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Resources |
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Swing Dance Styles |
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General Information |
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A
Short Note on the History of Dancing in America
The
Origins of Swing Dancing
What Styles
of Swing Dance Do the Hepcats Teach? |
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Swing Dance Styles |
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Info on swing dances taught by the
Hepcats:
Lindy Hop
Balboa
Charleston
Collegiate Shag |
Info on other swing dance styles:
Ballroom
Swing (East Coast Swing)
West Coast Swing
Ballroom Jive
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A Short Note on the History of
Dancing in America |
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Despite Puritan disapproval, there had been dancing in America since
Colonial days. A very formal and rigid code of propriety governed the types
of dances and the behavior of the dancers. Americans emulated the European
cultural prototype, and did their best to dance and dress in the styles of
Paris and London. Americans were painfully aware that Europeans considered
them rough-hewn and socially unskilled. The presentation of a ball was a
serious social ritual with an intricate and highly formalized etiquette.
Dances consisted mostly of private balls and affairs, danced in the European
tradition. The music at these dances consisted of mostly European music,
methodically based and with a highly formalized structure. |
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But with the arrival of ragtime music in the 1890's, this formal code of
dancing began to erode. The new ragtime music was intoxicating to dance to,
since it featured both a rhythmic beat and a syncopated melody. Many late
Victorians found it refreshing and an electrifying reprieve from the
antiquated waltzes, schottishes, and quadrilles they had grown up with. As
ragtime music spread, so did the desire for dances that reflected the new
and emerging styles of music. |
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Thus, the American approach to dancing began to take serious shape at the
beginning of the 20th century. A prevailing national sentiment developed
that America should make a clean break with the past, be progressive and
develop its own cultural identity. The lore of the American pioneers, with
their independence and freedom, was popular in the press at that time.
Americans grew less embarrassed about their differences from European
culture, and increasingly proud of their uniqueness. |
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As Americans began to feel comfortable with their identity as a melting pot
of diverse cultural influences, they began to question (as did some
Europeans) the validity of dance forms so inescapably bound to tradition by
their relatively limited form and style. As a result, American dance
gradually became a synthesis of European, African, Caribbean and Latin
American influences. In addition, Americans also began to emphasize
creative personal expression in their dancing, along with the informal
adaptation of steps from one dance into another. As a result, innovation,
creativity, and improvisation became major characteristics of American
dancing. |
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The Origins of Swing Dancing |
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Swing dance locates its roots and origins in the spontaneous dances of
gifted improvisers to the music of Ragtime Piano, Jazz, and Dixieland,
beginning roughly at the turn of the 20th century. The roots for this music
is primarily in "The South", in areas such as New Orleans, although cities
such as Chicago, Kansas City and New York also played a part in the early
development of swing. Given its evolution from American Jazz music, swing
has deep historical roots in American music and dance history. In fact,
just as Jazz is often noted as America's most important contribution to the
world of music, swing dancing has been called America's most important
contribution to the world of dance and was the first dance invented entirely
by Americans. |
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In the 1910's and 1920's, the African-American community, primarily in the
larger metropolitan areas, began dancing to a music form that was a
synthesis of contemporary music. This included Jazz music (an expressive and
rhythmic mixture of Irish and African-American music forms), Ragtime (which
emphasized a lively and syncopated melody line), and the Charleston. The
dance that evolved from that process later became known as the "Lindy Hop". |
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What Styles of Swing Dance Do the Hepcats Teach? |
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The Hepcats provide instruction primarily in the original
swing dances of the 1930's: Lindy Hop and Balboa. |
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A quick note on dance styles. Although the Hepcats teach the original 1930's
styles of swing dancing, we also believe in adapting and developing swing
dancing. After all, improvisation, creativity and innovation are the
hallmarks of American dancing! |
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| A caveat before we
proceed. Any attempt to define the exact development of a
particular style of dance or music (or indeed, of any art form) is an
inexact science. It is important to keep in mind that swing dancing and
swing music, like any artistic genre, represent the sum of many parts.
