Walk into any jazz dance class and you will undoubtedly see the male to female ratio far from balanced. But, if you take a look at the list of past and current jazz dance pioneers you find names like Jack, Matt, Luigi, Gus, Billy, Bob, Danny, and James. . . But before I go and introduce you to some of these incredible ladies of jazz, I want to say a few things about the apparent male dominated presence in jazz dance.
Jazz dance is wholly an American art form.
It reflects the pulse of the American people more directly than any other form of dance. Until the women's lib movement of the 1960's started to shake things up, leadership positions were male dominated. Modern was the voice of the nonconformist and jazz that of the people. In jazz dance, men were encouraged to choreograph and be directors. Women were encouraged to look pretty.