Jive Basics

[pygmalion]

I had my first lesson in jive today. Yay! What fun, and what a workout. Lots of bouncing and kicks. Any suggestions on good practice exercises?

[ShyDancer]

Jive is certainly a whole lotta fun!

I have only had a few classes in Jive as well, so I will be keeping an eye on this topic!

[Adwiz]

Any suggestions on good practice exercises?

Two things come to mind:

1. Keep your knees together and bend them, then move them from side to side as if you were skiing. It's a bit hard to describe without showing you. Make sure you keep the sides from the knee to the shoulders unbroken. This is a great exercise for handling the Jive "bend."

2. Take a big elastic cord and tie it around your knees. Practice this way to get familiar with how you should keep your knees together. Shirley Ballas once suggested this to one of my instructors. Too many dancers let their knees separate too much and allow their rock step to go too far back. Ideally your knees should be very close at all times.

[pygmalion]

Yes. I noticed that when I was watching my coach today. Compared to her, it looked and felt like my knees were a mile apart.

[msc]

Use the floor as much as you can ... lots and lots of pressure through the feet. There's really no other way to truly keep time in jive.

Oh, and kick out on your way down, then draw in on the way up.

[dancin_feet]

I love jive!! Did a lot of it when I was younger. A lot of fun and so many moves and variations - wow! I now do triple swing which is the same basic movement, but a bit slower and more relaxed.

I miss jive ......... :(

Good luck with it. :D

[Genesius Redux]

Welcome to the wonderful world of jive, Miss Doolittle! Now you can be a lady in shop!

Practice rock steps with Latin motion over and over, heels off the ground. Keep it all forward and into the ground, think press, press, press, press. And remember that God gave you knees to go along with your beautiful legs, which you can use! And Adwiz's ideas sound really cool too....

Ciao,

Genesius[/quote]

[ShyDancer]

How is your Jive coming along Pygmalion?

Mine has come along really well in recent weeks and I think it has a fair bit to do with correct tension and step size. Just wondering how you're doing?

[Chris Stratton]

It was recently argued to me that raising the knees in a basic jive chasse, while extemely popular, is also very incorrect. The theory goes that the chasse itself is a farily minimalist action - balls of feet pretty much on the floor, heel not lifting very far, and working the arriving leg rather than the departing leg. This physically works and feels a lot better than how I used to do it, and also seems to match what you see if you watch high level dancers do THIS action.

The confusion seems to come from the more advanced flick and kick actions. Those do involve raising the knees. But those are not the basic chasse. Yet people who see those without understanding them then try to make their basic chasse look like a flick basic, and create a bastardized hybrid that while enthusiastic looks (and often is) out of control.

Agree? Disagree?

[spatten]

I have seen two distinct styles of Jive, and actually many interpretations inbetween.

Just in the basic...

The first style tends to go side to side in the chasse and has very little knee raising but more of a swing or swoop. The second style doesn't travel much from side to side at and is much more up and down in the knees. I tend to prefer the second style - I think it is a newer style but is mostly accepted. Compre Paul Kilick to Bryan Watson to see what I mean.

**Also, somone mentioned using Latin action for the rock steps with heels off the ground. That I would consider "very incorrect". I believe the heel of the back foot needs to contact the floor - and the best dancers all do this. The important distinction is that they place no weight in the back foot - but extend the heel to reach the ground.

[Kitty]

I have seen two distinct styles of Jive, and actually many interpretations inbetween.

Just in the basic...

The first style tends to go side to side in the chasse and has very little knee raising but more of a swing or swoop. The second style doesn't travel much from side to side at and is much more up and down in the knees. I tend to prefer the second style - I think it is a newer style but is mostly accepted. Compre Paul Kilick to Bryan Watson to see what I mean.

**Also, somone mentioned using Latin action for the rock steps with heels off the ground. That I would consider "very incorrect". I believe the heel of the back foot needs to contact the floor - and the best dancers all do this. The important distinction is that they place no weight in the back foot - but extend the heel to reach the ground.

Haven't heard of that first style you are talking about until like 3 days ago. I tried to do it, but it doesn't work for me yet, I'd need to practice more. I'm not going to switch though (although I do like the more dramatic look it creates) because my partner does the second type of basic, and that is what our coach teaches. I think both can be correct.

Chris,
about the knee raising thing, all the teachers (except the one who shoun me the different basic) told me to raise knees higher, but they also warn that the foot should not be anywhere behind the knee of the standing leg + the toes must be pointed down.

[Kitty]

and just to make sure we are talking about the same thing

the first type of jive I saw (very crude description), had relatively larger side steps in chasse, lowers on count 3 and 5, goes up on 4 and six, back rock very emphasized, lowering and raising at the last moment creates latin, dramatic look, knees never seem to go much up.

second one - goes up and down on every step and teachers always tell to raise the knees higher. The side steps are small.

[LauraB]

That first type of jive explained sounds more like triple swing to me. Jive is the bouncier one with the emphasized knee action, e.c. swing has more of a "swoop" feeling. (In my experience.)

[spatten]

I think that is a fair statement of the different types of basic in Jive. I think we are talking about the same thing. I don't have confirmation on this but I think the difference relates back to two different schools of jive taught by two different English masters.

[Chris Stratton]

One of the most consistent things I'm noticing on competition videos is that jive really isn't bouncy. At all.

People's upper bodies are staying at a pretty constant altitude, no matter what their legs do. That's one of the biggest visual differences between high level and beginner dancers - the champ finalists often look like if you gave them a small push, they would just slowly drift across the floor, bounce off something, and drift back.

[spatten]

People's upper bodies are staying at a pretty constant altitude, no matter what their legs do

I think that is probably true of all the Latin dances - except Paso. For example the Samba "bounce" is definately absorbed into the body not seen as a rise and fall.

[ShyDancer]

According to a Latin technique reference book I have, the competition level Jive is based on Triple Lindy.
There are other variations - Rock Jive and Tap Step or 2 Beat Jive which are danced socially, although these are not discussed in much detail.

From what I am being taught Jive is "all about lifting the knees" . Your body should be upright at all times while maintaining a fair amount of tension in the arms, thats why you dont really notice the bounce.
Steps should be tiny and for the most part almost "in place"
Another thing I was taught is that in the chasses your feet shouldnt close as they do in a waltz chasse...although I cant remeber off the top of my head why :oops: Might have to find out.