Jive basic

[twothreefourone]

Perhaps, it's a style thing, my partner and I always have minor disagreements in making our styles match, especially with jive. Her Jive is very upright and bouncy, especially in her basics, which I fondly call "pogo steps" . My jive is probably closer to swing jive, with less exaggerated bounce and a nice snap through the chasse. Whenever I dance to match her, I feel much heavier - maybe it's the exaggeration?

But in any case, keeping loose knees and springy ankles I find helps minimise the thumping on chasses/flicks/kicks. Are you dancing upright or with a slight bend forwards at the waist? Too upright and I find it much easier to get all thumpy on landings. Without seeing you dance however, only those two things spring (hehehe) to mind. Do you do quickstep and are your hops heavy too?

 

[latingal]

I agree with ttfo, check to make sure you are in the correct position over the balls of your feet and make sure you are using your ankles/knees correctly - on top of those two, make sure you are articulating and using your feet in addition to your ankles to cushion your landings, and use your core muscles to keep your body together (you will thud if the core of your body is not controlled and your weight collapses when you hit the floor).

 

[laucy.my]

Perhaps, it's a style thing, my partner and I always have minor disagreements in making our styles match, especially with jive. Her Jive is very upright and bouncy, especially in her basics, which I fondly call "pogo steps" . My jive is probably closer to swing jive, with less exaggerated bounce and a nice snap through the chasse. Whenever I dance to match her, I feel much heavier - maybe it's the exaggeration?

But in any case, keeping loose knees and springy ankles I find helps minimise the thumping on chasses/flicks/kicks. Are you dancing upright or with a slight bend forwards at the waist? Too upright and I find it much easier to get all thumpy on landings. Without seeing you dance however, only those two things spring (hehehe) to mind. Do you do quickstep and are your hops heavy too?

I find myself either too upright or too bent in front at any given time. Are there any ways/tips to get yourself to be in the correct position at all times? And no, I don't do Standard. I only do Latin so I can't say for the quickstep.

 

[laucy.my]

I agree with ttfo, check to make sure you are in the correct position over the balls of your feet and make sure you are using your ankles/knees correctly - on top of those two, make sure you are articulating and using your feet in addition to your ankles to cushion your landings, and use your core muscles to keep your body together (you will thud if the core of your body is not controlled and your weight collapses when you hit the floor).

How do I control it? Sorry, but despite dancing for years I am still totally clueless about this Jive.

 

[latingal]

How do I control it?

The easiest way to describe activating the core muscles is how they tell beginners in ballet to do it - pull your belly button in to your spine. This activates the core muscles and will allow you to keep the core of the body together and not flopping around in the movement - which will allow you greater control of your weight over your feet. You will need to experiment with how much activation is needed....too much and you will be stiff, too little and you won't be able to control your weight.

 

[twothreefourone]

How's it going Laucy? Is your jive feeling better? I only asked the quickstep hop question to see if it was your core. Latingal's hit it on the head there with activating your core. So much movement in dancing comes from the core, from controlling our posture and balance to creating energy for fast movements. Unfortunately, I think it's something we have to get in touch with ourselves; fortunately the more we dance, the more we strengthen our cores and will hopefully achieve that look of effortless movement.

In terms of tricks, I don't think there are any, but it's nothing that a little hard work and going back to basics won't fix. I usually stand facing a wall and lightly press my fingertips against it, arms outstretched in a double hand hold. Then I just work on the feel of the basic, connecting the feelings of the movement with the muscles being used. You'll feel an alternating compression and extension on opposite sides of your obliques as you're generating the movement for the rock and chassé, and should feel as you switch your centre of balance across a chassé that there's a slight inwards "pull" in one arm and an outwards "push" in the other and this switches around as your centre moves.

You'll get the feel of it, and keep correcting as you go. If you're feeling unbalanced when dancing a basic in hold, perhaps your connection with your partner isn't quite in sync. To me it feels like I'm aiming for perfect balance, catching myself at the end of a swing, without too much weight that switching the other way will take more time and energy, which would result in a heavy feel, but not off balance, which would look uncontrolled. Don't know if that helps, but I hope it's going well!

 

[laucy.my]

The easiest way to describe activating the core muscles is how they tell beginners in ballet to do it - pull your belly button in to your spine. This activates the core muscles and will allow you to keep the core of the body together and not flopping around in the movement - which will allow you greater control of your weight over your feet. You will need to experiment with how much activation is needed....too much and you will be stiff, too little and you won't be able to control your weight.

Still experimenting, but thank you for the input!

