Jive - syncope of the African soul, ranked in the top five Latin American dances
In 1901, Queen of Great Britain Victoria died. She took with her the restrained traditions of the second half of the XIX century. Incendiary, energetic, and sometimes overt dances of the lower strata of the population promptly supplanted sedentary compositions, which were performed by the elite in bulky clothes. Emotional swing dance has captured everyone, has become a means of self-expression, its varieties remain relevant today.
What is jive
Latin dance of African American origin. The systematized style appeared in the USA in the 1930s as a free type of jitterbug (a quick dance with sharp movements to jazz music). The main pas is a combination:
- step back with a return;
- fast syncopated chasse - triple step, performed on 2 bars;
- The foot is always placed with a sock.
Jive is one of five international Latin American dances. At competitions, he dances at a speed of 176 bits per minute, sometimes reducing the number to 128-160 steps (beats). Size 4/4.
The dance has many common figures with the swing of the US Atlantic coast. The main difference is the highly syncopated rhythm of the chasse.
There are jive in style:
- casual gait (swing style), which is characterized by natural movement, large amplitude of the hips;
- jumps (jumping style) with the release of ankles in the jump.
Popular ringtones
"Jumpin 'Jive" (also known as "(Hep-Hep!) The Jumpin 'Jive") is a famous jazz-swing composition, written by Cab Calloway, Frank Froeba and Jack Palmer in July 1939. It has sold over a million copies. Calloway performed it with the orchestra and the Nicholas Brothers dance duet in the 1943 musical-movie "Rainy Weather" (Stormy Weather).
"Jumpin 'Jive" (listen)
"Don't Stop Me Now" - the song "Queen" from the album "Jazz" of 1979, the author - the lead singer of the group Freddie Mercury. Under this music, Julia Zagoruichenko and Ricardo Cocci danced at jive competitions, dancing on performances so far.
"Don't Stop Me Now" (listen)
"Hit The Road Jack" - written by Percy Mayfield (Percy Mayfield), the song was performed by Ray Charles (Ray Charles) and Marzhi Hendrix (Marjorie Hendrix) in 1961. The plot is built in the form of a dialogue. A woman drives a man out of a house because he cannot contain her. The man convinces her that he will correct everything, that she is too suspicious. The composition has become a cult for sports events in the United States. It often sounds when removing players from the field, as well as in the final minutes of the game, when the home team win is obvious.
"Hit The Road Jack" (listen)
Story
The exact origin of the word "jive" is not known. The consonant concepts were in colloquial English and the languages of South African peoples; in any case, the word had a negative emotional tinge, it could have the meaning of “mockery”, “taunts”, “deception”, “negligence”.
The first mention of jive goes to the XIX century. The dance was popular with African Americans and Indians in Florida. Culture experts suggest that jive was brought from Africa.
Without mentioning the swing, it is impossible to give a complete picture of the jive. Swing is the historical context in which the jive developed; This is a field where a highly structured high-tech dance has evolved, awarded a place in the top five international Latin American.
In music, the term "swing" is used in two main contexts. In colloquial speech, they are described with a sense of rhythmic movement forward, which appears as a result of musical dialogue, interaction between the performers, especially when the music triggers an "intuitive response", such as a leg placed on the partner's leg or a head on his shoulder. The term is also used to refer to a technique that implies a variable use of long and short sounds in a rhythm, usually associated with jazz, used in other styles.
The concept of "swing" is difficult to define. This is the most discussed word in jazz. When jazz singer Kutie Williams (Cootie Williams) was asked to define, he joked: "His definition? I would prefer to take up Einstein's theory!"
When Louis Armstrong was asked what a swing is, he said: “Ah, swing, we called it syncopation, then it was called ragtime, then blues, then jazz. Now it's swing. Haha! White people, what to say is everything chaos reigns. "
Why so many variations on the theme of syncopated chasse?
Most likely, from the great popularity among the masses, the wide geography and the absence of the Internet in the first half of the XX century. The phenomenon is similar to the distribution of languages, such as English and Spanish. Most of the planet speaks to them, but at the same time, each individual Spanish or English-speaking country has its own dialect.
What danced those who had a lot of jazz in their blood? Lindy hop, jitterbug, swing east and west coasts of the USA, boogie-woogie, jive. Later, in the 1950s, a rhythmic choreographic heir appeared, performed by couples, a group of girls or several pairs, often with elements of acrobatics - rock and roll.
