The Jive is one of the fastest of the five Latin dances, the Jive has a lively variation of the jitterbug and some basic east coast swing patterns, both the jive and the east coast swing consist of two steps and a rock step.

But the Jive starts on the count with the first rock step which counts three and four and five and six. Jive is an up-tempo dance that uses a lot of bending the knees, lifting and turning the woman, swinging the hips, and lots of kicks. Jive doesn’t move all over the dance floor even though it looks that way, dancers actually keep their feet tucked under their bodies with their knees together. Jive can be danced to a variety of up beat music, including blues, swing Chart Hits, Disco, Latin, Rock’n’Roll, Rhythm’n’Blues, Swing, Boogie-Woogie, Salsa, etc. Any style you prefer to use.

In 1942, an American soldier brought the lindy hop and jitterbug back to Europe. The two dances found a following among the younger generation. The term swing in the United States became the most common word to describe the word dance. Techniques from the UK gave rise to dance styles such as boogie-woogie and swing. Later merging with the genetic term the Jive. The English instructors developed the elegant and lively ballroom dance Jive, danced to slightly slower music. In 1968, the jive was adopted in international Latin dance competitions.

The modern form of ballroom jive in the 1990s to the present, is a very upbeat and dynamic dance, often raising the knees and bending or swaying the hips. The jive originated in the United States in the early 1930s by African-Americans. The jive dance is a variation between the jitterbug and swing dance.

In 1934 Cab Calloway introduced the jive dance to the public. In 1968 the Jive was adopted as the fifth Latin dance competition. The good thing about learning to jive is that it’s fun, especially when you’re dancing with a partner. Dancing Jive is a social, learning, fitness and dance event all rolled into one. Jive is a wonderful form of cardiovascular exercise, half an hour of DANCING Jive will burn between 200 and 400 calories. That’s an amount equivalent to exercises like bicycling, swimming, or walking. Jive increases your heart rate, helps you burn more calories, tones your muscles, and when your muscles are toned helps you lose weight.