Swing reflects the culmination of many different factors, influences and
mutations. The development of swing dancing certainly includes geographical
developments and distinctions that occurred in parallel and concurrently.
The information on this web page is based on a variety of readings, research
and experience. |
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Lindy Hop |
The Lindy Hop was developed primarily in New York City by African-Americans a t
the Savoy Ballroom. The Savoy
Ballroom opened on March 26, 1926 in the Harlem district of New York
 City.
Of course there were other ballrooms in New York City,
the Alhambra and Roseland, among others. But the Savoy was an immediate
success with its block-long dance floor and a raised double bandstand.
Legend has it that in the mid 1920's, dancers at the Savoy Ballroom were
dancing the Charleston and incorporating elements from
other popular dances of the day, to include the Texas
Tommy, the Black Bottom and the Cakewalk.
The Lindy Hop was born when dancers began using breakaways during partner
Charleston dancing. This breakaway eventually became what is known as the
Lindy Hop swing out or whip. The name Lindy Hop was supposedly given to
this dance in 1927 at the Savoy Ballroom, in comm emoration of Charles
Lindbergh's famous solo flight across the Atlantic.
The first aerial or air-step was performed by Lindy Hop Legend Frankie
Manning at the Savoy Ballroom in 1935 during a dance
contest.
Nightly dancing
at the Savoy attracted most of the best dancers, both black and
 white, in
the New York area. Stimulated by the presence of great dancers and
great bands, music at the Savoy was largely a swinging type of Jazz.
Creativity mushroomed because of the diversity and a new generation of
dancers emerged. Chick Webb and his orchestra were the house band
at the Savoy. Their job was to hold their ground, as bands came to the
Savoy to square off in "The Battle of the Bands", where each band would do
their best to outdo the other. The dancers did their best to keep up
with their lightening tempos and intricate solos. At Saturday night
competitions, the dancers competed with each other throughout the night,
inspiring even greater creativity and energy.
 The
Lindy Hop quickly began to spread all over the U.S.
By the late 1930's
and through the
1940's, the terms Lindy Hop, Jitterbug, Swing were used
interchangeably by the news media to describe the Lindy Hop style of swing danc ing
taking place on the streets, in the night clubs, in contests, and in the
movies. The August 23rd, 1943 edition of Life
magazine even declared the Lindy Hop as the "national dance".
With influences that originated in the Charleston, traditional West African
dance styles, and a variety of European social dances, the Lindy Hop included not only partner dancing, but
also individual solos and line dancing. The Lindy Hop quickly spread all over the U.S. and overseas,
influencing and reflecting the development of many regional styles of swing dance. Lindy Hop
eventually evolved into many variations of swing dance, to include West
Coast Swing, Boogie Woogie, etc.
While the dance that evolved from all this creative
energy came to be known as the "Lindy Hop", it
 should be remembered that
during this early development of Swing dancing, there
were certainly many different styles of now unnamed and undocumented swing
dance. With all the creative talent in the Savoy
Ballroom, one would not expect to find a homogeneity of style on a
4000-capacity dance floor, but instead, limitless combinations of various
contemporary popular dances.
Defining
Lindy Hop from a technical or stylistic perspective can be difficult, because Lindy Hop is not primarily defined by counts,
stylings, moves or patterns. Lindy Hop is defined by the music, and the
music defines Lindy Hop. Indeed, Lindy Hop is all about dancing to the
music. As the original swing dance, Lindy Hop is not based on imitation but
on creation. Lindy Hop is best thought of as a creative, energetic,
free-spirited partnered
 dance.
But any art form needs a frame of reference in order to
provide context. So here goes.
