Jazz Dance Lessons: The Step Touch

Jazz dancing has evolved from two different eras in American history. The earliest forms of the dance came from an African American dance between 1800 and 1900. Since then broadway choreographers have taken it to new places. In the 50's when jazz was the main style of both dance and music tap dance was the style of dance most popular. As the era progressed new dances began to take form such as the Cakewalk, Charleston and Lindy Hop. Tap dance became more of it's own style in itself as modern jazz dancing began to evolve. It is considered a very difficult dance to attain mastery but with work, persistence and these videos you will be that much closer.

In this free video series, watch as dancer Maila Damian teaches how to jazz dance or beginners. Learn how to do the step touch, the pivot, the kick ball change, jazz squares, the sachet, the passe, the drag step, and a full jazz dance routine. Start learning the art of dance today!

"Hi! My name is Maila Damian on behalf of Expert Village. I'm a dance choreographer, fitness expert, and performer for over 15 years. Today, I"m going to be showing you how to do basic jazz dance. Let's get started. If at first it seems kind of hard, don't worry. Just keep practicing and you'll get it. So, let's get started. We're going to learn step touch. First, step to the side and touch our foot to the ground. Great. Now, the other side. Step and touch. Make sure you really point that toe to the ground like this, and point. Now, again, let's do it slow. Step and touch, step and touch, 2 more, step and touch, and step and touch. Now, for our hands we're going to do up and down, up, down, up, down, and last one. Together it's going to be 1, 2, step, and touch. Great and touch, last one, together. Now we're going to do it a little bit faster now. Ready, begin. 1, and 2 more. Good job. Now you're ready to learn the next step."