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The student will:
1. Demonstrate intermediate level competence in essential
ballet, jazz and modern dance skills.
2. Practice dramatic performance of dance sequences through
movement quality and facial expressions.
3. Expand his or her movement repertoire to include flowing,
expressive and graceful qualities within a jazz dance
context.
4. Improvise lyrical jazz dance movement to hone the
expressive capacities essential to performance of
lyrical jazz dance and to discover personal lyrical
jazz dance style.
5. Choreograph a lyrical jazz dance combination.
6. Perform lyrical jazz dance sequences or dances for the
class and/or an audience.
7. Demonstrate theoretical understanding of lyrical jazz
dance.
8. Develop musicality i.e. relating of dance movement to
the phrasing, rhythm, mood and lyrics of the music.
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I. Lyrical Jazz characteristics
A. Floor work (movement that takes place on a low level i.e.
sitting, lying or kneeling on the floor or moving through
sitting, lying or kneeling positions)
B. Balletic movements and vocabulary
C. Modern dance movements and vocabulary
D. Emotional expressiveness in body movement and facial
expression
E. Jazz dance isolations such as shoulder, rib and hip movements
F. Prevalence of sustained (i.e. smooth and continuous) movements
and transitions contrasted with strongly accented movements
G. Musicality i.e. relating dance movement to the phrasing,
rhythm, mood and lyrics of the music.
II. Lyrical Jazz Warm-ups emphasizing the stylistic characteristic
above
A. Opening warm-up segment
1. Gross movement patterns and rhythmical movement designed
to increase the blood flow and the internal temperature
of the muscles
2. Secondary focus on articulation of the spine through
the sagittal and frontal planes of the body
B. Isolations i.e. movements of one part of the body at a time
such as head and neck movements, shoulder movements, rib cage
and pelvis movements
C. Footwork and plies
1. Articulation of the feet and ankles
2. External rotation of the hip joints (turnout)
3. Vertical alignment of the spine
4. Strengthening of the quadriceps and hip flexors
D. Legwork
1. Leg extensions that demand leg strength and flexibility;
vertical alignment of the spine
2. Off-center movements of the torso
3. Placement of the extremities in relation to the torso
4. Balance
E. General stretching and strengthening
1. Muscles of the back, legs, hips, feet
2. The body's core, i.e. the lumbar/pelvic abdominal
regions of the body
III."Across the Floor" i.e. locomotor movements
A. Emphasis on traveling through space
B. Lyrical jazz dance steps and movement vocabulary that will
serve as the building blocks for lyrical jazz choreography
C. Lyrical jazz turns based on a combination of ballet, jazz and
modern movement vocabulary
IV. Lyrical Jazz Combinations
A. Longer dance sequences that integrate the elements of
technique practiced throughout the previous segments of class
and the stylistic characteristics of lyrical jazz dance
B. Challenge the dance student to rapidly assimilate and retain
complex dance sequences
C. Attention to detail and performance quality
D. Capabilities associated with lyrical jazz dance
1. Emotional expressiveness throughout the body
2. Facial expressions that reflect the mood or feeling of
the choreography and music
3. Dynamic contrast i.e. changes in energy flow
4. Enhanced connection to the music in terms of:
a. accenting movements with musical accents
b. reflecting the impact of the mood of the music in
movement quality
c. rhythmical timing
V. Student choreography demonstrating the distinctive features of the
lyrical jazz dance style
A. Improvisational experiences
1. Spontaneous creation of lyrical jazz dance movements
2. Precursor to actual choreography
B. Combination (dance sequence) in the lyrical jazz dance style
C. Synthesis of lyrical jazz dance vocabulary and stylistic
elements with the student's personal style and movement
inventions
D. Performance of choreography for the class