Technically, the Lindy Hop has an 8 count basic step:
1,2 (normally step, step for the follower); 3and4 (triple step); 5,6 (step,
step); 7and8 (triple step). The Lindy Hop consists primarily of 8 count
patterns, but is a versatile dance that can easily incorporate 6 count
patterns. The Lindy Hop is often defined by it's "swing out " or "whip"
type basic pattern. For its basic patterns, the dancers' "frame" in Lindy
Hop is more of a rectangular and elongated shape, given that the leader and
follower often spin simultaneously on an axis. This axis also tends to stay
more in one place and not move around the floor. If the dancers are offset
(i.e. looking over each other's shoulders), the frame can easily collapse
due to uneven weight distribution.
Stylistically, the Lindy Hop is danced using a low,
loose-legged posture, a low center of gravity, with bent and elastic knees.
Various kicks and Charleston type patterns are often incorporated into the
Lindy Hop. An attractive and key feature of the Lindy Hop as a partner
dance is that it includes the flexibility for freedom of musical expression,
creativity, innovation and improvisation, not only as a partner dance, but
also for individual solos.
The Lindy Hop is probably the most advanced form of
swing dancing from the perspective of the "lead and follow" skills and
techniques necessary for musical expression. The Lindy Hop is one of
the few partner dances that allows the lead and follow the freedom to
stylize movements within the framework of the musical phrasing. This freedom is
very attractive to dance partners once they progress beyond the basic level
of experience and expertise.
Utilizing intermediate and advanced "lead and follow"
skills and techniques, movements in the Lindy Hop are best done in relation
to the music. The lead "feels" the music and creates for the follow an
environment with which she can use improvisation and creativity to manage
her movements, but at the same time employing good follow techniques. This
is a somewhat hard concept to "master" given that one never totally masters
"lead and/or follow" skills and techniques, but merely obtains additional
experience. But the rewards are tremendous for those that try and achieve
any level of success!
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Balboa |
Tradition holds that
Balboa was developed primarily in the Southern California/Los
Angeles area in the 1930's, as a result of very crowded dance floors in
ballrooms.
Rendezvous BallroomBy the mid 1930's, it was not unusual
for ballrooms to host dances for 3,000 or more people. (The photo to the
right shows about 6,500 dancers at the Palladium Ballroom in Los Angeles
dancing to the Glenn Miller Orchestra in the late 1940's!) As ballrooms
became more and more crowed, dances like the Charleston and the Lindy Hop
became less practical; some ballrooms even instituted "no breakaways"
policies to prevent injuries.
After a while some
of the original Balboa dancers grew tired of
doing just pure Balboa and started to introduce fancier variations which
forced the close connection to be broken. Today, this is often called
Bal-Swing. In this form anything goes: spins, turns, dips, tricks,
slides, etc. Bal-Swing variations keep the overall style, feeling, and
framework of the original dance with recognizable Balboa footwork.
Balboa's popularity diminished in the post war
years, although it was kept alive by many of the original
dancers, such as .
The dance was "rediscovered" by Sylvia Sykes and Jonathan Bixby in the
 1980's
(the dance also benefited from the swing dance "revival" of the 1990's).
They learned from many of the original dancers, to
include Maxie Dorf, considered to be the King of Balboa. (Maxie Dorf was part of a very popular dance troupe
in Southern California in the 1930's called the Ray Rand Swingers.) Balboa is well suited for dancing comfortably
to faster tempo music, i.e. 190 to 250 beats per
minute or higher. This has meant that Balboa is sometimes thought of as a
fast dance. Indeed many of the original Balboa dancers could dance at
extremely fast speeds, but they also liked to dance
Balboa to slower music.
Balboa is very popular with swing dancers today. Balboa has an 8-count basic pattern
not like the traditional Lindy Hop basic pattern. Balboa looks like cartoon
dancing, with lots of fancy footwork, feet using a "shuffle" type basic that
hardly leaves the floor. The upper body remains still and
the dance does not normally travel much around the room on the social dance
floor.
