elevated,

- the way that - History works

is that then becomes,

like, the gospel.

So, it's flawed.

It's flawed.

Honestly, Black and

brown people and women

- don't get talked about enough - In the history.

[Murray] The way people

value your art form

is based on the sort of historic

importance it carries,

so people place a lot of

value on music and on literature

because you can see a body

of work amassing over time.

But with dance,

it is an ephemeral form.

you don't have that,

- And in fact, as a - Discipline, we often embrace - that fact

and glory that fact

that you only have

- that one moment - Where it exists

- and then it's gone forever, - And that's part of the magic

and the tragedy of dance,

we sometimes don't want

to give that up.

But the problem is,

your history,

when you don't keep

then you don't know

where you've come from,

- and you can't really know - Where you're going

if you don't know

where you've been.

I want us all to be more curious

about the names we don't know.

Because Pepsi Bethel

should be on that list.

- [Hubbard] Pepsi was an - Authentic jazz dancer.

In fact, his company was

Jazz Dance Theater.

the Authentic

He never talked about

his professional experience.

- It wasn't until years later - I found out

that Pepsi was

a Savoy Lindy Hopper.

In rehearsals,

what he would do.

Pepsi always indicated

He'd say, "Well,

and I'll do this,

I'm gonna go over here

and I'll go over there,

blah, blah, blah.

and I'll do that,"

Didn't know until I got

on stage with the man,

he was amazing.

- It was like sparks were - Flying from his body,

- and he was - Scatting,

and I was stunned for

a moment, you know?

- I'm always researching. - I love research, you know,

and I just decided

to look up jazz dance,

and I said, "Where's

Fred Benjamin's name?"

You know, you see Bob

Fosse, see other people.

And that's part

of the problem,

is that there's only very

specific stories being told.

To be on this planet

during the '60s,

in the midst

of segregation,

to still be able to

create your voice

in the midst of that,

that's real, because Bob

Fosse and Fred Benjamin

had two very different paths.

And I think this is

why it's important

for so many voices

to get lifted up

because it's easy

for things to just

kind of fall away

and not get acknowledged.

- These are people who were - So dedicated to the form

that that was their whole life,

and then they pass away,

and if not for their families,

you know, out of sight,

out of mind.

Without JoJo Smith, there's no

literally.

Broadway Dance Center,

He started a school,

and then that school

became another school,

- which then became - The Broadway Dance Center.

But without

JoJo's Dance Factory,

you can't even get there.

One of my biggest

influences

in my style of dance

and jazz was JoJo Smith.

JoJo Smith.

I saw a special on

dancers,

television, and I saw

they were dancing

with an undulation

and a smoothness

and a fierceness.

I said,

"Who the hell is that?"

- [Sue Samuels] The - Different jazz masters,

the early jazz masters came

through ballet training,

so their styles were rounded

in some way.

Not JoJo. JoJo came

through the martial arts.

And his mother

was in Katherine Dunham.

So, the dance

and then martial arts

had, like, a square-ish

kind of style.

[Smith] Before

JoJo's Dance Factory,

which also my mother,

Sue Samuels, helped build,

every dance teacher had

their own studio,

and so you had to go

to get ballet,

to this one studio

- you had to go to this - Studio to get tap.

- You had to go - Here to get jazz.

They actually brought all

the styles and techniques

under the same roof

for the first time,

- and they don't get - Credit for it,

but now, I look around the world

- and all dance studios - Are modeled

after what they started

in the '70s.

These are these names

that get lost,

because they were doing

the work on the daily.

They were teachers,

and they were doing the work

day in, day out.

- [Al Blackstone] For me, it - Was all about Frank - Hatchett.

He was this

incredible presence.

He was really

as much a motivator

and a guru, I'd say,

- as much as he was - A choreographer and a teacher,

- and he was one of - The first people I think

that, really, I understood

about what style was.

He had a style that he taught,

he created it himself,

he called it VOP,

- it sort of became the name - Of what he was teaching.

