Jive (dance)

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Jive is a dance style in ⁴/₄ rhythm 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.

[edit] 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. However, the jive including other swing dances was not approved by the black government. So they came up with a different style of dance that was approved, the Buggy. This became a world known African American dance.

See also Modern Jive, skip jive.