Into Jazz. Jazz vernaculaire & jazz continuum (lindy-hop, solo jazz & danses urbaines afro-descendantes) [transmission 2024]

A choreographic extract remodelled by the group Sync Sync Sync, coordinator Léna Djaïz, as part of the “Danse en amateur et repertoire” programme 2023/2024 (a programme created to assist and promote amateur dancing).

Transmission by Natasha Powell 

Presented on 15 June 2024, Le Manège de Reims.

The group

Sync Sync Sync (Paris, Île-de-France)

The dance school BrotherSwing, now known as Swingydibop, has been in operation for around ten years. In 2020, a new teaching team arrived with a fresh approach. The team members teach dance, along with jazz culture, once a week on average and spend part of their free time studying and promoting authentic jazz culture and heritage. Throughout the year, the group regularly practices the Lindy Hop and “air steps”, or lifts and tricks. Three times a year, the group Sync Sync Sync comes together at the 104 centre in Paris for residencies to develop their choreography. Each month, the regular swing ball held at the Bellevilloise gives them an opportunity to present the latest stage of their work.  

The project

With this piece, created with the aid of Natasha Powell, the group aims to showcase both the roots and range of jazz dance: in other words, to honour its Afro-American heritage and original context, while recognising its extraordinary adaptability. Although showcase performances generally last for three minutes, for this performance various dancers came together to create a long-format, stand-alone piece. Developing the piece also meant learning how to combine different scenes into a coherent performance narrative. The main challenge lay in adapting a freestyle, spontaneous dance for the stage. Last but not least, the group’s aim is to broaden and rekindle the popularity of these beloved, yet underexposed dances.