What is Modern Jive and Where Did it Come From?
At one time there was no "Modern Jive". First of all, there was the Rock 'n' Roll jive, this lost popularity with the advent of the twist when people started to dance individually, rather than with a partner. With the end of the Rock 'n' Roll era and the advent of "pop" people continued to dance on their own for a couple of decades.
Some time during the '80s people started to partner dance to pop music in London clubs and developed a dance that fitted pop music. Then they started to teach the dance to their friends and it became more and more popular - until it was the most popular social dance in the UK with hundreds of thousands taking up the dance every year and going to hundreds of dances every weekend!
This article is written from the point of view of the version of Modern Jive being taught at Rocsters in Sussex. The reason these notes have been written is that some people attend Rocsters classes and are confused by the way it differs from the same named dance they may have been taught at some other classes - when considering which version is "right", please remember the credentials of our principal teacher, Andy McGregor, qualified dance teacher, UKA Member, respected National Competition Head Judge and invited guest teacher at classes and dance events around the UK and Europe.
Being "right" doesn't make the other versions wrong, just different from the one most people call "Modern Jive" - if anything, it's the names that are confusing, not the dances - because all dancing is great!
1. The Evolution of Modern Jive
The first thing to consider is that Modern Jive evolved as a social dance to suit changes in the music. The second thing to consider is that Modern Jive has continued to evolve as musical tastes have changed.
Modern Jive is considered a "living dance" because it continues to change and evolve as music and musical tastes change. This means the "Modern Jive" or LeRoc which was danced 25 years ago is very different from the same named dance we see on dance floors around the country - and it will probably be a different dance in another 25 years!
The original "jive" came about during the '50s and early '60s era of Rock 'n' Roll. The music was faster and the version of jive done socially at that time took this into account: Rock Around the Clock is 181 beats a minute and many people jive on every second beat to make the dance work.
Rock 'n' Roll Jive is still danced at events where Rock 'n' Roll music is played and is still very popular with those who love the music and the era. It is very much linked to the musical genre.
Ballroom Jive The high energy ballroom jive, with it's kicks and flicks, developed from this Rock 'n' Roll dance and is done to fast tracks. The dance organizations produced a syllabus and exams in ballroom jive. This means that everyone knows exactly what you're talking about when you say "Ballroom Jive" and every class teaches exactly the same dance. You can't say the same about Modern Jive - more on this later.
Where did Rock 'n' Roll Jive come from and where did it go? In the beginning there was Lindy Hop, named in 1927 and still popular today. Lindy Hop is mostly dance to big band and swing music which was popular for 2 decades. In the post war era it was a time of great change and Rock 'n' Roll music became popular in the 50ss with it's own dance, based on Lindy Hop. During the '60s popular music slowed down. For example, Mary Wells' 1964 hit "My Guy" is 127 beats a minute - much too slow for Rock 'n' Roll jive which, in the UK, is mostly danced on every second beat. This trend of slower music continued during the '70s with the advent of disco. The music slowed down even more with classic disco hits like KC & The Sunshine Band's "Boogie Shoes" at 116 beats a minute and the Bee Gee's Night Fever from the classic disco movie "Saturday Night Fever" is 109 beats a minute. Social dancing was very much an individual dance. Ever since 1960 when Chubby Checker invited everyone to "Do the Twist" nobody seemed to dance with a partner any more!
The Roots of Modern Jive If we wanted to dance with a partner we needed a new partner dance which fitted the slower music in the charts and played in the clubs. This came along in the 1980s as Modern Jive. However, because the dance started in clubs around the country it developed with regional differences and with many people with no dance background deciding to become Modern Jive teachers. The result of this was that many people were unsure about the footwork or the timing of the dance and got around this by the simple, but confusingly inaccurate statement, "there is no footwork"! However, the dance worked because it's mostly danced in the open hold with plenty of space between partners - they could do what they fancied with their feet because they so far apart.
When Did Modern Jive Start Changing - we actually know the date for this one! Sunday, 5th October 1997. The place was the Hammersmith Palais and the event was the United Kingdom Modern Jive Open Championships. One couple, Nigel Anderson and Nina Daines danced to victory and showed that Modern Jive could be structured and danced in a very different way from the dance based on Rock 'n' Roll jive - this impressed many of those present on the day and changed the course of Modern Jive - Andy McGregor was there that day too and, having come from a ballroom and Latin background, saw that this was the way he wanted to dance Modern Jive - he wasn't alone.
For over a decade Nigel & Nina seemed to be teaching everywhere in the UK and spreading the word about their smoother, more structured, version of Modern Jive. And many other dance teachers spread the word too. Nowadays it's rare to find a class teaching the pre 1997 version of Modern Jive.
2. The 2014 Modern Jive Scene
After the early days of Modern Jive where different classes taught very different versions of jive, there is now a lot of consistency between most classes. The majority of Modern Jive classes teach the same smooth version as taught at Rocsters. While working as a guest teacher and judging competitions Andy McGregor travels extensively with his dance shoes and sees the same dance in most places he visits.
However, not all classes are the same and the dance taught as "Modern Jive". At some classes what you see being danced is still fairly difficult to define - especially some older classes. There seems to be no specific footwork timing and there seem to be many variants of the dance - often taught at the same class night by different teachers! To confuse us all, all the variants are interchangeably called many names, including Modern Jive, LeRoc, French Jive, etc. N.B. Because this dance is mostly done in the open hold it works just fine - it only becomes a problem when people who have been taught this unstructured dance try to lead or follow people who dance the current, smooth version on Modern Jive.
Also, the version of smooth Modern Jive which is done nowadays involves a lot more time in the closed hold than the older versions and much more than the traditional Rock 'n' Roll jive.
As you progress in the dance you will be introduced to simple variants to this footwork - you will be taught how to lead and how to follow these variations. However, the simple footwork in the basic means that the dance is easy to learn in the early stages and people will be dancing by the end of their first lesson.
Here is a clip of a great couple in Yorkshire demonstrating this smooth version of Modern Jive;
In this dance the couple spend quite a lot of time in the closed hold and this requires structured footwork. This footwork is very simple with the lady stepping right on the down beat and left on the up-beat. The guy leads on the opposite foot to make the dance work.
Traditional LeRoc - This version now quite rare in the UK and is more like the original exuberant Rock 'n' Roll. It is mostly danced to faster music and almost entirely in the open hand-hold and is characterised by less formal footwork. The lady does skips, hitches, taps, triples and kicks as takes her fancy rather than the simple and much smoother step footwork of the current version of Modern Jive which you will find at the majority of classes teaching Modern Jive in the UK.
Traditional LeRoc is great fun and looks good when done well, it is a much more difficult dance to learn and is much less common than the smooth Modern Jive taught at Rocsters venue - however, some teachers still teach this footwork and call the dance "Modern Jive". Many students will be confused by this as the two dances are quite different - hence this article!
Here's a clip of a LeRoc teaching video from the early '90s demonstrating this "Traditional" version of LeRoc
