User:Wikimime/draft article on Jazzo

Jazzo is an original human body methodology developed by Jacob “Yasha” Michelson based on an adaptation of dance biomechanics. It is comprised of Jazzo Dance Technique, an approach to discovering one’s personal dance style, Jazzo Body Culture, the application of the methodology to physical and mental well-being, and Mimoda Jazzo, its application to movement-based performance.

Created to allow everyone — performers and non-performers — to experience dance while developing their body awareness and exploring their potential for aesthetic and expressive movement to music, Jazzo’s method is to help people discover their personal dance and movement style correspondent to their natural impulses rather than imposing a structured or codified technique. It was designed in a way that people can explore the beauty of movement and experience the pleasure of dance and use it expressively without extensive training or high athletic ability.

Jazzo Dance Technique
Based on dance biomechanics — the elements that are common to all forms of dance — Jazzo Dance Technique was originally envisioned as an idea for uniting all non-structured, freestyle, and improvisational dance under one umbrella. It evolved into a dance technique that allows both professionally-trained and non-professional participants to enjoy dance using only those dance biomechanics principles, while freeing them from relying on classical, modern, and other structured dance techniques and their vocabularies. The name Jazzo takes its inspiration from the freedom from traditional structure that is characteristic of jazz music.

Michelson observed that even when using the same dance biomechanic principles, each person demonstrates a personal style of dance. One can think of Dance Jazzo as an “open-source” technique in that it provides tools for each individual to discover and explore their personal dance style. The result of this experience can lead each individual to incorporate dance into their lifestyle as a performing art, a hobby, or a sport.

Jazzo Body Culture
Jazzo Body Culture is a set of disciplines that help one master awareness of the body and the development, through Jazzo Dance activities, of its naturally aesthetic appearance as the ideal body (known in Jazzo as the physical alter-ego) versus an artificially-sculpted body.

Jazzo Body Culture enhances life by providing tools for achieving self-realization. Whereas some philosophies approach this goal by promoting a person’s connection to nature or to the spirit, Jazzo pursues it through one’s connection to art. It addresses an individual’s health from three perspectives: physical fitness, mental outlook, and nutrition.

Physical Fitness
Physical fitness in Jazzo means enhancing both the body’s physical condition and its appearance. In addressing physical condition, Jazzo Body Culture employs a series of physical exercises to engage participants’ entire bodies in an exploration of movement. Usually conducted in conjunction with rhythmic music of various styles, the exercises guide them toward creating movements from inner inspiration and intuitive response to music rather than by mimicking an external style. In the process, the exercises are intended to improve participants’ range of motion, flexibility, stamina, strength, and rhythmic coordination.

While the structure of Jazzo includes a vocabulary of body positions and movement types, it also allows for improvisation. The emphasis in Jazzo Body Culture is on the enjoyment of movement rather than on achieving a certain level of skill in a particular movement style or technique.

In addressing body appearance, Jazzo Body Culture promotes the attainment of a physique and overall outward appearance with which the individual is comfortable and satisfied, suggesting ways to monitor and evaluate one’s progress toward this goal.

Mental Outlook
The practice of Jazzo exercises offers an opportunity to experience the physical pleasure of movement to music, and aims to create a comfortable atmosphere in which participants can escape the anxieties of everyday life, contributing to their mental well-being. These exercises can offer some of the many known benefits of physical exercise on a person’s psychological attitude and positive outlook on life, and can be both meditative and therapeutic.

Nutrition
Jazzo Body Culture includes guidance for nutritional practices that complement the physical and mental benefits and help contribute to one’s overall well-being.

Mimoda Jazzo
Mimoda Jazzo is a physical theatre company based in Los Angeles, California, USA, whose members use Jazzo Dance as the basis for performance. In a mixture of arts including acting, dance, mime, improvisation, singing, music, and film, the company creates stylized performance pieces for the stage and screen.

Origin and Development
Jazzo was created by visual artist Jacob “Yasha” Michelson. Born in Georgia, USSR, and raised in both Latvia and Israel, Michelson was originally trained as a traditional Greco-Roman wrestler. He fell in love with movement while studying at Israel’s Wingate Institute (also known as the Orde Wingate Institute for Physical Education and Sports). After years of intensive exploration in classical and modern dance, he felt his studies were no longer progressing and his interests shifted to other arts. He began researching fashion, design, fine art, photography, and film.

Eventually becoming an award-winning film producer, Michelson returned to dance by creating dance films, which led to an interest in physical theatre, mime, and movement-based performance in general. To experiment with new ideas about movement, he converted a longtime Los Angeles dance studio into what is now called Mimoda Studio, expanding its use into a multi-purpose creative space that hosts classes and workshops in dance and mime as well as music performances and film screenings, serves as a filming location, and is the home for his exploration and development of Jazzo. The studio hosts Jazzo Body Culture classes and is both the rehearsal and performance space for the Mimoda Jazzo company.

Michelson’s extensive knowledge in the fields of nutrition and alternative healing, along with his passion for movement, lead him to create Jazzo Body Culture.