The Jive

The Jive

Swing dancing made a major comeback after the 1994 movie The Mask, starring Jim Carrey. Even without the additional cartoon effects, the movie has one of the greatest dance scenes ever between Jim Carrey and Cameron Diaz. Swing dancing, also known as the Jitterbug, comes in a variety of flavors, but the most energetic of all is the style used in international ballroom dance competitions: the Jive.

One of the five dances in the International Latin category (who knows why this all-American style of dance is considered Latin?), the Jive is danced last in the evening due to the amount of energy necessary to perform it properly. The other four Latin dances are the Cha-cha-cha, Samba, Rumba, and Paso Doble. Music is played at 44 bars per minute and dancers are judged by the intensity of their performances. It is a 4/4 time partner dance.

Cab Calloway, Count Basie and other big bands led by African Americans provided the impetus for the Jive in the 1930's, particularly Cab Calloway with his 1939 song, The Jumpin' Jive. This is classic Calloway, complete with his famous scat "lyrics" (although to refer to scat as lyrics is really an oxymoron). There's a great video on You Tube featuring Cab himself, his full orchestra and the Nicholas Brothers dancing up a storm, although it's a tap dance, at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8yGGtVKrD8 .

Unlike other swing dances like the Lindy Hop and the East Coast Swing, African Americans preferred stylish leg kicks and a furious pace to acrobatic lifts and throws which are not found in Jive. Throws and lifts would dominate Swing again later in the 1950's. Swing was also known as the Jitterbug, and this style was sometimes called the Jitterbug Jive or just the Jive. American soldiers took the Jive to England in the 1940's and the English put their own spin on it, simplifying it a bit, resulting in the Boogie Woogie and Swing Boogie.

The basic patterns in Jive resemble other Swing dances and indeed, many of the same movements can be used. The difference is in the highly syncopated rhythm and the faster pace. The East Coast Swing triple step begins with a rock step, then two triple steps, and this is often erroneously taught as a Jive step as well but there is a big difference. The triple step in Jive is replaced with a chasse, which still utilizes three steps but is much more fluid and requires a bouncy movement. This is not simply placing your foot on the floor three times in a mechanical fashion. You have to glide - and at a dizzying speed.

After World War II ended, Boogie was the most popular form of music. As with nearly all forms of dance, the boogie was condemned as vulgar by those who knew best and could rightly judge these things. Alex Moore, for example, was an English dancer who literally wrote the book on modern ballroom dancing called (what else?), Ballroom Dancing. He called it the ugliest thing he had ever seen.

Clearly, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and if you feel like breaking out and have a lot of energy, the Jive may be for you. No green Loki mask required. 'Heidi Heidi Ho," Cab!