Jazz hands! A history
Posted by staff / August 21, 2016
If you’ve ever gotten anywhere near musical theater, you know the term “jazz hands,” and if you were in musical theater, your fingers just shot out in perfect form.
Where did the famed gesture originate, though, and when did it become so gosh-darned fabulous?
As Atlas Obscura discovered:
The exact origins of jazz hands are a bit murky, but as with most performative dance, it likely has its roots in African dance traditions. “I see one thread of it coming up through the African-American foundation of jazz dance, and that authentic jazz tradition,” says Rebecca Katz Harwood, Associate Professor of Musical Theater at the University of Minnesota, Duluth. “In as much as vaudeville grows out of minstrelsy, that’s another step backwards on the family tree of jazz hands.”
The move went mainstream thanks to choreographer Bob Fosse in shows such as Pippin, as demonstrated below:
Whatever their beginnings and no matter how cheesy the move, it’s tough not to smile waving your spirit fingers.
Full story at Atlas Obscura.
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