| 'The precursor to Rock n Roll' - The Jive.
History
From its beginnings in 1927, the dance soon became equated with youth. Older adults disapproved of it and tried to ban it from dance halls, claiming Jive was non-progressive and disturbed other dancers who were progressing anti-clockwise around the floor. It was bought to Europe by American G.I.'s during WW2 but was danced underground due to its "Corrupting Influence".
The Basic Requirements of the Jive
- When watching the jive we should feel that we are being transported back to the 30's
- A very fast dance. There must be no softness, with lots of sharp action
- There should be lots of kicks and flicks. These should be executed with a beautifully pointed toe and sharp action
- Kick - comes from the hip
- Flick - comes from the knee
- The dance should be full of lots of bright, lively, fast movements with mountains of energy
- Jive is non progressive and doesn't move around the dance floor like other dances
- Change of Places - when the couple change sides
- American Spin - when the man lets go of the lady and lets her spin on her own
- Pivots - (also in quickstep - see notes)
- The feet/legs should be under the body - the knees should always be close together
- There will be a core heartbeat that runs through the choice of music - which doesn't let up
- Loads of twirling the women
- Its more inline with the music, and seems to follow the rhythm of the music.
The Strictly Come Dancing judge Len Goodman shows you how it's done - click here . |