I believe as a jazz dancer,

to interpret the music,

it's our obligation

- to communicate - With the audience,

it's an energy.

- Sometimes we have - To sacrifice technique,

but that's what VOP is,

the choreography.

it's about flavoring

- VOP, the initials mean nothing, - It's a style.

- [Blackstone] He would - Combine, like, classic pas de - bourrées

- and then he would - Get this sort of, like,

very grounded sort of, like...

almost the beginning, really,

of what we call hip-hop now.

And he was... combined styles

in a way that was very fearless,

- and I think - Really excited people.

Pas de bourrée, say hey.

Hey.

- -Say ho. - -Ho.

- He was really motivating, - But he was also really fun,

- but he also had - Very, very high standards.

- I remember people would, - You know, come into class,

- and they would stand in - The front of the room,

- and if they didn't know what - They were doing,

- Frank would ask you - To move to the back,

- and he would ask you to move - To the back of the room

in front of the entire class.

I mean, there was a really

high standard of behavior.

It's this environment that

fun

was simultaneously really

and really energetic,

but also really serious.

- People took - This style seriously.

You were in New York,

you had technique,

but you also had flavor,

and you had style.

And I think that he found a way

of the technique

to combine discipline

with what was happening

commercially in America

- and what was happening - In the clubs

- and what was happening - With music.

I don't think

the artists of today

are doing enough

to acknowledge our ancestors,

the lineage of this art form,

and the history of this dance.

- I think we need - To talk about our ancestors,

we need to talk about

class.

our inspirations, every

Not just the one time

we get to sit down on film.

We need to speak

their names every day.

If we continue to

keep their memory,

their spirit alive,

- through their dances, - Through their music,

- through - Their names,

- that evokes their - Spirit on a higher level

and that's one of

the most powerful things

- you can do - As a human.

[Durden] It's paying

elders.

respects and honor to the

It's acknowledging that

a group of people were here

and they contributed

to society,

they contributed to

what influenced you.

And to be dismissive

that they weren't here.

of that is to say

Because we go to these studios,

we go to these universities,

and you get one side

of the picture,

and there's a whole other

side that y'all don't even know.

- They don't know - About these people,

you don't even know their names.

- I think part of what - Happens in the U.S. is this

kind of consolidation

of everything.

It's like America

as the melting pot,

- things kind of - Get absorbed

- so we stop identifying the thing - That made it,

and so it becomes

this whole universal

experience of dance.

It's also because as

acknowledge

Americans, you don't

the historical roots

of lots of things,

- particularly those things - In which African Americans

have had

a vital participatory role.

- [Durden] To see someone - Doing a dance

- but they have no relationship - To the community

and why it's being done, then

it loses its authenticity,

it becomes a movement

that in the movement,

there's authentic form

and expression.

But the meaning behind

is not the same.

what you're doing

[DeFrantz]

does get appropriated,

African-American creativity

it gets taken,

and moved to somewhere

where it never was before

and dropped down to do a

different kind of work,

and then the people who

benefit

created the form can't

- from all of - The things that

might be available

in this other space.

On Broadway or Hollywood

or more work,

where there might be money

- or the possibility to live - In a neighborhood

- where schools are good - For children,

- like that's not available - For the Black people

who are developing

these dance forms

and these creative addresses.

- So, it's important to understand - That this is a part of

how jazz is formed.

It's not gonna go away.

- It doesn't not exist - Just because we wish it didn't.

This is what jazz is, too,

it's part of it.

I think people

do have a genuine...

Uh, I don't even know

if I can say that word,

but they have a respect for it.

But I just think there's a lot

of conversations to have

as to how authentic

you're doing...

- you're trying to hold - On to something.

It might not be something

for you to hold on to.

I think it also wears a support

for the community

that this art form comes from,

it's the people.

And when people divide

and take the dance away

from the people, and say,

"This dance is cool,

but I don't wanna mess

with you as a person,"

there's danger in that

- because now - We're just appropriating

these art forms for sale

as opposed to appreciating

the people

- that have brought - These art forms out

- and getting the true meaning - Of what they're doing

and what they're trying to say.

