All Topics  
Jive (dance)

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Jive (dance)
 
 
  Topics Jive (dance) Topic Home

This article is about the ballroom dance style. For other dances that go by the name "jive", see jive
Jive

Jive may refer to* JIVE, Joint Institute for VLBI in European astronomy* JIVE , Java Interactive Visualization Environment* Jive , a ballroom dance style from the 1940s...


In Ballroom dancing, Jive is a dance
Dance

Dance is an art form that generally refers to Motion of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of Emotional expression, social social interaction or presented in a spirituality or performance setting....
 style in 4/4 time that originated in the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 from African-Americans in the early 1940s. It is a lively and uninhibited variation of the Jitterbug, a form of Swing dance.

Jive is one of the five International Latin dances.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Jive (dance)'
Start a new discussion about 'Jive (dance)'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


This article is about the ballroom dance style. For other dances that go by the name "jive", see jive
Jive

Jive may refer to* JIVE, Joint Institute for VLBI in European astronomy* JIVE , Java Interactive Visualization Environment* Jive , a ballroom dance style from the 1940s...


In Ballroom dancing, Jive is a dance
Dance

Dance is an art form that generally refers to Motion of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of Emotional expression, social social interaction or presented in a spirituality or performance setting....
 style in 4/4 time that originated in the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 from African-Americans in the early 1940s. It is a lively and uninhibited variation of the Jitterbug, a form of Swing dance.

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
East Coast Swing

East Coast Swing is a form of social dance partner dance that evolved from the Lindy Hop with the work of the Arthur Murray dance studios in the 1940s....
 with the major difference of highly syncopated
Syncopation (dance)

The terms syncopation and syncopated step in dance are used in two senses:#The first one matches Syncopation: stepping on an unstressed beat ....
 rhythm of the Triple Step
Triple Step

Triple Step is a generic term for dance step patterns that describes three steps done on two main beat s of music. Usually they are two quick steps and one slow one, i.e., often they are counted as "quick-quick-slow", "one-and-two", "three-and-four", etc....
s (Chasse
Chasse

Chasse or chass? rarely chass?e is a dance step used in many dances in many variants, all of them being triple-step patterns of gliding character, steps going basically step-together-step....
s), which use straight eighths in ECS and hard swing in Jive.

History

To jazz musicians who were the players of swing music in the 1930s and 1940s "Jive" was an expression denoting glib or foolish talk.

American soldiers brought Lindy Hop
Lindy Hop

Lindy Hop is an African American dance, based on the popular Charleston and named for Lindberg's Atlantic crossing, that evolved in New York City in 1927....
/Jitterbug to Europe around 1940, where this dance swiftly found a following among the young. In the United States the term Swing became the most common word used to describe the dance. In the UK variations in technique led to styles such as Boogie-Woogie and Swing Boogie, with "Jive" gradually emerging as the generic term.

After the war, the boogie
Boogie

Boogie is a repetitive, swung note or shuffle rhythm , groove or pattern used in blues which was originally played on the piano in boogie-woogie ....
 became the dominant form for popular music. It was, however, 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 ballroom Jive, danced to slightly slower music. In 1968 it was adopted as the fifth Latin dance in International competitions. The modern form of ballroom jive in the 1990's-present, is a very happy and boppy dance, the lifting of knees and the bending or rocking of the hips often occurs.

Basic step

The basic step (Jive Basic) is a six beat pattern, comprising eight weight changes.
Leader:
  • Counts 1 2 - Rock step
    Rock Step

    Rock step may refer to one of similar dance moves. The name refers to the rocking action during the move: the weight is transferred from one foot to another and then back....
    : left foot step back, right foot replace
  • Counts 3 a4 - Chasse
    Chasse

    Chasse or chass? rarely chass?e is a dance step used in many dances in many variants, all of them being triple-step patterns of gliding character, steps going basically step-together-step....
     to the left
  • Counts 5 a6 - Chasse to the right
The follower's steps are mirrored.


External links

  • - videos of Jive performances
  • - Information about Jive, Jive music & songs and where to take Jive lessons.