Jive is a dance style in 4/4 time that originated among African-Americans in the early 1940s. It is a lively and uninhibited variation of the Jitterbug, a form of Swing dance. In Ballroom dancing, Jive is one of the five International Latin dances. In competition it is danced at a speed of 44 bars per minute, although in other cases this is reduced to between 32 and 40 bars per minute. Many of its basic patterns are similar to these of the East Coast Swing with the major difference of highly syncopated rhythm of the Triple Steps (Chasses), which use straight eighths in ECS and hard swing in Jive.
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History
Jive (or the correct term jitterbug jive) is named after a 30's Mickey Mouse cartoon where Mickey and Minnie danced a country style jitterbug. The name came from Jitterbugs being the dancers and Jive meaning fake or not right. But, the dance steps are actually derived originally from country dancing. The turns and overhead moves are a direct descendant of some very old English country dances where couples cross over in a diagonal. Jive actually has nothing to do with the Lindy Hop, Charleston or any other body lead dance of the time, this is due to the dance being hand lead rather than body lead as in all the other swing dances of the 30's and 40's. Real 30's jive dancing is very smooth and with sliding footwork whereas later the footwork was not as smooth due to the dancers lifting their feet so as not to trip on rough floor boards or the local rough country entertainment establishments. American soldiers brought these dances to Europe around 1940, where they swiftly found a following among the young. After the war, the boogie became the dominant form for popular music. However, it was never far from criticism as a foreign, vulgar dance. The famous ballroom dancing guru, Alex Moore, said that he had "never seen anything uglier". English instructors developed the elegant and lively Jive, danced to slightly slower music. In 1968 it was adopted as the fifth Latin dance in International competitions.
Basic step
The basic step (Jive Basic) is an 8-step pattern.
- Leader:
- Counts 1 2 - Rock step: left foot step back, right foot replace
- Counts 3 a4 - Chasse to the left
- Counts 5 a6 - Chasse to the right
- The follower's steps are mirrored.
See also
External links
- Watch and listen as BBC Gloucestershire's Jo Durrant learns to dance the Jazz Jive
- Jive Videos - videos of Jive performances