The Civil Rights Movement is

another challenging moment

- [DeFrantz] in American - Political history

where dances start

to shift yet again

and they become

even more weighty,

- so we're seeing - A lot of fists,

- and things are getting - Just harder

- because the struggle - For civil rights

is also reflected

that we create.

in the social dances

We are gonna walk

non-violently and peacefully,

to let the nation

and the world know

that we are tired now.

We've lived with slavery

and segregation 345 years.

We waited a long time

for freedom.

We are trying

to remind the nation

of the urgency of the moment.

Now is the time to make

real the promises of democracy.

Now is the time to make

justice a reality

for all of God's children.

♪ Run from these demons ♪

♪ Please don't give 'em

a reason ♪

♪ To spill blood

on my sneakers ♪

♪ So I just put

my hand up ♪

Martin Luther King was

shot and was killed tonight...

♪ ...put me

in handcuffs ♪

♪ They just scared 'cause

they don't understand us ♪

♪ Try to beat us down

when we try to stand up ♪

♪ I didn't even

do nothin' ♪

- [Muhammad Ali] - You my opposer - When I want freedom.

- You my opposer - When I want justice.

- You my opposer - When I want equality.

- You won't even stand - Up for me in America,

for my religious beliefs

- and you want me - To go somewhere and fight

- but you won't even stand up - For me here at home.

♪ Oh, baby ♪

♪ Yeah ♪

♪ Just give me

my freedom ♪

♪ The beautiful ♪

♪ America ♪

♪ The murderer ♪

♪ America ♪

♪ The beautiful ♪

♪ America ♪

♪ God bless America ♪

[Durden]

as the Decade of Fire.

The '60s is kind of known

We had a lot of

movement,

assassinations, Women's Rights

Black Power movement.

- And so the music kind of - Reflected those times.

The dances reflected the

movement that was going on.

So now the twist

changes the social decorum.

People are just dancing. They

can do it by themselves,

a woman doesn't have to wait

dance.

for a man to ask her to

[Dr. Faison] We were seeing

different attitudes.

all sorts of

And people were

coming out of,

or falling out of,

all kind of closets.

You know what I mean?

So the world was different.

People were different.

We were living and it

was everything out there.

Drugs and sex and rock 'n'

roll, and that other beat.

There it was,

it was jazz back there

on the dance floor again.

You know, taking us

into another era.

In the '70s,

the streets were buzzing,

the clubs were buzzing,

dance was everywhere,

and dance wasn't just

something you had to train for,

dance was something

you could create

- whether it was - From the streets of hip-hop

or breaking or

in the discos.

And it was wild.

Hip-hop is the culture that has

come right out of our community.

- It's a culture, - It's not just a music style

or dance style, it's a culture.

Hip-hop is a

derivative of jazz.

And so the root of it

is coming from jazz

but it's the street,

it's the common dance.

- I call it the common dance - Of jazz today.

Most of the

hip-hop culture

characteristics defined with

- are closely connected - To the roots,

the identifiable

traditional dance.

characteristics of African

[upbeat music playing]

[Brown] Each

generation has a time

when you're looking

at the politics around you

and you're

responding to it.

That was part of

the creation of hip-hop,

people finding their voices.

- [Durden] Pretty much - Every hip-hop dance you see,

I can show you footage

of that same step

from the jazz era.

- Some of the movement - That you see breakers do was

part of what was considered

in the jazz era.

eccentric dancing

A lot of that was seen

as comedic dancing.

In 1921, Lupino Lane

came out with a book,

and in that book,

they illustrate

how to do moves

that breakers do right now.

So, we can see that none

of this stuff is new

- and they say nothing is new - Under the sun,

the only thing that might

twist on it.

be new is how you put your

But there's a lineage

to this movement

that we need to excavate

to really understand

its socio-cultural

significance.

And these are

steps that go back

to the 1800s,

some of them.

And so there's a progression

community

that happens in the

that we don't

see on the stage.

