At this point French Style Jive was re-introduced to Britain and Modern Jive was born.
By combining a Modern Jive dance evening with an easy introductory lesson, a whole new generation of Brits was able to learn the pleasure of partner dancing. In no time at all, Modern Jive was sweeping across the country and filling the nightclubs with eager Modern Jive Dancers.
In quick succession Modern Jive has criss-crossed the world, like Swing Dance before it. Now Modern Jive is the fastest growing partner dance in the world.
Jive Dance is back and here to stay and Modern Jive is by far the most popular of the vast selection of social dances that young people can learn. Its four-beat rhythum means that it can be danced to almost any piece of music.
Meanwhile the dance is still constantly evolving; borrowing moves and features from one dance here and styling from another dance there, allowing dancers to make their own contribution in the process. In Modern Jive there are influences from Swing, Rock'n'Roll, 'dirty dancing', Ballroom and even Salsa, but the true beauty of the dance occurs when you make you own routines, impose your own style and bring your own 'je ne sais quoi'.
It was at this point that Jive Dance hit Europe and the newly liberated populations not only adopted the dance, but continued to develop it, for instance, as The Bug and Boogie-Woogie in Northern Europe.
In France meanwhile, the French changed the syncopated jazz steps into the more fluid style recognisable today and simplified the timing from a six-beat to a four beat and the emphasis from footwork to hands. It was these changes which made French Style Jive so easy to learn; newcomers to the dance could pick up the basic moves quicly, without spending time trying to master complex footwork.
In America, the music changed from Swing to Rhythum and Blues, through to Rock and Roll and with this evolution of music, a new generation of youths rocked around the clock. In Britain, Teddy Boys developed their own style as the Rock'n'Roll invasion began; the clothing and dance music symbolising the new found freedom of youth in the post-war boom.
With this in mind, Jiveworks can offer you a Five Week Lesson Package for Beginners at only $40.00.
At Jiveworks we encourage all our students to ask questions about the dance lesson and techniques and in just a few short weeks, we will have you dancing like the stars.
You don't need to bring a partner and we dance to all your favourite tunes and Top 40's hits.
Hope to see you at one of our classes very soon to try out this exciting dance.
We believe that if you have had little or no dancing experience, a bracket of five weekly lessons is all you need to ensure a firm understanding of this dance style and its techniques. We cater for the beginners right up to the more advanced dancers and we have a very social atmosphere at our classes, making it a very friendly way to learn how to dance.
The history of Modern Jive began with the partner Jazz Dances of America in the 1920s and 1930s. Dances such as the Lindy Hop were performed in the black nightclubs and dancehalls of urban America. Venues like the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem gained a reputation as places where the best dancers could be seen with their spectacular acrobatic routines.
As the 1930s progressed, jazz and swing music were absorbed into the mainstream of popular music. The dance, under the names of Jitterbug and Swing Dance, swept through America and Europe, this time to a predominantly white audience. In Germany at this time, Swing Dance was actually banned because of its "corrupting influence".
Jitterbug and Jive, as the dances were by then popularly known, had their biggest influence during the Second World War, when American GI's took the dance floors of Europe by storm and the continent swung to the likes of Glen Miller, Benny Goodman and The Andrews Sisters.
