Charleston & Jazz Roots is Swing dancing in its solo form. This African-American dance style originated in the 1900s, where it was a way of expression for those enslaved and forced to work in plantations. It was their way to escape the extreme hardships they faced. Nowadays Modern Jazz has a much different aesthetic and feeling to Jazz Roots. It is improvisational and loose-limbed, you don't have to look a certain way or point your toes in a specific direction - you can be you!