So, Lindy Hop

didn't die,

it transitioned

into some other movements

for the next generation.

- So you have Lindy Hoppers - Today saying,

- "Well, the African Americans, - They dropped it."

You can't drop culture.

You don't drop culture.

- But if you're not - In that culture,

you don't see how it

morphs into the next thing.

- And so now, when I get - Around young students

- and they're turning - Their nose up at hip-hop.

"Oh, no. I'm not taking

dancing."

hip-hop, that's not real

- And it's very - Interesting to me

- because we'll talk about - African-American people

who, "I have to have

my natural hairstyle.

I have to have the garb.

- I have to have the Black art - On the wall.

I need to read Langston Hughes."

But when it comes to the dance

and hip-hop

is most tied

to your cultural identity

and heritage

because of the structure

how rooted it is in African

dance.

But that's not real dancing.

And these elders have taught you

to value this Eurocentric dance

over what's most connected

to your heritage.

They don't get it.

- They're not - Doing it intentionally.

They don't see it.

- [Guarino] - Hip-hop, all of a sudden,

- you see it not danced - To hip-hop music

- so we're removing it - Further and further

from that culture

of which it was born.

- And it might not have - That connection

to the place

where in the '80s

- when people were - Using hip-hop

- as a way to work out - Their aggression

- and from a place - Of community.

So now I see

a lot of hip-hop dances

- where everyone - Is standing in straight lines

- and directed outward - Towards the audience

- and there's this - Disconnect and lack of community

- and they're not dancing - To hip-hop music,

yet they're calling it hip-hop.

So we're having

a lot of the same issues

- with these branches off - Of the jazz tree

and who knows

where they'll go.

[Blackstone] A great

jazz dancer is musical,

has line,

has a strong

sense of self.

A great jazz dancer

isn't afraid to get dirty.

A great jazz dancer isn't

afraid to enjoy themselves.

[Esse] It's those extra

movement

inches of feeling in

that I think makes the most

dynamic jazz dancer,

somebody that doesn't just

stop at the end of the line

but continues to go on.

[Mandy Moore]

knows how to focus.

A great jazz dancer

- They know - How to get the audience

to look at them and say,

this is what I want.

This is what I want you

to look at.

- [Allen] It's like - The great jazz musicians.

- There're a lot of people - That can hit the notes

- but can they - Put it together,

- can they make gumbo with it, - Can they zhuzh it,

can they make it hot?

You know,

that's jazz dancing.

- [Jerry Mitchell] I can - Teach you the steps,

I can teach you the

notes.

words, I can teach you the

But what I can't teach

passion.

you how to do is have

If you can't bring passion

to the room,

why would anyone

wanna watch you?

In the '80s, dance was visible

in a way

that it isn't even visible now.

- It was, like, okay, - Now sex is back

- and we're gonna... we got MTV - And music videos and it's hot.

- And, like, girls are killing it, - With the guys strong,

shirtless, you know.

- [George] There was so much - Dance happening in the '80s and - '90s.

And you would see

the same dancers

from video to video

- and then you just didn't see - Them anymore.

- And conventional wisdom - Would say,

- oh, it's because - Dancing in music videos

fell out of vogue

in the late '90s.

But the reality also was,

- we were in the midst - Of an AIDS crisis.

And so there's dancers

who I saw in multiple videos

who then just disappeared.

[Mitchell] I

was a dancer.

Choreographers were dying

left and right.

There was no dance.

- Dance disappeared - From Broadway

- not because the - Choreographers were dying,

because dance

is a sexual expression.

- Even when you don't want it - To be sexual,

it's sexual because we're using

our bodies to tell a story.

So people were afraid.

And that form

of expression

was left alone

for a while.

[George] AIDS took

out all of these men

and it took them out primarily

between the ages of 23 and 45.

