Whether America is a ‘melting pot’ or a ‘mixed salad’ is an enduring metaphorical debate among historians, philosophers, and sociologists alike. Some believe our nation’s collective mentality is numerous separate cultures bumping against each other but never melding, while some believe our nation’s mentality is one new culture, informed and influenced by, but separate from all other world cultures. Perhaps there are some aspects of both conditions in our society. However, the aspects of our fledgling nation that feature a unique and complete blend of differing styles to create a new culture are the ones that deserve the most celebration. Jazz dance is a perfect example of this new culture of togetherness. Its history is directly correlated
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The melding process itself was certainly painful for the African people, who found themselves oppressed by European cruelty and its culture. Under the yoke of slavery, slaves’ self-expression was forbidden, and their tradition, now that they were in America, was almost entirely improvisational. Slaves found self-expression in “the stamping and shuffling of bare feet, the clapping and patting of hands against the body” (Ralabate), which mixed in with the slave owners’ preexisting sense of culture. This, the earliest form of jazz, can also arguably be defined as the earliest form of pure American identity wherein American expression is no longer simply European or African, but a mixture of both. The coming together to form early jazz was each culture’s innate, childlike moment of discovery: we are not so different after …show more content…
Jones, a motivated, gifted, American jazz choreographer, is working to broaden the scope of jazz even further by representing today’s civil rights issues in his dance. Having grown up in a world that is more or less accepting of the various world cultures that make up America’s identity, Jones is now looking to make jazz dance even more inclusive. Jones “scandalized some audiences by partnering male dancers, and … addressed subjects such as racism and AIDS” ("Bill T. Jones | Biography - American Choreographer and Dancer."), echoing the ‘scandal’ of imitating African dance in what was considered a European setting. Artists like Jones are not content with jazz–and furthermore America–simply including foreign cultures in its identity, but are pushing for jazz and America to include all of its
The melding process itself was certainly painful for the African people, who found themselves oppressed by European cruelty and its culture. Under the yoke of slavery, slaves’ self-expression was forbidden, and their tradition, now that they were in America, was almost entirely improvisational. Slaves found self-expression in “the stamping and shuffling of bare feet, the clapping and patting of hands against the body” (Ralabate), which mixed in with the slave owners’ preexisting sense of culture. This, the earliest form of jazz, can also arguably be defined as the earliest form of pure American identity wherein American expression is no longer simply European or African, but a mixture of both. The coming together to form early jazz was each culture’s innate, childlike moment of discovery: we are not so different after …show more content…
Jones, a motivated, gifted, American jazz choreographer, is working to broaden the scope of jazz even further by representing today’s civil rights issues in his dance. Having grown up in a world that is more or less accepting of the various world cultures that make up America’s identity, Jones is now looking to make jazz dance even more inclusive. Jones “scandalized some audiences by partnering male dancers, and … addressed subjects such as racism and AIDS” ("Bill T. Jones | Biography - American Choreographer and Dancer."), echoing the ‘scandal’ of imitating African dance in what was considered a European setting. Artists like Jones are not content with jazz–and furthermore America–simply including foreign cultures in its identity, but are pushing for jazz and America to include all of its