The ballroom Jive is an upbeat, very fast, energetic partner dance with one partner leading while the other follows. The jive is one of a collection of different styles of dance that originated in the early 20th century, with swing music. The Jive initially rose to popularity as a Black American social dance in swing clubs and jazz dance halls in the United States in the early 20th century. Its name is derived from a vernacular slang term ‘jive talk’ used in the Black community at the time, which meant ‘deceptive talk’.
The Jive was initially demonstrated in 1934 by swing musicians like Cab Calloway who attracted large crowds of Jive dancers at venues like New York’s Savoy Ballroom. Louis Armstrong who was a role model for Cab suggested Cab joins a Broadway show he started working on Broadway, but eventually decided to leave the show and continue as Bandleader in the Missourians.
The Jive caught on in the 1940s in the United States and was influenced by several dance styles. Later on, jive became the generic term that referred to many forms of swing dancing which included Disco, Rock & Roll, Swing, Lindy hop, Boogie Woogie, Jitterbug, Hustle and more. The Jive relies on spinning, and kicking, which makes it similar to East Coast swing dance.
The Jive gradually moved across the United States and diverged into separate styles of East Coast swing and West Coast swing, and eventually made its way to Europe. The word Jive means early jazz or swing music. This style of dance has origins in the early US jazz music scene of the 1920s and 1930s. In 1968, the Jive was accepted as the 5th International Latin dance in competitive ballroom dancing styles, along with samba paso doble, cha cha and rumba in dance sport showcases.
The styles of dance are derived from the music and the influences of the music in terms of band composition, culture, tempo and what is in style in that era.