- And when you think - About who we are as artists

and when we hit,

like, our prime,

when we really like

wanna do.

figure out what it is what we

Thirty-five

and forty-five,

that's when people

really, really lock in

and we just

don't have those voices,

so it changed the trajectory

- in ways that I don't know - That we can really name

because, certainly,

you know.

work was still getting made,

Uh, but, you know,

a chunk of the creative team

that created A

Chorus Line is gone.

I got to where I am

on the backs of a lot of people

who are no longer with us.

So, when I really started

to teach in New York,

that was during the AIDS crisis.

So the young gentlemen

who were teaching jazz

all over New York disappeared.

Those people that we lost,

we lost a whole connection

- the things that would have - Informed theater.

- God, who knows what we would - Have been doing now

had those people not died.

- Sometimes I look at the work - Of the '80s

and as much as it feels

dynamic,

sexual and propulsive and

- there's times it also feels - Really desperate,

- because people were dancing - For their lives.

And many of them

couldn't talk about it.

- It's heartbreaking. - It's heartbreaking because...

- we'll never know - What they could have done,

we'll never know how that

our lives,

work could have changed

how that work would

have changed the world.

[instructor] Spread the toes,

plié, rolling up.

- Pressing the whole foot - Into the floor,

feeling very rooted.

Stand tall.

To first position.

- [George] I started - Noticing it in the '90s,

the repertoire of jazz

dramatically.

companies was changing

Two, regular.

It's slow. I know. I changed it.

What happened

was a huge shift

to modern and

contemporary.

Body roll.

There was

nothing going on,

- I mean, you could - Barely get a job

as a jazz dancer.

Plié, roll it out.

[George] But then a few years

go by, five, six years,

Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys,

NSYNC, Darrin's Dance Grooves.

Because it's always cyclical,

- there's always an ebb and - A flow to what's happening.

- And so, even if you - Don't see jazz prominent right - now,

- just wait because it's always - Gonna be there.

- There's something - About jazz

that feels almost like

everyman meets magnified dancer.

- You know, there's some things - About jazz dancing

- that I think - Can feel

- common to someone who - Doesn't know how to dance.

- It feels right - When you watch it,

where sometimes

things like ballet

can feel a

little elitist.

- [Simonson] And because - It was not elitist,

it was not "classical

ballet," opera, the symphony,

it was looked down upon.

- [Knight] There are - Certain areas of dance

that are much more

because

well-funded and understood

their values fall in alignment

- with the values of the people - Who have the dollars.

And so, unfortunately, jazz,

hip-hop, tap,

they're looked at

as the other forms.

[Boross] Jazz has been told

not to be jazz.

Jazz is now lately

liability.

considered to be a

[Walker] I was told,

contemporary in front of it,

"If you would put

I could help you out."

But I couldn't do that.

- If you're gonna go - And talk about jazz dance,

you don't wanna put

contemporary in front of it.

Jazz should stand by

itself, but there's no funding.

- [Drew McOnie] - To say there's more room - In the industry

- for jazz companies - Is like...

- I mean, of course there is, - There's so few of them.

- You know, if you think - About how saturated

- the world is with ballet - Companies and contemporary - companies that...

- And there is... I promise - You, there is the wealth of - talent out there

to fill hundreds

of jazz companies.

To make a career in dance,

in New York City,

to make a career here

versatility is everything.

- You have to - Do everything.

- You must be a - Great jazz dancer.

- You must have great ballet - Technique.

- You need to be - A tap dancer.

You should be great

at flamenco and hip-hop.

And you should sing.

You know, it's a lot.

There's a lot.

- I think that what's happening - In New York now

- is that people are taking - Theater classes

- because they - Wanna do theater

because that's how

they can make money.

[George] A friend of

jazz."

mine calls it "get a job

- Training people how to actually - Work in the field,

which means commercial work

or theatrical work.

Jazz as a technique

- is really how - You become great

- at doing - The kind of choreography

- that you see in - Theater today.

The practice,

or the way it is taught,

- is only from a - Commercial point of view.

We very rarely go back

the lineage,

and we look at the history,

what makes jazz what it is,

what is the aesthetic.

- And so, the aesthetic - Has changed so much

that we don't

recognize it today.

