WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 16th, 2013
In the quest for "Jazz Hands" wisdom we must look to the masters. Frank Hatchett, considered "The Dr. of Jazz," has more experience on the subject than most can dream of...in his book "Frank Hatchett's Jazz Dance" he describes "Jazz Hands" as "spread fingers; face palms front." Extensive, yes? Gus Giordano, American jazz dancing guru defines the move as "palm of the hand facing forward with fingers outstretched." Notably, neither master includes the "shaking of hands" in their definition, yet you see dancers shaking those hands like tambourines quite often. Go figure.
Another legend, Liza Minelli, is a treasure chest of hand jazzing samples. In her role as Sally Bowles in the Broadway show Caberet, Ms. Minelli uses Jazz Hands extensively (note: tambourine hand shake nowhere to be seen). More importantly, I realize now the inspiration for the character Alex DeLarge in Stanley Kubrick's 1971 film "A Clockwork Orange." Amazing how similar in appearance these two characters are and it's very possible, due to the timing, that Kubrick saw Minelli's performance a year or so before molding his ultraviolent DeLarge.
It turns out that jazz dance requires structure and discipline to move to an established choreography, a concept most uncomfortable to me. Another master from another genre, while speaking of a direct influence of his, Kurt Cobain said the band Scratch Acid had great pop structure that you could really get into, like Aerosmith, but all fucked up (paraphrasing). I would argue that this is what I really appreciate about Nirvana's music and the movie "A Clockwork Orange" as well, but could never quite figure out how to articulate my point. Kurt Cobain was never a man of many words, but he nailed it on that occasion.
It turns out that jazz dance requires structure and discipline to move to an established choreography, a concept most uncomfortable to me. Another master from another genre, while speaking of a direct influence of his, Kurt Cobain said the band Scratch Acid had great pop structure that you could really get into, like Aerosmith, but all fucked up (paraphrasing). I would argue that this is what I really appreciate about Nirvana's music and the movie "A Clockwork Orange" as well, but could never quite figure out how to articulate my point. Kurt Cobain was never a man of many words, but he nailed it on that occasion.
The point is that this is a challenge for someone like myself. If I must do Jazz Hands every day it will be on my own terms. It will have a solid foundation derived from the aforementioned masters, but will carry with it a sense of chaos and disorder. More DeLarge than Bowles. More Miles Davis than John Coltrane. More Nirvana than, dare I say Aerosmith? Today I practice structure, though. I can not improvise until I have mastered the fundamentals. Spread fingers, facing palms forward, arms outstretched, omitting the tambourine shake of hands...Day sixteen complete.
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