| Jive is a rhythmical and swinging dance which influenced
by the Rock & Roll, Boogie and the African/American Swing. The roots of the Jive are
in New York, Harlem. In 1940 the jive was developed into the jitterbug and the English Jos
Bradly and Alex Moore developed from that the International Competition Jive. The dance
has an interesting history and has been called many different names. It was first
performed competitively during the 1880s and known as the Cakewalk because the prize was
frequently a cake. During the 1920s, dances such as the Foxtrot, Charleston, Black Bottom,
and various other steps combined to form the Lindy Hop, named after Charles Lindbergh who
made the first solo non-stop transatlantic flight that year, because of the amount of time
the dancers appeared to spend in the air. In the 1930s, the dance at the Savoy in Harlem
was described by Cab Calloway as like the frenzy of jittering bugs, so it soon became
known as the Jitterbug. Now called the Jive, it is an energetic dance that is particularly
popular with youths and young adults. |