What, technically, are jazz hands?
Where did they come from? Who started them? And why do I keep hearing the term?
Open your hand so that your fingers are as open as they can be (your hand will be flat, your fingers are stretched so that there is as much space as you can get betwen each finger. Your thumb and pinky are as far apart as is possible.)
Those are jazz hands.
My guess? Bob Fosse. (Or at least they’re associated with the style of dancing that he choreographed)
I have no idea. They don’t come up in regular conversation with my friends - but then, we don’t have the same friends.
For it to be jazz hands, you have to waggle your hands back and forth while keeping them open the way amarinth describes. For maximum effect, put a big open-mouthed grin on your face and maybe go down on one knee. Your hands should be vertical and raised to be even with your head. I have no idea where the cliche comes from, but there it is.
Marley, what you described sounds a lot like Al Jolson doing “Mammy” or at least a parody of it.
While that may be the first thing that springs to mind, it is certainly not the best or only example of “jazz hands.” In fact, it may not be an example at all, as I’m not sure that’s what Jolson was doing.
Bob Fosse will forever be associated with both “jazz hands” and the loose-limbed dance style he perfected for his third wife Gwen Verdon, as she had knock knees as a result of a chilhood bout of rickets. He started dancing that way himself because he was pigeon-toed.
While Fosse is famous for the use of ‘jazz hands,’ that same open handed gesture was present at the dawn of Jazz decades earlier. I remember Al Jolson and minstrel singers using them (well, not remember because I was there, I’ve seen pictures).
My WAG is that they’re related to native African dance with the raised open hand shaking overhead. It then made it’s way into Gospel services and the jazz culture. Since the open faced palms were not part of classical dance, it then got termed ‘jazz hands.’
For all of you still wondering what ‘jazz hands’ look like, rent “All That Jazz,” a semi-autobiographical movie of Bob Fosse. Good movie. Jazz hands galore.
Peace.