Jive (dance) Facts for Kids

Jive is a super energetic and fun dance! It's one of the five main ballroom dances in the International Latin style. Jive started in the United States with African-American communities in the early 1940s. It's like a lively, free-spirited version of older Swing dances, such as the Jitterbug.

You dance Jive to music with a 4/4 beat. In competitions, it's quite fast, around 44 bars per minute. Jive is different from Rock 'n Roll dancing because it uses a special kind of step called a syncopated chassé. This means the rhythm of the steps is a bit off-beat, making it feel bouncy. The steps are usually counted as 1, 2, 3 & 4, where 3 & 4 make up the chassé.

The History of Jive Dance
Learning the Basic Jive Step
Images for kids
See also

The History of Jive Dance

American soldiers brought popular dances like the Lindy Hop and Jitterbug to Europe around 1942. Young people there quickly loved these new dances. In the United States, the word 'Swing' became the most common way to describe this type of dancing.

In the United Kingdom, different ways of dancing developed. These included styles like Boogie-Woogie and Swing Boogie. Slowly, 'Jive' became the general name for all these energetic dances.

After World War II, boogie music became very popular. However, some people thought these new dances were too wild or "vulgar." A famous ballroom dancing expert, Alex Moore, even said he had "never seen anything uglier."

Because of this, English dance teachers created a more elegant and lively ballroom Jive. They danced it to slightly slower music. In 1968, this style of Jive was officially added as the fifth Latin dance in international competitions. Today, ballroom Jive is a very happy and bouncy dance. Dancers often lift their knees and rock their hips, making it look super fun!

Learning the Basic Jive Step

The basic step in Jive is called the Jive Basic. It uses six beats of music but involves eight changes of weight from one foot to the other.

Here's how the leader (usually the male dancer) does the basic step:

Counts 1 2 - Rock step: The left foot steps back, then the right foot replaces it.
Counts 3 & 4 - Chassé to the left (a quick side-together-side step).
Counts 5 & 6 - Chassé to the right (another quick side-together-side step).

The follower's steps are exactly the opposite, like looking in a mirror!

You can see Alan Tornsberg & Serena Lecca dance the basic jive here (it's a bit slower than competition speed): [1]