Balboa is a great dance for songs Check out
the Balboa Nation web site for
more info on all things Balboa. |
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Charleston |
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The
Charleston dance became established (worldwide) during the Ragtime-Jazz
period. The series of steps are thought to have originated with
African-Americans living on a small island near Charleston, South Carolina.
The Charleston was performed as early as 1903 and made its way into Harlem
stage productions by 1913. In 1923, it was introduced to the theater going
public at the New Amsterdam Theater in New York, when the "Ziegfeld Follies"
staged a dance that featured the Charleston. The dance was an immediate
hit. |
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In the
1920's, women who did the Charleston were called "Flappers" because of the
way they would flap their arms and walk like birds while doing the
Charleston. Many college students of the period, mostly men, wore raccoon
coats and straw hats when doing the Charleston. Many saw the
Charleston and Flappers as the downfall to many moral issues of the day.
In 1925, Variety Magazine reported that in Boston, the vibrations of
Charleston dancers were so strong that the dancers caused the "Pickwick
Club" (a dance hall) to collapse, killing fifty people. In many dance
halls, signs were posted that stated "PCQ" (Please Charleston Quietly). |
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By 1926, the
Charleston had been replaced by other popular dances of the day.
Charleston-style dance patterns and steps (often called Lindy Charleston)
are very popular today with Lindy Hop swing dancers. |
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Collegiate
Shag |
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Collegiate
Shag is a dance that evolved from the Charleston. It is thought to have
originated in the South and was popular in the 1920's and 1930's with
college students. Collegiate Shag is normally danced to a six count basic
step pattern. It may be danced in both closed and open position and is often
danced to faster swing music. Collegiate Shag basically consists of hopping
type steps, instantly recognizable by the flicking of the feet backwards and
sideways with a pronounced hopping action. Collegiate Shag was so popular
that in the late 1930's even Arthur Murray began to teach a "toned down" and
more "proper" version of Collegiate Shag. |
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Collegiate
Shag is a very aerobic and energetic dance that experienced a revival in
popularity in the 1990's and is popular with swing dancers today. If you've
ever seen cartoons which show dancers pressing their faces and torsos
together while their feet move fast underneath them, that's the Collegiate
Shag style of swing dance. |
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Ballroom
Swing (East Coast Swing) |
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Although the Hepcats do not teach Ballroom Swing, there
have been some questions on the style of dancing called East Coast Swing
(Ballroom Swing). So the following information is provided in that context.
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Ballroom Swing (often called East Coast Swing) was specifically developed by
the "dancing establishment" as a business decision in reaction to the Lindy
Hop. Ballroom Swing is sometimes erroneously referred to as "Jitterbug" but
this comparison is incorrect. (What is sometimes called "Jitterbug" and
taught by ballroom dance studios is ballroom swing, but danced to a little
"faster" tempo.) Ballroom Swing is often the first form of
swing that people are taught because it is the easiest to learn. From
the mid 1940's, the Lindy Hop was
stripped down and distilled by ballroom dance studio teachers in order to
adapt what they were teaching to crowded dance studio floors and the "less
nimble-footed" general public that paid for dance lessons. They took the
very basic moves of the Lindy Hop, chose the easiest of them, and based the
footwork on 6 count patterns.