Lindy Hop is an American dance that appeared in New York Harlem in 1928. According to one version, the dance owes its name to Charles Lindberg (Charles Lindbergh), an aviator who first flew to the Atlantic alone in May 1927. He was called "Happy Lindy, Jumping over the Atlantic" - in English "Lucky Lindy, who hopped the Atlantic". Thanks to the play of words in the headlines of the press appeared the phrase "Lindy-hop", which has become associated with the dance. Lindy Hop was especially popular in the late 1930s - early 1940s. He combined many dances that preceded him, or were popular during his development, but more often he was described as a jazz dance, a kind of swing. Lindy-Hop never standardized and later became an inspiration for several other forms, such as boogie-woogie, jive, east and west swing of the United States, rock and roll.
Jitterbug literally means “trembling bug” in English. It is usually used as an emotionally colored word in terms of psycho, alarmist, amateur of swing music. Cab Calloway’s 1934 song "Call of the Jitter Bug" and the film "The Jitterbug Party of the Jitterbug" (Cab Calloway's Jitterbug Party) popularized the use of the word "Jitterbug".
East Coast Swing appeared in dance studios in the 1940s based on Lindy Hop. Lance-hop dance halls were considered too complicated and not very structured to teach it to beginners, but the market had a high demand for learning swing dancing. East Coast Swing has different names in different regions of the United States and in the world. He was called "Eastern Swing", "Jitterbug", "American Swing", "East Coast Lindy", "Lindy", "Triple Swing" ... Ah, if there was the Internet, how much dance history would have lost! East Coast Swing is a form of social pair dance. He dances to fast swing music, including rock and roll and boogie-woogie. West Coast Swing is more elastic than East Coast.
Around 1940, American soldiers brought jitterbug to Europe, where the dance quickly found fans among young people. In Britain, the name of the dance “jive” got accustomed. Variations in the technique laid the foundation for such styles as boogie-woogie and swing boogie, which gradually gained common importance in the UK with jive.
Boogie-woogie is an emotional pair dance that borrowed a lot of elements from lindy hop and jitterbug. It is characterized by numerous improvisations. After the war, boogies became the dominant form of popular music. However, this did not prevent the constant criticism of the dance, as rude. The famous expert in ballroom dancing Alex Moore (Alex Moore) said that "never seen anything more ugly."
By 1968, the theoretical foundations of jive were brought to a level that allowed them to compete in technology at a professional level. It was then that the dance was adopted as the fifth Latin American dance.
In modern form, ballroom jive has been dancing since the 1990s. This is a happy groovy dance, with frequent knee lifts, their flexions, swaying of the hips at a speed of 44 bars per minute, which requires dancers to 176 steps every minute.
Interesting Facts
- Jive was actively developed after the abolition of slavery in the United States (1865), the first competitions among former Africans were soon held, and the main prize in the competitions was pie.
- Swing artists in the 1930s and 1940s considered Jive as an expression meaning "superficial absurd conversation."
- The text of the song "The Call of the Jitterbug" (1934) clearly demonstrates the association between the word "jitterbug" and alcohol
- Dance critic John Martin from The New York Times wrote: “... White jitterbug often looks rude ... but the African American original (implied jive) is another matter. His movements are never exaggerated to out of control, they have obvious nobility when performing the roughest figures ... a large proportion of improvisation ... mixed with lindy hop figures. Of all the ballroom dances that my curious eyes saw, this is undoubtedly the most sophisticated. "
- Among the musical compositions for which jive dance, a large number refers to jazz.
Famous performers
Jive developed in an evolutionary way, its role as a favorite activity has always prevailed over the commercial component. The dance had no worldwide advertising campaigns. Outstanding jive dancers are known in relatively narrow circles. But their talent is not inferior to the loudest names.
Walter William Laird (Walter william laird) (1920-2002) - three-time world champion in dance. He lived in the UK, actively engaged in the development of Latin American dances, including jive. He was the coach of numerous dancers-winners of the world championships. Until the age of 80, he worked in the Ballroom Dance Federation, for some time as its president.
Donnie Burns and Gaynor Fairware (Donnie Burns and Gaynor Fairweather) - 14-time World Champions in Latin American dances, each has the Order of the British Empire. Donnie's masterly performances ensured him not only numerous victories, but also getting into the Guinness Book of Records. He now runs the World Dance Council.
Yuliya Zagoruichenko (Yulia Zagoruychenko) - multiple winner of world competitions in Latin American dances. He is of Russian descent, lives in New York, speaks with her husband Ricardo Cocci for the United States. Their jive for 7 years on youtube gained about 260 thousand views.
The professional community clearly regulated the movements of the jive, it became the apogee of the competition for Latin American dances. At the same time, its high popularity as a social one is preserved. Amateur manner of execution allows for a lot of free interpretations. There are numerous educational videos on youtube, and under them there are heated discussions, where there is a thin line between jive and the swing of the east coast of the USA. There is no consensus to this day.
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