Zur Retention afrikanischer Tanzstile in den USA bis heute
Today every dancer has to learn isolation and multiplication as the two characteristic techniques of Jazz and Tap Dance. Isolation means that the body does not move as a unit as in Western dance styles, but is split in its different parts: head, shoulders, ribcage, pelvis, legs and arms. These parts are moved as independent centers. Therefore one can also say that isolation means polycentrics. Multiplication on the other hand signifies that a movement - say the step - is executed not as one single motion, but is divided by adding, between step and step, several offbeat fractions. Isolation and multiplication are found in Africa and Afro-America. They prove the retention of African dance techniques in the two Americas.
Generally, we can distinguish three African dance styles in America. Of Sudanese origin is in America the Tap Dance; Soft Shoe dancing is originated in West Africa: Congo and Angola must be seen as the homelands of American Jazz Dance. Sudanese dancers prefer noisy and isolated motions of their legs. Some authors still proclaim that Tap Dance is derived from the Irish Jig. Both styles, indeed, Sudanese Juba (Black Tap Dance) and Irish Jig, do use the legs as hammers or drums. But whereas the Black Tap uses multiplication, the Irish Jig does not.
Jazz Dance is of a polycentric nature, with the isolated pelvis as its main center. Pelvic motions are characteristic of Congo dances. In America they were retained in Brazil, the West Indies and New Orleans (Congo Square Congo Dances). In 1917 the Congo- pelvis style was for the first time called Jazz Dance. The Shimmy became its most famous expression. After 1930 the original black dancing had to creep back into the ghettoes. But with Rock'n'Roll (1954), Twist (1960), and the modern Soul dances, black pelvic dancing reappeared in a worldwide triumph. The Soul Dances in particular prove the retention of African dance techniques and dance styles in the USA up to this day.