Additionally, ballroom teachers, more enamored with foreign Latin style
dances (such as the Argentine Tango, Spanish Paso Doblé, Brazilian Samba,
Puerto Rican Meringue, Cuban Mambo and Cha Cha), added Latin hip movements
to this new dance. As a result, the ballroom dance studios developed a
Ballroom Swing style which only vaguely resembles the 1930's and 40's Lindy
Hop style of swing dancing. |
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The "dancing establishment" initially tried to ignore the Lindy Hop and
swing dancing in general. In the late 1920's, the New York Society of
Teachers of Dancing, the American Society of Dance Teachers, and the Dance
Teachers Business Association (at their annual meeting) denounced the Lindy
Hop as "a fad that would not last the winter." The Dancing Teachers
Association further warned that the Lindy Hop was "a form of hysteria that
will prove harmful to the poise of the present generation" and described the
dance as "vulgar and unacceptable". In 1936 Philip Nutl, president of the
American Society of Teachers of Dancing, expressed the opinion that "swing
would not last beyond the winter". In 1938 Donald Grant, president of the
Dance Teachers' Business Association, said that swing music "is a
degenerated form of jazz, whose devotees are the unfortunate victims of
economic instability." Ballroom dance teachers resisted teaching
the Lindy Hop for a variety of
reasons. Some had trouble perfecting the movements, were not familiar
enough with the dance, and were not agile enough to perform the steps and
movements in the street style and spirit, capturing the essence of the
dance. Ballroom dance training also restricted certain body movements (hips
and torso). |
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Some ballroom dance teachers had trouble teaching the improvisational
aspects of the dance. Even if they were able to improvise themselves,
the teacher had to have steps to teach or a way of teaching improvisation.
Also, once students could improvise creatively, teachers feared they might
have nothing left to teach. In addition, many ballroom dance teachers
felt the freedom of improvisation and innovation was too difficult for their
students, trained to think a set of structured steps and rules were
necessary to ensure proper dancing and grace. Ballroom dance teachers
also resisted teaching the Lindy Hop because of
their view of their position in society. They saw themselves as teachers of
"proper" dance, defined by elegance and poise. They were serving a
wealthier and more conservative clientele who learned dancing because it was
matter of good manners and etiquette, a necessity for all prominent members
of that level of society. As many churches and magazines denounced swing
dancing as evil and destructive, ballroom teachers felt there would be no
market for this type of dance in the elite circle.
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But the vitality of swing music and dancing proved to be impossible to
ignore. |
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By the early 1940's, there were numerous street teachers and independent
dance studios teaching swing dancing. (As noted above, the August 23, 1943
edition of Life magazine even declared the Lindy Hop as the "national
dance".) The ballroom dancing establishment slowly began to realize the
amount of business they were losing. In 1942, the various dance association
members were told that "the jitterbug could no longer be ignored. Its 'cavortings'
could be refined to suit a crowded dance floor." Dance schools affiliated
with The New York Society of Teachers of Dancing and the Arthur Murray dance
studios began documenting and teaching swing, formally incorporating the
dance into their syllabi. |
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The acceptance of swing by the ballroom dance community proved to be a two
edged sword. On the one hand, the formalization and codification of swing
provided points of reference, which proved somewhat valuable for teaching
the very basic forms of swing to the general public. In any art form,
technique exists to make something easier to learn, or achieve a goal more
efficiently; and the ballroom dance community continues to be expert
technicians at teaching basic dance steps and patterns. Thousands of people
have learned ballroom swing at ballroom dance studios and at other venues
from dance instructors trained and influenced by the ballroom style of
swing. On the other hand,
the swing dance that was formalized, codified and taught was a much more
simplified style of swing dance, suited to crowded ballroom dance studio
dance floors and designed for ballroom dance studio customers and clients.
(Note that swing was not the only social dance that was simplified by the
ballroom dance community. The Mambo comes to mind.) |
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The ballroom swing that is taught today does not have the feel, style,
emphasis on musicality and creativity, true lead and follow techniques, and
freedom of the 1930's & 40's Lindy Hop. This formalization
has reached a technical and artistic nadir in the competitive ballroom
dancing version of swing, called "Jive", where all the couples dance
essentially the same in choreographed routines and any deviation from the
norm (i.e. from the ballroom dance syllabus) is not allowed. Also note that
the ballroom style of swing was sometimes called "Jitterbug" by dance
studios but was later called East Coast or West Coast Swing to differentiate
two different ballroom dance styles that generally developed in the East and
West Coast regions of the U.S. |
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Technically, Ballroom Swing is defined by its triple step 6 count basic step
pattern (triple-step, triple-step, rock-step). (Note that this 6 count triple step
basic pattern was essentially unknown to 1930's & 40's Lindy Hop
swing dancers that learned swing dancing outside of a formal dance studio.)
