Still, the dancer must take care of his or her body, because it is all they have to earn their living by. The history of dance, it is said, is incorporated into the dancer's body and once the body is gone, part of history disappears (Charman 10)
There are headshots and promotional sheets that are passed out, with the dancer's picture and resume on them. The agent is often key to getting the audition, but then it is up to the dancer to perform up to the standard that the casting agent is looking for (Kessel 23)
Training ballet dancers must be careful not to injure the knees or ankles, as the unnatural demands on the legs may cause stress. To go "en point" is the final step of the professional ballet dancer, when toe shoes are placed on the feet and the dancer dances a large part of the dance on the tips of their toes (Lee 45)
Those in films and on TV belong to the Screen Actors Guild and those in musicals are members of Actors' Equity Association. Through the unions minimum salaries, hours, benefits and other conditions are specified before the dancer signs the contract (Munger 5)
A dancer who dances all day may eat a lot, but often might be watching their weight so that costumes will not be outgrown. A dancer goes to bed early because of the demands of the profession (Salary 1)
In jazz, "we also hear ululations, grunts, hums, shouts, and melisma as integral and indispensable parts of the musical meaning of jazz renditions. In rhythm, we hear the influences of African music," (Kirchner 16)
Blues traces its roots farther back than jazz, and it may be said that jazz evolved from the blues. The blues most likely "originated on Southern plantations in the 19th Century," when slaves and sharecroppers "sang as they toiled in the cotton and vegetable fields," (Kopp)
Jazz and Drug Use The music industry has often been associated with drug use, but most people think of rock and roll or rap when they consider musicians who use drugs. It may surprise these people to know that jazz music also has its share of drug use, and that this link has been ongoing since well before the 1960s (Aldridge, 28)
Efforts were made to combat this, but they achieved only limited success. Addressed here will be several facets of the issue surrounding jazz musicians and drug use, including the Playboy panel created to talk about the connection, how Hollywood has changed the perception of jazz musicians, and whether drugs do indeed have an effect on musical ability, as some studies have appeared to show (Fachner, 14)
How people are portrayed and assumed to be is often very different from how they really are, but the portrayal is often what people remember. That was part of the issue surrounding jazz musicians and drug culture (Myers)
Music was only one feature of the artistic and literary explosion amongst New York City African-Americans that came to be known as the Harlem Renaissance, yet in many ways Jazz is the most evocative of the energy of creation, crowd, and consternation that was brewing amongst African-Americans in the era. Due to the use of slave labor on Southern farms and plantations and the continued sharecropping and employment as farm laborers of many after the end of the Civil War and slavery, the majority of the United States' African-American population was still living in the South by 1910 (Mintz 2006)
It is interesting to have such a crucial period on film. The Swing Era "was fortunately captured for feature films and short subjects at the time it was all happening," (Behlmer 1)
There is a long history of the musical tradition before film even burst onto the scene. As a true American original, "Jazz originated from pop music styles of the 1800s that were blended to satisfy social dancers," (Gridley 28)
The first talkie was Don Juan in 1926. According to research, "Ultimately Don Juan failed to recoup its production costs, a disappointed Warner Brothers shifted focus to promoting The Jazz Singer," (History Link 1)
The first Jazz record was recorded early at the beginning of the Twentieth Century and sparked a massive chain of developments based on new, emerging technologies. The first recording was in 1917, when the all white band the Original Dixie Land Jazz Band set their classic "Livery Stable Blues" on wax recording (Schoenherr 1)
The 1930s saw a huge surge in popularity of experimental and short musical performances highlighting major Jazz musicians. The Jazz Singer "led to an end of the silent movie era and the proliferation of the talkies," (Yanow 1)
Certainly, Kerouac's deep understanding and appreciation of American jazz served as his foundation for the syncopation found within the pages of On The Road. In this respect, syncopation in musical terms can be described as "an effect of rhythmic displacement created by articulating weaker beats or metrical positions" (Kernfeld, 1178), but in the case of On The Road, these rhythmic displacements and articulations were accomplished via the use of certain words and phrases, a form of "confessional, jazz-like prose" ("Influences of the Beat Generation,' Internet) which takes the reader on a strange, musical trip, much like listening to a jazz band while under the influence of drugs or alcohol
" Exactly why Kerouac decided to approach On The Road in such a manner has much to do with his personal sense of lyrical/poetical movement, wherein the words on the printed page exhibit a kind of syncopated rhythm which the reader can easily recognize via sounded musical beats and measures, strong at one point and weak at another, a type of rising and falling as with notes issuing from a saxophone played by Charlie Parker or piano notes so brilliantly executed by Thelonious Monk. In On The Road, the character of Sal Paradise exclaims to his fellow passenger in the car, Dean Moriarty, while passing through the southern section of Louisiana, "Man, do you imagine what it would be like if we found a jazz joint in these swamps, with great big fellas moanin' guitar blues and drinking snakejuice and makin' signs at us? Yes!" (Kerouac, 131)
. based on beauty, alcohol, sex, drugs, mysticism" and of course jazz music (Liukkonen, "Jack Kerouac," Internet)
He had three children, Cheryl, Gregory, and Miles, with the woman who was his childhood sweetheart, but never married her. (Frankling, 1986)