A Historical Overview Of Jive
Jive is a lively, fun, fast, and quite bouncy dance. It requires a lot of bouncy movements, kicks and flicks, and is very energy intensive. Because of this, it’s an excellent form of exercise and a great way to get into shape.
Today, Jive is danced and enjoyed throughout the world. In Ballroom dancing, it’s one of the five dances in the International Latin American competitions. In this article we’re going to take a brief tour through the history of Jive.
Jive is a relatively young dance. It originated in the U.S. in the 1940s from early swing dances such as Jitterbug, Boogie-Woogie, Lindy Hop, and alike. It shares many movements with those dances like underarm turns, swivels, and so on.
During the World War II American G.I’s brought the dance with them to Europe. It soon became very popular, especially among the young. It was new, fresh, and thrilling, although it didn’t appeal to many conservative dancers.
The dance that we now know as Modern Jive was adapted by the French. It was a bit simplified and mixed with the traditional Latin dances. In 1968 it was adopted as the fifth dance in the International Latin competition. This, of course, doesn’t imply that it originated from Latin America.
Modern Jive can be danced to almost any music style from Jazz to rock, as long as there is a regular beat. Music for Jive is usually written in 4/4 time (four beats to a measure) and is quite often fast.
The basic Jive steps are very easy. They follow a simple six beat sequence and consist of a rock step, chasse to the left and chasse to the right.
Today, Jive is still very popular all over the world. It’s fun, upbeat, energetic, and definitely worth a try.
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