Ballroom Swing consists of almost all 6 count patterns. For faster music,
Ballroom Swing will often transition to the step-step, rock-step basic step
but the dance remains technically the same. Patterns that are not conducive
to faster music are usually not performed rather than adapted to the faster
music. The dancers' "frame" in Ballroom Swing is offset so that
the leader and follower look over each other's right shoulder. The
movement of the dancers frame (especially in the closed position) is
somewhat "rounded" (as in other ballroom dances, such as the waltz) and
tends to travel around the dance floor in a spiral motion, often in an
alternating circular pattern. In this alternating circular pattern the
leader travels around the follower on the first part of the triple step and
then the follower travels around the leader on the second part of the triple
step. |
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Stylistically, ballroom swing is danced in an upright, straight body
position. Ballroom swing emphasizes arm and hip action. Patterns taught in
the open position normally require the dance partners to maintain
hand-in-hand physical connection. Therefore, breakaway patterns are not
normally incorporated into patterns. Ballroom swing is often danced in a
circular motion (as noted above), with emphasis given to form over
individual style. Stylistically, the dancers' steps and patterns often
"mirror" each other, i.e. the followers' steps and patterns are the exact
opposite of the leaders', and vice versa. The rock step in ballroom swing
often resembles more of a "Latin" style rock step. During this rock step
there is often a pronounced weight change, with the shoulders and hips
arriving and departing together. |
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One last note on the acceptance of "Swing" by the ballroom dance community.
Not only was the dance itself codified and simplified, but so was the
music. Generally speaking , much of the "Swing" music played at
ballroom dances today has been "simplified"; the "Swing" music played at
these dances can be "interesting". The "Swing" music played at ballroom
dances is often a strict tempo, ballroom recorded version of an original
song. At most ballroom dances, there is normally an exclusion of
originally recorded music by the original artists in music genres such as
Big Band, Jump Blues, etc. |
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West Coast
Swing |
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Although the Hepcats do not teach West Coast Swing, there
have been a few questions on the style of dance called West Coast Swing. So
the following information is provided in that context. |
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West Coast Swing originated from the Lindy Hop, although stylistically, the
form of West Coast Swing danced today has lost any real resemblance to it's
original roots in the Lindy Hop. As danced today, West Coast Swing has
developed into a ballroom dance style. At West Coast Swing dances and
competitions, one see lots of glitter, rhinestone belts, spiked heeled
shoes, and dancing to hustle, disco, and "funk" genres of music. The
music normally played for West Coast Swing is relatively slow, hardly ever
faster that 130 beats per minute. Rarely will you see any types of
patterns normally associated with Lindy Hop. |
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The original proponent of Lindy Hop on the West Coast (mostly in southern
California) is credited to Dean Collins. Collins, who moved to California
in the 1930's, had danced at the Savoy Ballroom while in New York City.
Prior to the popularity of Lindy Hop, southern California dancers primarily
danced "Balboa" (which is danced in closed position) or "Bal-Swing" (which
is variant of Balboa, using patterns in the open and closed dance
position). Collins danced in Hollywood and choreographed for
numerous films. He began teaching his style of swing in the southern
California area and it soon became very popular, a variant which developed
and eventually became known as West Coast Swing. |
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The necessity of adapting "Swing" to the Hollywood movie set was a factor in
the development of West Coast Swing. After WW II, movie studios began
producing a great number of musicals, many with dancing scenes. Dance
choreographers (to include Collins) would often replace the circular type
movements of the Lindy Hop with movement along a straight line
or "slot" so they could place more couples on the floor without losing their
faces to the camera. In addition, this straight line or slotted form of
swing dancing was more conducive to the relatively small movie sets.
