Jive

What is Jive?

Jive is a style of dancing from the swing family of dances, enjoyed to the early Rock 'n Roll, R&B and Rockabilly styles of music from the 1950's. The term Jive, like many dance names, actually refers to several different dance styles.

  1. Jive of the Rock 'n Roll Era - The style of Jive originally danced around North America to early Rock 'n Roll music. What's difficult is that each city tended to dance a little differently. Generally it looked somewhere between the Lindy Hop and Jitterbug of previous decades, and modern Triple Swing or East Coast Swing (ECS).
  2. International Jive / Ballroom Jive - The style of Jive taught by many ballroom studios. It's similar to Triple Swing or East Coast Swing (ECS), but danced with more of an upward bounce and a cuban hip motion, and danced to fifties Rock 'n Roll instead of swing music. The hip motion is not how Jive was originally danced; it was added because traditionally ballroom dancing only had two categories, Standard and Latin, and Jive was put into the Latin category. The hip motion was added to keep the dance consistent with the other Latin dances.
  3. Rockabilly Jive / American Jive / "GI" Jive / Montreal Jive - American Jive is actually a European term for the style of dancing that the American soldiers brought with them to Europe. It's a dance with a four-count basic with a lot of turns for the ladies. In Canada this style has become popular through a number of teachers in Montreal, many of whom have also taught the dance in nearby cities such as Quebec City. The dance is done to Rockabilly and early Rock 'n Roll music.
  4. Modern Jive - Modern Jive has very little in common with the historical forms of Jive. It's an intentially simplified dance style with no specified footwork to make it easy to learn. It's danced to a wide variety of modern and retro music.

Jive in Ottawa

At Swing Dynamite, we teach moves in our beginner Lindy Hop classes that are very similar to the original styles of Jive and progressing to more complex moves as students advance. If you want to try to start swing dancing in Ottawa, check out our Swing I class! You'll learn the basics common to all styles of Swing in just six weeks, including fast and slow dancing, triple-steps and Charleston! Sign up for classes here.

Lindy Hop

Learn more about the dance behind Jive: Lindy Hop!