Jazz is a performance dance technique and style that first emerged in the United States in the early twentieth century.

Both genres build on African-American vernacular styles of dancing that emerged with jazz music. Jazz dance is based on dance moves that slaves brought to America. Slaver owners would make the captured Africans dance as a way to keep them physically fit. Originally, jazz dance referred to any kind of movements performed in jazz music.

Typical elements of jazz dance are isolation movements, precise leg, arm and foot movements, breathtaking jumping techniques and twists which we teach at The Dance Lab. Hereby it becomes apparent that jazz dance is a diverse and energetic dance style in which the creativity and expressiveness of the dancers are promoted. Jazz, the dance, is as experimental, free form and fluid as jazz, the music. It’s fusion, it’s inventive, it’s exuberant. And, like the music, jazz dance is a uniquely American art form with influences from everywhere.

The smooth and syncopated moves of jazz are always all about the performance. Jazz Funk, also called Street Jazz, borrows a lot of movement from other dance styles. At the Dance Lab, we offer ballet-modern-hip hop- to lyrical, jazz-funk incorporates little bits and pieces of other dance genres and wraps into a funky style that is both fun and expressive!

Jazz Funk is a dance style of the body and mind. the word “jazz” probably derives from the slang word “jasm,” which originally meant energy, vitality, spirit, pep. At The Dance Lab, we offer Jazz Dance classes from age 3 years of age.