Jive / Rock ’n’ Roll

Ballroom Dance

Jive / Rock ’n’ Roll

Jive / Rock ’n’ Roll dance

Jive can be defined as the exuberant and ebullient expression of the joy of life by the young at heart…

Jive originated among African-Americans in the early 1940s. A few other dances from that origin are the Lindy Hop from the thirties, Blues Swing, Boogie-Woogie from the forties, the Jitterbug followed by Rock ‘n’ Roll in the fifties. Jive is a lively and uninhibited variation of the Jitterbug, i.e., belongs to Swing dances.

The Jive is a very fast, acrobatic, lively dance made popular during World War II by the swing music of Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Tommy Dorsey and Glen Miller. The greatest impact was that of Bill Haley and the Comets with the recording of ‘Rock Around The Clock’ in 1954. By the end of 1950s, Jive had already reached the ballrooms and the dance schools.

The basis of the dance is a six-beat musical rhythm wherein the dancers take two steps which rock, then a step backwards and a replace step. The step backwards and replace movement remained fairly standards however; the rock steps underwent many changes of style

Music Pattern

Most music of the 1950s with a steady 4/4 beat and a tempo ranging from 36-48 bars per minute will be suitable for Jive.

There is very little movement across the floor over these steps. The important aspect is to try to feel the accents in the music on the 2nd and 4th beats of the bar and express them with extra pressure into the floor when possible. The quick step takes one beat of music and the slow steps take two beats. So, the rhythm for the basic step goes as Slow, Slow, Quick, Quick and makes a total of six-beat musical rhythm.