Mirage Jazz/Lyrical Combo
Jazz Funk is a style of dance that combines elements of hip-hop, jazz, and lyrical dance. Although it borrows from hip-hop, it is not considered a style of hip-hop because the foundational movements are jazz. Jazz is an exciting and ever evolving dance form full of rhythm, syncopation, passion and life. Steeped in the rhythm of jazz music, a true American art form, jazz dance brings energy and life to all those who dance it by exploring body isolations of the head, shoulders, ribcage, feet and arms and encourage individual expression and the development of personal style. Jazz can be powerful and percussive or expressive and lyrical. Ever evolving, jazz dance is taught with the music of today together with the classical jazz of yesterday. Classes teach basic jazz dance technique, terminology and movement quality with an emphasis on proper execution of jazz isolations, rhythms and style performed to contemporary music. Lyrical dance is a style of dance created from the fusion of ballet with jazz and contemporary dance techniques and is a "cousin" to those styles. Lyrical dancing is performed to music with lyrics to inspire movements to express strong emotions the choreographer feels from the lyrics in the chosen song. Because lyrical dancing focuses on the expression of strong emotion, the style concentrates more on individual approach and expressiveness than the precision of the dancer's movements. The emergent lyrical style has a relatively recent history and a genesis based on the coming together of ballet with rock/folk/pop/alternative music and a variety of jazz dance styles and modern dance.