Warm up your jazz hands.
The Egg Center for the Performing Arts will host its Jazz Dance Project this Saturday, Jan. 17, at the Schenectady Public Library at 11 a.m.
The program will be offered in libraries throughout the Capital District until the end of the month, as well as The National Museum of Dance, the Schenectady Jewish Community Center and the Barnes and Noble bookstore in Colonie Center.
Jo Adams, a librarian at the Schenectady Public Library, said the reception of programs that the library has offered in the past has been positive. People absolutely love them, she said. Last year’s program was on George Gershwin. Adams said the turnout was `incredible.`
The Jazz Dance Project is part of the ongoing `Living Legacy` initiative. Through main stage performances and outreach programs in community cultural centers, the initiative explores the relationship between jazz and dance performance by tracing its history and demonstrating its relevance to modern audiences, choreographers and musicians.
`It’s the type of programming that libraries really appreciate. We’re on the lookout for programs that will relate to the [library’s] collection,` said Adams.
Adams said the library’s collection includes biographies of dancers, videos, and magazines that deal with music, dance and the arts. She said that besides teaching the public about the history of Jazz, it’s also a way for libraries to attract the public to show them items that might be of interest to them.
This year’s program will explore the history of jazz dance through dance demonstrations and historic video footage.
Choreographers who were most influential in the development of the history of jazz will be highlighted, and there will be audience participation, as well.
Rusty Frank, a tap dancer and lindy hopper, producer, choreographer, writer and dance preservationist, will be traveling from California to teach the course and offer demonstrations on the various styles of jazz dance.
`Approximately once a year we try to put together a program that studies the legacy of a specific artist or art form normally associated with artists from New York,` said Peter Lesser, director of the EGG Performing Arts Center.
He said that this year’s program is really an overview of all of the different styles of jazz dance and their history.
`How they started out as social dances and then how they translated to the stage an screen,` said Lesser.
`[Frank will] cover things like swing dancing and the knee hop and all of the various social dances that are associated with jazz, as well as tap dancing, which is more of a performance style,` said Lesser.
He said that she’ll also cover the routes of Jazz dance and talk about the various dancers, choreographers and other performers who were on the stage or screen.
Rusty Frank is the author of book, `TAP! The Greatest Tap Dance Stars and Their Stories,` she is the producer and choreographer of the stage reviews `Swingin’ the Century ` the Big Band Show,` and `Jazz Tap.`
She has won numerous awards, including the Tap Dance Preservation Award from New York State’s American Tap Dance Foundation and the Historic Preservation Award from the Art Deco Society of California. She is also part of the Smithsonian Institute’s Jazz Oral History Project and has appeared in many dance documentaries. For information on Rusty Frank, visit www.rustyfrank.com.
The Jazz Dance Project will be held at the Schenectady Public Library, 99 Clinton Street, Schenectady. For information, call 388-4500.“