What is the Jazz Funk?

A commercial, street-influenced branch of jazz dance set to hip-hop, R&B, and pop, prominent in music videos and concert choreography.

Where did the Jazz Funk originate?

The Jazz Funk originated in United States in the 1980s.

What time signature is the Jazz Funk danced in?

The Jazz Funk is danced in Hip-hop / R&B / pop.

What tempo is the Jazz Funk danced at?

The Jazz Funk is typically danced at Varies.

What is the character of the Jazz Funk?

The Jazz Funk is characterized as groovy, edgy, commercial.

Dance History›Jazz Dance›Jazz Funk

Jazz DanceJZ-FNK

Jazz Funk

Also known as: Commercial jazz

OriginUnited States

Era1980–Present

RhythmHip-hop / R&B / pop

TempoVaries

CharacterGroovy, edgy, commercial

History & Cultural Context

Jazz funk developed as jazz dance absorbed funk, hip-hop, and street styles from the 1980s onward, becoming the high-energy commercial idiom of music videos, pop tours, and concert choreography. It keeps jazz isolations and attack while adding street-style groove, texture, and attitude.

Cultural Significance

Jazz funk is central to the commercial dance industry—music videos, tours, and televised performance.

Characteristic Movement & Technique

Jazz isolations and lines fused with street-style groove, texture, and stylized attitude.

Dance Lineage

Evolved from:Vernacular Jazz

Jazz Funk Music & Tempo

Drawn from 15 Jazz Funk tracks in the LODance music library.

Example tracks at practice tempo

Gnarly — KATSEYE135 BPM
Sports car — Tate McRae107 BPM
MONA LISA — j-hope138 BPM
Abracadabra — Lady Gaga126 BPM
Anxiety — Doechii129 BPM
ExtraL (feat. Doechii) — JENNIE140 BPM

Browse & play all 15 Jazz Funktracks in the Music Library →

Legends of Jazz Funk

Dancers, choreographers and teachers whose work shaped this style.

Jojo GomezLegend of DanceChoreographed · built a documented commercial practice in jazz-funk choreography Richy JacksonLegend of DanceChoreographed · built graphic jazz-funk vocabulary for Lady Gaga and other pop artists Frank HatchettLegend of DanceTaught · brought funk attack and individual interpretation into VOP jazz training Sheryl MurakamiLegend of DanceTaught · developed and taught an athletic jazz-funk vocabulary grounded in jazz technique

Jazz Funk on screen

Films and television where Jazz Funk appears, with the sequences worth watching for.

Flashdance (1983)6 sequences indexedLoft rehearsal — ‘Maniac’ · chor. Jeffrey HornadayTina Tech’s ‘Manhunt’ number · chor. Jeffrey HornadayMawby’s mime number — ‘Imagination’ · chor. Jeffrey Hornaday

Center Stage (2000)1 sequence indexedCooper’s ballet: “Canned Heat” red-shoe finale · chor. Susan Stroman

Feel the Beat (2020)1 sequence indexedCounty competition routine · chor. Mia Michaels

Hit the Floor (2013–2018)1 sequence indexedRepresentative anchor — arena halftime routine · chor. Michael Rooney (series choreographer)

Poster artwork from TMDB.

This site uses TMDB and the TMDB APIs but is not endorsed, certified, or otherwise approved by TMDB.

Sources & Further Reading

Cultural & Historical Context

Jazz Funk emerged from United States during the 1980s—present day. Understanding the cultural roots, musical traditions, and social circumstances of this era enriches appreciation for the dance's characteristics and significance.

Primary Source Documents

The Library of Dance contains public-domain primary sources for dance history. Copyrighted modern syllabi are indexed with purchase links to their respective copyright owners. Search by dance name or codifier to discover primary source documents.

Last reviewed: September 2026 — This dance profile synthesizes historical research, cultural documentation, and contemporary practice knowledge to provide authoritative context.

More in Jazz Dance

Vernacular Jazz

The African American social-dance 'trunk' of jazz dance—ragtime steps, the Charleston, and the Lindy Hop—from which the theatrical branches grew.

Broadway / Theatrical Jazz

The presentational, musical-theater branch of jazz dance shaped by choreographers such as Jack Cole, Jerome Robbins, and Bob Fosse.

Lyrical Jazz

A late-20th-century fusion branch combining jazz technique with the continuity and emotional expression of ballet and contemporary dance, danced to lyrics-driven music.

Dunham Technique

Katherine Dunham's codified technique drawing on Caribbean and African dance, foregrounding torso isolations, polyrhythm, and a wider rhythmic range than other Western dance of its time.

Latin Jazz

The branch of American theatrical jazz dance whose rhythmic and movement basis is Afro-Cuban and Afro-Caribbean rather than Anglo-American swing. It took shape as Cuban musicians and dancers, and researchers who had worked in the Caribbean, brought clave-based rhythm and a mobile pelvis and torso into jazz dance from the 1940s onward. It matters because it is one of the few places in commercial jazz training where the African diasporic source is still explicit in the movement itself.

Vaudeville Jazz

The dance of the American variety stage from roughly the 1880s to the 1930s, where tap, eccentric dance, acrobatic and flash acts, and much of the vocabulary later called jazz dance were invented, tested nightly and professionalised. It was a working system as much as an art form: acts refined material across thousands of performances under booking agents who controlled where and for how much a dancer could work. Most of the vocabulary that survives in tap and musical theatre today was created by Black performers inside a segregated industry that paid them least and credited them last.