"Jazz Ain’t Dead" at the Joyce Soho

  Most of the professional dance performances I have seen are very well known large companies that perform in huge theatres.  This was my first time viewing a much smaller company in a smaller space.  Jazz Ain’t Dead is a dance and live music fusion group.  They pay tribute to many different jazz styles.  Their current performance at the Joyce Soho is a tribute to Gershwin’s Porgy & Bess, the classic score from the 1930s.  All in all, this was a fun night.  I felt like I wanted to get up and dance to a lot of the music and it seemed the the other audience members felt the same way too.

While there was live music and singing throughout the entire show, the emphasis was on dancing.  Most of the pieces were modern pieces in a large or small group, or in pas de duexs.  I found the large group numbers to be the cleanest, most energetic, and most skilled.  The beginning and ending numbers were upbeat leaving barely any moment of silence or stillness.  The dancers in these pieces were constantly turning, leaping, doing lifts, and switching from sequence to sequence.  I found that the choreographer’s work truly shined in these moments.  The group sequences really allowed different messages (whether it be sensuality, seduction, play, confrontation) to be portrayed while still feeding off of a large group dynamic.  In addition, I found the dancers to be most on top of the moves and most engaged in these moments.  The music was so fast and high energy that the movement required extreme precision.  There was a sense of unity and it culminated in a performance that swept me away.  I felt enticed by their movement and found that the music and their movement to be so complimentary that I wanted to get up and dance with them.

In addition to large dance numbers the night was sprinkled with duets and small group numbers.  These exuded sensuality only accentuated by the music.  One duet was absolutely breathtaking.  This female dancer, all in white, had amazing extensions but also knew how to use the music with the movement.  She was fluid and connected each movement to the next, epitomizing the sensuality of the music.  Her movement informed her acting and communicated so much more than just “sex appeal” but a feeling of loss, deep emotion, and passion.  When she was on stage, I could not take my eyes off of her. 

To me, jazz is most fun in its unpredictability.  While the dance style was mostly modern there was one tap piece.  As a tapper, I absolutely loved this piece.  I do not think that this entire number was choreographed because it seemed like a dialogue between the drummer and the tapper.  In the beginning of the piece the tapper incapsulated the rhythm of the band behind him.  By the end of the piece he was having a “stand off” with the drummer.  Both were doing a call and response with rhythm getting faster and more complicated with each challenge.  This was such fun to watch.  This tapper had been in Bring in Da Noise, Bring in Da Funk on Broadway and was using his tap dancing in a different way than the other choreography.  Tap is about making music with your dancing and this dancer found so many different rhythms and sounds with his feet.  His feet moved so fast that he even chipped the wood off of his dancing platform!

Would I recommend seeing this show?  Yes.  It’s a fun performance that makes you want to jump up and dance.  However, there are aspects of it that are a little problematic: they did have technical issues, the emcee seemed a little off, and I found some of the dancing to be unequal with the the larger group numbers.  But all in all, I had a good time and came away in a good mood.