Jazz hands

Jazz hands

Jazz hands in performance dance is the extension of a performer's hands with palms toward the audience and fingers splayed. It is commonly associated with especially exuberant types of performance such as musicals, cheerleading, show choir, revue, and especially jazz dance shows.^{[citation needed]} In cheerleading, the position with arms outstretched and fingers wiggling up and down is sometimes referred to as spirit fingers or jazz fingers. Depending on the performance venue, both gestures can be associated with campiness.

Probably the biggest proponent of jazz hands was the late Bob Fosse, who incorporated them in nearly all of his Broadway and film musical choreography. The best example of this is the opening musical number of Pippin (musical), Magic to Do, in which still illuminated jazz hands are the first thing the audience sees.

Description

The basic jazz hands position is defined by open hands with palms facing forward, and the fingers splayed while shaking hands and moving fingers. The arm is often straight, with the fingers spread wide open. This hand position is referred to as the jazz hand. This definition is further bolstered by Gus Giordano defining jazz hands as the "[p]alm of [the] hand facing forward with fingers stretched." It is also repeated again in a similar manner by one of Frank Hatchett's instructions in his jazz dance book: "spread fingers (jazz hands); face palms front."

Neither Gus Giordano nor Frank Hatchett include shaking the hands as part of instruction or as a definition for jazz hands. Such a motion may be used if the choreographer specifies it, in which case the hands may be shaken, as if jingling a tambourine.

Other uses

The term is also used humorously in the United Kingdom to refer to the shaking of the extremities, most noticeably the hands and fingers, that occurs in a bout of delirium tremens.