[Murray] Sometimes we

think of jazz dance

- as permanently - Being in peril,

but if you look at those

on television,

popular dance shows

there are serious choreographers

on those shows

that are introducing jazz

- to a really - Broad audience.

Dance is becoming more

accessible to the masses.

It's giving them inspiration

and it's getting new people

started dancing.

- I worry that it's all - Become a little bit tricksy,

that if you can do a

jazz dancer.

backflip, you're therefore a

No, you're not.

- Look at this - Competition crap.

- It's how many pirouettes - Can I do?

- How can I expose my crotch - In a different way?

It's not about

moving anybody.

- [Simonson] - It becomes trick-oriented

and that's what

the everyday person

is seeing on television

and they're going, "Wow."

- And we're going, - "No, that's just tricks.

There's no heart."

But there are people

looking at dance now,

so flip it to the other side,

who've never considered

looking at dance.

So, there's a gift in that also.

But I think that, you

young dancers

know, we're relying on those

- to know the amount of work - That goes in

- to be able to perform - To that level.

And if it can be used

it's brilliant.

as an inspiration,

If it's used to make you

lazy, then we're in trouble.

- [Culbreath] They do - Step right off the bus,

they have an agent

and Twitter followers,

- and a YouTube blog, and a thing, - And a thing

and a thing, and all that

horseshit

stuff is just a bunch of

in the way to the work.

- Just do the work, - But they need somebody

- to guide them in the proper way - To do the work

- and ask more of them - Than they think they can do.

- Then you go. - This flight, this flight, stop.

Going to take it again.

Five, six, seven...

[Bergman] Class, as a dancer,

face.

is a place to fall on your

What happened

started to change

when all this convention

dancing started

and it all became

about competition.

And I think as a young person,

as a young dancer,

it's a place to fail.

It's a place to fall down

and get back up again,

- and learn how - To do something better.

Don't be the...

don't focus so much.

- -[Chita Rivera] It's not easy. - -Dance!

But anything

that's good

is not easy.

If you wanna keep

it. You know.

- If you want it to be - A part of you,

then it's got to be

drilled into you.

You have to keep up

with your training.

- I think no matter what, - You can never stop learning.

Um, your body is your tool,

that tool

and you have to maintain

and you have to

training.

continue to keep learning and

Most of us, you know,

we spent hours,

blood, sweat and tears,

in a dance class.

Back, back, back, forward...

- Doing eight shows a week, folks, - Ain't fun.

It's really tough.

- To make that kind - Of commitment,

- get one day off a week, - And in the theater,

you get two weeks off a

holiday.

year and you work every

Yes. Isabelle, yes!

The theater, the dance world,

it is difficult.

-Ready? Six.

-And so, I think for you

- to survive, - You have got to love it

more than anything

else in the world.

- Keep them still, - Keep them still.

Yes, yes, yes. Yes, yes, yes.

- [Andrew Wright] I went - To a college to teach

- and brought up some elements - Of dance history,

and I was met

with absolute blank faces.

I don't understand that.

If it's gonna be your job,

and your livelihood,

and your passion,

the history of it?

why don't you know

And especially today,

with the Internet,

you can find anything out

within seconds.

[Tom Ralabate]

for studio teachers

I think it's important

to constantly

sprinkle

- information to - Their students.

You can teach

a vernacular movement.

a Shorty George, okay,

But you best,

that movement, Shorty George,

while you're teaching

mention that George

this movement

Snowden was the originator of

and that it

happened at a place

- Lindy Hoppers - Would gather together.

- All you're doing is - Just sprinkling information

- while they're - Learning it.

Okay?

All right. Good enough?

- Four times, right side, - Left side, right side, - left side.

We as dancers

have been mentored.

- We have a responsibility - To do the same.

- We've all kind of vessels, - Aren't we,

- and taking into - The dance studio

- our knowledge - And what we know,

and then you don't realize

the next generation.

you're impacting

[Boross] There's a lack

of curiosity about jazz,

about what it is,

to our history is.

about what its relation

- I mean, jazz is the history - Of America,

pure and simple.

