Jive Dance Information
What is Modern Jive
Modern jive (sometimes called French jive) is a relatively
new phenomenon that has only been going since 1980, mainly
in the UK, Australia and New Zealand. It has many of the qualities
of the jitterbug brought from the States during the war but
without the foot steps! It is easy to learn and can be used
for much of the modern music that is about today as well as
rock'n'roll and swing etc. The many organisations that promote
it have basically the same formula: total beginners lesson,
followed by short free-style (anyone dances with anyone),
followed by intermediate class, followed by longer free style.
You don't take lessons to learn modern jive, they are an integral
part of the evening and everybody dances with everybody -
you need not bring a partner - and a beginner will not find
their first time too daunting. It is not a precise dance like
the ballroom jive or most other swing dance but can be used
as a framework for one's own interpretation.
Although there are some slightly
different emphases, most of the organisations offer a very
similar experience and they include Ceroc, Leroc, Lejive,
Mojive etc. Don't be confused by someone asking you if you
do "Ceroc" and look at you strangely when you answer
that you do Jive too. Its like them hearing that a Hoover
is a vacuum cleaner for the first time! Our US C&W cousins
may well recognise this phenomenon as "4-beat swing".
What music can one jive to?
The marvellous thing about jive is that one can dance it to
lots of music, old to new, Swing, Rock'n'roll, Country &
Western electronic, top of the pops etc, lots of which is
played at parties, discos and nightclubs! The important thing
is that there are 4 beats in the bar (ie not a waltz!), there
is a strong beat, about 120 to 180 beats per minute (although
this does not bar one taking up the challenge of dancing faster
or dancing too slowly - but some moves may not look cool).
What is so great about it?
The evenings are not just dancing, or just teaching, they
are both (excluding some "freestyle" nights which
are just for dancing). You do not need to go with a partner
as the ethos is to dance with lots of people and the classes
rotate partners anyway. It is much quicker to learn than other
dance styles as little is said about the feet. It is very
exhilarating and your fitness will improve in leaps and bounds.  |
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