United States, 1940s-60s
MODERN JAZZ
Broadway's syncopated body
Modern Jazz (or Jazz dance) was born in the United States in the first half of the 20th century, at the crossroads of African dances brought over by enslaved people, the Charleston, the Lindy Hop, and Broadway musical theater. In the 1940s-60s, choreographers such as Jack Cole, Katherine Dunham, Matt Mattox, and especially Bob Fosse turned it into a full-fledged stage discipline, with a codified vocabulary — isolations, contractions, syncopations, angular poses.
Today, Modern Jazz is taught in dance schools worldwide. Along with Ballet, it forms the training foundation of many contemporary choreographers, and remains the technical matrix of major musicals, music videos (Fosse, Beyoncé, Michael Jackson), and popular entertainment.
How it's danced
Technique & figures
Modern Jazz is danced to 4/4 music at varying tempos (jazz, funk, soul, musical theater). It combines the verticality and precision of Ballet, the sensuality and weight of Modern, and the syncopated energy of Jazz. Musicality and isolations are its hallmarks.
Styles and fundamentals
Several main schools coexist. The Dunham technique (Katherine Dunham) incorporates Afro-Caribbean dances. The Mattox technique is closer to Ballet. The Fosse technique (Bob Fosse) works with ambiguity, broken poses, and "mitten" hands. The Luigi technique (Luigi Faccuito) is fluid, rehabilitative, and highly pedagogical.
Main figures
- 01
Isolations
Independent movements of one part of the body (head, shoulders, chest, pelvis). The foundation of the entire Jazz vocabulary.
- 02
Contraction
A pelvic contraction inherited from Graham, adapted to the Jazz vocabulary.
- 03
Pas de bourrée
Small triple steps borrowed from Ballet, widely used in Jazz for transitions.
- 04
Jazz square
A square-shaped walk (forward-cross-back-side) over 4 beats. One of the foundational steps of musical theater.
- 05
Kick ball change
A kick followed by a rapid weight change. A signature of Broadway Jazz.
- 06
Fosse hands
Articulated hands, broken wrists, open fingers. An icon of the Bob Fosse style (Cabaret, Chicago).
Reading the music
Jazz standards (Duke Ellington, Count Basie), musicals (Cabaret, Chicago, A Chorus Line), 70s soul and funk, modern pop from music videos (Michael Jackson, Beyoncé).
Did you know?
Explore the rhythms
Same family
Scène & Rythme
Cross connections
Styles from other families that share a common language with Modern Jazz.