Jazz Dance, an indigenous American art form rooted in Black American people and culture, is often mislabeled and misunderstood. Arguing that the history of jazz dance is closely tied to the history of racism in the United States, Guarino will present the obscured story of how normalized Whiteness permeated the form so that, today, participants and audiences alike participate unaware in misguided appropriation of artistic capital. By tracing jazz from its roots in West Africa, to its origins in African American culture, to its myriad manifestations today, one can more clearly see how jazz both reflects and subverts American values and offers limitless potential for better understanding the complexity of American identity.