What is the Jive
Jive is a type of dance that falls into the Swing category. It began to emerge in the 40s out of various clubs with predominantly African American attendees. It evolved from many different dances that are most commonly associated with African Americans, such as the Boogie-Woogie, the Jitterbug, and the Lindy Hop. If you have had experience with any of these dances, then Jive will seem like a perfectly natural progression. And if you want to learn a new dance that will come in handy in almost any situation, this is one that you should certainly consider.
Despite being criticized by some of the most famous dancing experts, jive has lived on to be a well-known dance. It starts with the man and his partner facing each other. The lady holds the left hand of the man with her right hand. The man leads, of course, and the lady follows. The patterns are based on groups of 6. Slow, slow, quick, quick. The man starts with his left foot first, and takes a slow step to the left. Next, he takes a slow step back to the right. Then, two steps quickly: back with the left, forward with the right. The woman simply has to mirror his movements.
Learning Jive can be a challenge, especially if you don’t have experience in other dances. Most beginners report that their biggest hurtle is learning how to keep up with the beat, and not fall behind or get off beat. The best way to do this is to simply practice as much as possible, with a bunch of different songs. You have to learn how to pick out the beat almost instantaneously, and start getting your groove together. Then when you’re out on the dance floor and the song changes, you make a perfectly natural transition into Jive.
Naturally over the years, Jive has been altered in so many ways that you can’t really know what people are going to do. Every region and musical style put a different spin on the regular steps. Unless you are someone who studies the history of dance, it isn’t likely that you will need to memorize all of these different offshoots. Just familiarize yourself with the basics, and hopefully you will be able to establish the confidence required to put your own personal spin on it. Who knows, you could cause the next big wave of Jive!
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