Education & Community Programmes

JazzCotech have worked on educational projects over the years and to name all of them would take up all of the website. Below are the most memorable and influential projects we have been involved with

The JazzCo2

(JazzCotech Juniors - All Grown Up!)

what started a few years ago as an experiment has become one of the biggest phenomenon of the UK Jazz Dance scene. Whilst teaching Dance for Redbridge and Luton Borough Council in 2003, Christiane got frustrated with the lack of awareness from young people on where today's popular music has its roots. So when she was asked to put together 'something different' for a Dance show in Ilford, she hand picked 6 young people and taught them a Jazz Dance choreography, using JazzCotech teaching principles and dropping a tune of heavy Brazilian Fusion Jazz on her youngsters. They took to it like ducks to water because it was something totally different from the 'Street Dance to R&B' which was usually on offer to them. Building on that first successful experiment, Christiane put together Dancers from Essex and Luton to start up a totally new group - born were The JazzCotech Juniors who performed some amazing shows between 2005 and 2007. Since these young people are, however, growing up fast, we took the decision at the end of 2007 to give them a new name: JazzCo2.
JazzCo2 are our living proof that young people can be interested in Jazz Music and Dance and thanks to some stonking performances at The Jazz Café, Kenneth Moore Theatre, The Royal Festival Hall and Luton Carnival, they have continuously helped us to prove our critics wrong that youngsters just aren't interested. They are - you just have to take it to them. So, under Christiane's Leadership, Anna, Annabelle, Laura, Maria, Shannon and Sophie will continue the legacy of JazzCotech in years to come, no doubt. If you are between the age of 14 and 18 and are interested in watching or participating in a JazzCo2 rehearsal, please contact us on info@jazzcotech.com.

STREET-FUSION JAZZ DANCE CLASSES

The Hat Factory, 65-67 Bute Street, Luton LU1 2EU

In addition to our regular classes for Adults as part of Shiftless Shuffle, we also hold courses at the hat factory, 65 Bute Street , Luton . Courses run for 8 weeks at the time and include a choreography which will be performed by Course participants at the hat factory at the end of the course.
The next course start:
Monday 29th Septmember 2008. Adults only (17 years and over)
7:45 - 9:00pm £5.00 per class, payable on the day
Performance at Bustin' Loose club night on Saturday 22nd November 2008

Not School Project

Not School is a Charity organisation who helps disadvantaged young people who cannot attend school for serious personal reasons. Our collaboration with Not School consisted of the development and delivery of Street Jazz Dance workshops, with an element of education on the roots of both Jazz Music and Dance. The workshops were designed exclusively with the objective to build the young people’s confidence, encourage them to work with other young people and perform what they’ve learned to a limited audience. This was a national project covering the whole of the UK over a 3 month period.

Yale University

In October 2001, we were especially honoured to take our Dance style to Yale University in Connecticut, USA. The Centre of British Arts, associated with Yale University invited us to present a lecture on Street-Fusion-Jazz-Dance, its history, origins and future, and ourselves, which was a fairly new concept to us at the time. In addition, we spent several days working with 2 very different groups of students: one a group of Students of the actual University, the other a group of Students of a ‘Technical College’ in the neighbourhood. Normally, these Students would not mix, as they are from total opposites of the social spectrum. Through Jazz Dance, we brought them together, as they had to learn and perform a choreography at the end of the week. The experience was a new phenomenon at Yale and one which has yet to be repeated.

Jazz FM Schools Project

Between 1999 and 2001, we partnered Jazz FM Radio’s educational programme of teaching the history of Jazz Music and Dance in secondary schools throughout the UK. Over the 3 year programme, we visited some 100 schools which had answered an invitation to participate in the programme by Nestlé who sponsored the event. At each school, the young people were taught a 3 hour workshop in either Jazz Music or Jazz Dance. During the workshops, they learned either a musical score or a dance choreography, which they would then have to perform in front of their peers, teachers and families during an evening concert at the end of the day, performing alongside the JazzCotech Dancers and the Jazz FM Quartet. This was definitely the largest educational programme we have been involved in so far which paved the way for our own educational projects.

JazzCotech Dancers have hosted numerous workshops in the UK and abroad, for more information please contact Perry.