Hi, I'm Melanie.

I love dancing. I love swing, jazz.

I’ve been studying and dancing this music for about eleven years now. I’ve danced in Argentina, Spain, Ireland, and now Poland, and along the way I’ve met so many dancers, teachers, musicians and people who have influenced the way I understand this dance.

I created this platform because I wanted a place to put some of the things I love about vernacular jazz — the dancers, the old clips, the rhythms, the movements, the ideas behind them… and also the things I’m still figuring out.

I definitely don’t know everything. Actually, the more I study, the more I realise how much there is that I don’t know.

And I like that.

I studied psychology, so I’m very interested in how movement feels, how we connect to it, and what happens emotionally when we dance. At the same time, I’m constantly looking through old clips, researching dancers, talking to people, asking questions, and trying to understand a little bit more about where this dance comes from.

And I know from my own experience that sometimes you learn one small thing from someone, and it completely changes the way you dance.

So maybe something I share here will do that for someone else.

That’s really what I’d like this platform to be: a place to learn, search, dance, share, and keep being curious together.

So… let’s talk, let’s dance, and let’s meet along the way.

Welcome to The Jazz Notebook.

What is Vernacular Jazz?

I want to approach this dance with respect — to respect jazz as a vernacular form, its history, its roots, and the core values that make this dance what it is.

“Vernacular Jazz embodies African American values. Vernacular Jazz reflects a way of looking at the world and provides a means of survival.”
Steppin’ on the Blues, 1996

For me, Vernacular Jazz is:

Rhythm.

History.

Community.

Rebellion.

Individuality.

It’s not only about learning steps or reproducing movements. It’s about understanding the culture, bringing the music into your body, feeling it, understanding it, and being able to express it through your own individuality as a dancer.

Everything inside this library comes from that place of curiosity — looking at old clips, studying dancers, exploring rhythms and movements, and trying to understand the culture and history behind the dance.

I hope it inspires your own curiosity.

Let’s learn. Let’s search. Let’s dance.