- [Smith] - It's the American voice

that has allowed

so many people

in oppressed situations

to speak.

And that's a beautiful thing.

man,

If dance can do that too,

that's an empowering tool

from our children,

that we should never take away

never take out of schools,

as we have been doing.

We should implement it more

into our educational system.

[George]

in the jazz dance field.

We're not having a dialog

Part of it is, is that

the concert people

are sort of conflicted

to the contemporary people.

about the relationship

And the contemporary people

have no relationship.

and the swing people

But what I do know is

the urban dance community

- and the tap community have - Figured out

- how to always stay in dialog - With each other

- regardless of - The different schools.

- And the jazz community - Does not know how to do that

- and it's tragic, and it's why - We're in this place

- that we're at right now, - Where we're trying to

still, like,

claw and claim

because we don't communicate.

♪ Everything

must change ♪

[Knight] I think jazz

of flux at the moment.

is in a place

- There's a little bit - Of confusion

about whether or not

it's necessary

or whether

it's relevant.

♪ ...remains the same ♪

We are in transition.

- I don't know where - This is gonna go,

but we have

arrived nowhere.

This is all shifting.

♪ No one and nothing

remains the same ♪

I would never profess

to tell you

how to dance

if that's what you wanna do

- and I would celebrate - What you do.

It may not be

what I wanna do.

And I think that's where we

controversy,

get into a bit of

when people become

such purists

that they think they own

or a certain technique

a certain style

- and that it - Can't evolve.

Well, the world is built,

on change.

the universe is built,

And if nothing changes, it is

stagnant, it is not alive.

♪ Nothing, no one

remains unchanged ♪

[DeFrantz] I think the future

promising.

of jazz dance is very

I think we should continue to

roots,

work on reclaiming its

but still embracing

the hybrids

that are happening

right in front of us.

I think it's gonna create

a lot of debate,

but that's what

jazz dance is.

♪ Ooh ♪

♪ Except ♪

♪ Rain comes

from the clouds ♪

[Allen] I think to go

back

forward, you have to look

and you have to know

the history

and references.

♪ And hummingbirds... ♪

I think there's

and responsibility

a beautiful weight

to being a jazz dancer

because there are so few of us

and because the history

is complicated

and born of finding joy

in suffering.

And so, if you're going

to represent that history,

you have to know

where it came from.

[jazz music playing]

I met... Okay.

at a party once.

I met John Travolta

- This is... - I'm gonna tell you this.

And I brought

up the nerve,

- you know, got up the nerve - To go over to him,

- I'm just like, "Don't be a nerd. - Don't be a nerd. - No, don't be a nerd."

- And I said to him, "Hey, John, - My name is Mandy Moore.

- I'm a choreographer. - I just wanna let you know

that Staying Alive was

films ever."

honestly one of my favorite

And he goes, "Wait, the one

where I was a jazz dancer?"

And I was like, "Yeah.

It was my favorite film."

- And he's like... I think - He was weirded out by it

because of course

so many other films

the man's done, like,

- that are, like, - So much more, you know,

- probably more - Successful or whatever,

- but I just thought - It's so funny the way he,

- like, he had this disdain - For, like,

- "Wait, the one where - I was the jazz dancer?"

- I was thinking, "Yes, the one - Where you're the jazz dancer.

That's why I'm a jazz dancer."

I have no idea how old I am.

It's the truth.

What?!

I mean, should we go

to the next question?

Is that it?

I mean, can you edit that?

Like, one of the best things

ever and he's, like,

"Jump!"

And she's, like, "I can't!"

- And then she, like, - Leaps in her red tights

- with the red leotard. - I mean, it was over for me.

Like that... from that

point forward, jazz.

That's it.

That's all I'm doing.

[laughter]

- -That's okay. - -Ahem.

- -Try it now? - -Oh, yeah, I'm just stretching.

- You might not wanna put that - In the movie.

[laughter]