Familiarize yourself with jazz dance music. The musical "Chicago" features popular jazz dance music such as "Hot Honey Rag" and "All That Jazz." Jazz dance music is mostly early-20th century jazz. Before you begin to dance with the music, you have to become familiar with it and absorb the beats, downbeats and melody. A huge part of jazz dance is about interpretation, so your body needs to be attuned with the music before you can start interpreting it with dance techniques.
Wear the right clothes. For practice classes, leotards and stretch pants are common, but for performances, jazz is all about detailed costumes and shoes. It is a dance closely tied with theater and show, so the right kinds of costumes, with beading and elaborate trims, will convey the bold and irreverent attitude needed for jazz performance. Jazz shoes, which are specifically made for jazz dance, should be worn at all times--these are made to help your feet with leaps and kicks.
Learn the technique. Jazz dance has basic steps that include the jazz square, which is an upper body twist; isolation, which involves intricate movements with the limbs; and chasse, which is a feet-chasing step. A lot of jazz techniques sprang out of ballet, so knowledge of ballet is helpful, too.
Go to jazz workshops. Jazz is a popular dance so most dance studios have classes dancers can take. Jazz workshops are especially important for someone learning jazz dance. Teachers will work with you in the class and coach you on your technique.
Take a body conditioning class. Jazz involves a lot of twists and flexibility, so jazz dancers take a body conditioning class to help train their body make sharp moves and turns.