Initially, this style of swing was known as "Western Swing", though the name
was eventually changed in the 1950's at the behest of Skippy Blair to avoid
confusion with country and western dancing. Skippy Blair was probably
the most influential person in the development of modern West Coast Swing.
After teaching for a number of years at an Arthur Murray dance studio, she
developed teaching methods for West Coast Swing. In addition, disco
and hustle dance movements and stylings of the 1970's heavily influenced the
development of west coast swing. |
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West Coast Swing consists of 6 and 8 count patterns and is a very slotted
dance. The follower travels forward and back along a single straight line
or slot. By staying in the "slot", followers lose the ability to move much
left and right or to improvise or be creative; but followers are able to
better control their spins while in the slot". The leader pretty much stays
in one place, sometimes moving off and on the follower's line of dance.
There are lots hand and arm motions, underarm turns, back & forward passes,
turns, spins, various wraps, etc in this dance. Patterns for the follower
begin with two walking steps, followed by two triple steps (or a triple
step, two walks and another triple). The second triple step is generally
danced in place and is called the "anchor step". The main purpose of the
"anchor step" is to reestablish physical tension between the partners,
generally achieved by leaning slightly back. |
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Ballroom Jive |
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Although the Hepcats do not teach Ballroom Jive, there
have been a few questions on the style of dance known as Ballroom Jive. So
the following information is provided in that context. |
| Ballroom Jive is the
competitive version of Ballroom Swing. Jive was added as one of the
"Latin-American" dances of the "International Style" of dancing by the
Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (ISTD) in the 1950's. The overall
European influence on dancing is best illustrated by the British influence
on the "International Style" of ballroom dancing. "International Style" is
actually a euphemism for "British", overseen by the ISTD. Two of the ISTD's
historical objectives are "The elevation and advancement of the art of
dancing, and the preservation of its ancient prestige and dignity" and to
"Standardize the music, steps, and technique of Ballroom Dancing".
American GIs brought Lindy Hop to England during World War II. The U.S.
Armed Forces also imported big bands that played swing music (i.e. the Glenn
Miller Army-Air Force band). Many of these dances were held in English
ballrooms that had previously seen only ballroom forms of dance, i.e. the
waltz and foxtrot. The British dancing establishment was "horrified" at
what they saw as the Americans' "shabby" excuse for ballroom dancing.
"Nevertheless", wrote one English dance authority at the time, "it is
possible that a place might be found for this form of dancing in the English
ballrooms." Thus, "Jive" was born. |
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Technically, Jive is a triple step, 6 count dance that features a fast,
syncopated "retraction" of steps that gives the dance its bouncy look.
For the leader, the basic pattern has a side, close, side movement to the
left followed by another pattern to the right (right then left for the
follower), followed by a slower rock step. Instead of breaking the two
beats into "1and 2", an extra partial beat is used at the beginning of the
two-count for retracting the foot and lower leg: "and 1and 2", with the
retraction on the first "and". The weight is kept well forward and
almost all steps are taken up on the toes. Jive is limited to a narrow
tempo range and has a rigid syllabus with very specific requirements on
directions, timing, etc. This limits what can be done within the confines of
the ISTD approved
syllabus. In competitive ballroom dancing, Jive is almost always danced as
choreographed routines. Stylistically, Jive is danced in an upright
stance. The upper body stays as still as possible (except for the arms) and
the head stays level. This has a tendency to make the dance look
"bouncy" but also somewhat stiff and formal. The hips absorb a lot of
the momentum in Jive, also adding to the stiff and bouncy look. In
Jive, the rock step is a "Latin" style rock step, with the initial touch on
the toe of the foot and then a roll onto the heel. This gives the
continuous motion that is typical of "Latin" style dancing. |
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For questions or information about Hepcats activities,
contact Mike Richardson,
859-420-2426, or
info@Luv2SwingDance.com. |
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