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'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, i.e., belongs to Swing dances.
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, otherwise at between 32 and 40 bpm.
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.

Contents

History

Basic step

See also

History

Jive is a term for a dance that evolved out of diverse related forerunners of African-American origin. Amongst them are the Lindy Hop from the thirties, Blues Swing, Boogie-Woogie from the forties, the Jitterbug followed by Rock'n'Roll in the fifties. 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 American dance in competitions.

Basic step

The basic step (Jive Basic) is a 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
:TheFollower's steps are mirrored.

See also

★ Modern Jive

★ Skip jive

★ Hand Jive