Jump Rhythm Jazz Project celebrates the communal core of jazz performance - dancing, singing, and storytelling in rhythmically syncopated conversations to the beat-driven sounds of the blues, swinging jazz, funk, hip hop, and world music.
Founded by Billy Siegenfeld in New York City in 1990, JRJP has grown into an ensemble embodying a life-affirming mix of percussive musicality and emotion-driven, vocal-rhythmic dance. Throughout performances, lecture-demonstrations and classes, Jump Rhythm shares with people of wide-ranging ages and diverse cultures its uniquely "rhythm-first," relaxed-body point of view called Jump Rhythm® Technique (JRT).
According to the New York Times, JRJP "captures the exuberant physicality of good dancers when moments of extreme control and abandon are seamlessly combined."
The performance will be preceded by a free pre-show lecture in Babka Theatre from 6:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. during which a member of JRJP will share background information on the dance company and the evening's performance. The pre-show session closes with a question-and-answer period. The Adrian Theatre and Dance Festival, occurring the same day at UD, will assemble high school students from the surrounding region who will have the unique opportunity to engage in a master class with Jump Rhythm Jazz Project.