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Alfred “Pepsi” Bethel is best known for his mark on Authentic Jazz Dance as a performer and teacher in the mid-20th century. Bethel was one of few practitioners of authentic jazz dance in the post-big band/swing era. His career thrived in social, competitive, and professional venues including nightclubs such as the famed Savoy Ballroom, his self-formed Southland 400 Club, the Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers, and his Los Angeles based group The Jivadeers. In the 1970s Bethel extended his authentic jazz influence as a teacher with permanent teaching positions at the Alvin Ailey School and Clark Center for Performing Arts. Bethel became known for his unique approach to teaching, featuring a rhythmic delivery, an emphasis on individual expressiveness, live music, and combinations derived from authentic jazz dance movement vocabulary.

This chapter offers a brief overview of jazz dance styles. Styles that are defined include authentic jazz dance, tap dance, club jazz dance, jazz-influenced dance, rhythm-generated jazz dance, theatrical jazz dance, Afro-Carribean jazz dance, Broadway jazz dance, classical jazz dance, commercial jazz dance, concert jazz dance, contemporary jazz dance, Latin jazz dance, lyrical jazz dance, pop jazz dance, West-coast jazz dance, vernacular jazz dance, hip-hop dance, funk, and street jazz dance. Styles are grouped in a way that suggests shared roots and aesthetic principals. Readers are encouraged to refer to this section as a glossary but to keep in mind that many of the styles fall into more than one category and can even overlap with other styles in its group.

The manifold varieties of jazz dance have always dominated dance in mainstream American cinema. Given jazz dance’s African roots and its many manifestations in the African-American vernacular, it is not surprising that its use in film almost always implicates issues of race and racism. This article looks at vernacular jazz dance in mainstream American cinema as a focal point of American race relations, focusing on two particularly influential areas of popular vernacular jazz dance: first, the authentic jazz dance developed alongside the jazz music of the 1920s to 40s and featured prominently in films of the same period; and second, the hip-hop dance which first appeared in film in the 1980s and which continues to be hugely popular in contemporary commercial cinema (as well as music television). Early jazz tap figures discussed include Bill Robinson, Jeni LeGon, and the Nicholas Brothers.