 

[laucy.my]

How's it going Laucy? Is your jive feeling better? I only asked the quickstep hop question to see if it was your core. Latingal's hit it on the head there with activating your core. So much movement in dancing comes from the core, from controlling our posture and balance to creating energy for fast movements. Unfortunately, I think it's something we have to get in touch with ourselves; fortunately the more we dance, the more we strengthen our cores and will hopefully achieve that look of effortless movement.

In terms of tricks, I don't think there are any, but it's nothing that a little hard work and going back to basics won't fix. I usually stand facing a wall and lightly press my fingertips against it, arms outstretched in a double hand hold. Then I just work on the feel of the basic, connecting the feelings of the movement with the muscles being used. You'll feel an alternating compression and extension on opposite sides of your obliques as you're generating the movement for the rock and chassé, and should feel as you switch your centre of balance across a chassé that there's a slight inwards "pull" in one arm and an outwards "push" in the other and this switches around as your centre moves.

You'll get the feel of it, and keep correcting as you go. If you're feeling unbalanced when dancing a basic in hold, perhaps your connection with your partner isn't quite in sync. To me it feels like I'm aiming for perfect balance, catching myself at the end of a swing, without too much weight that switching the other way will take more time and energy, which would result in a heavy feel, but not off balance, which would look uncontrolled. Don't know if that helps, but I hope it's going well!

Hmm...for the front ones it's getting better, like the mooch. I feel like when I tighten and shorten everything and try to work just from the knee downwards, it's all good. And then I tried to do the overcross and side ones and the tight feeling is gone and so is the lightness.

That being said, I still have problems with the basic so will probably need a new instructor to tell me how to do it.

 

[millitiz]

I know I am a bit late to the party, but I would like to put in my two cents.

Here are some of my thoughts on getting "lighter." Although it is a bit unorganized.

First, your weight is much higher in jive - and that will give you more freedom (in one of the video from Bryan and Karen, she said that it is the same as Paso).

The way for me to keep lighter is, to imagine my center is hold up, that it is fixed at a point in space. Imagine this, someone is lifting you up, so that your leg is free to move in the air - now you can do all the fancy stuff with your legs and what not.
And then the posture: there is a slightly bending of your upper body (it kinda look like sitting on a toilet). The reason I thought that it is important is because by bending in forward, it is, in a way, fixed in the space (yes, there will still be a bit up and down) since all the momentum, energy is absorbed through your hip and core area. And since your upper body is fixed in the space, you don't need to work to move it up and down - tala! For less weight to move around - and that will give your legs more freedom.

Btw, from what I understand, the jive action (knee action), or the light feeling, is quite directly in conflict with the swing action (since swing action is more created by working into the floor - so in a sense, it is slightly heavier). Of course, the ratio of the two different actions is of course personal taste/style. But I thought I would like to point this out.

There is also the possibility that one just doesn't have the right muscles - for this, there is no easy way (or no hard way) beside just practicing it slowly but surely.

I guess another approach is just frigging do it, your body would make it more efficient (our bodies are lazy), therefore lighter.

 

[laucy.my]

I know I am a bit late to the party, but I would like to put in my two cents.

Here are some of my thoughts on getting "lighter." Although it is a bit unorganized.

First, your weight is much higher in jive - and that will give you more freedom (in one of the video from Bryan and Karen, she said that it is the same as Paso).

The way for me to keep lighter is, to imagine my center is hold up, that it is fixed at a point in space. Imagine this, someone is lifting you up, so that your leg is free to move in the air - now you can do all the fancy stuff with your legs and what not.
And then the posture: there is a slightly bending of your upper body (it kinda look like sitting on a toilet). The reason I thought that it is important is because by bending in forward, it is, in a way, fixed in the space (yes, there will still be a bit up and down) since all the momentum, energy is absorbed through your hip and core area. And since your upper body is fixed in the space, you don't need to work to move it up and down - tala! For less weight to move around - and that will give your legs more freedom.

Btw, from what I understand, the jive action (knee action), or the light feeling, is quite directly in conflict with the swing action (since swing action is more created by working into the floor - so in a sense, it is slightly heavier). Of course, the ratio of the two different actions is of course personal taste/style. But I thought I would like to point this out.

There is also the possibility that one just doesn't have the right muscles - for this, there is no easy way (or no hard way) beside just practicing it slowly but surely.

I guess another approach is just frigging do it, your body would make it more efficient (our bodies are lazy), therefore lighter.

Thank you for your input! Will be working on it and update you guys the outcome!

 

[twothreefourone]

I like your thinking Millitiz! It'll happen Laucy, just gotta find what works for you, both in style and learning approach. Also, don't know if you have one, but I may have stumbled upon your youtube channel on my internaut travels