2014年8月2日 星期六

Jive the Jitterbug

Some say it's “also called Lindy Hop and East Coast Swing”, but I believe it is not. Rather, Lindy Hop and Jitterbug derived the East Coast Swing. It has been quite popular in Taiwan, much fewer people dance it in Hong Kong. This six-count dance has a lot of descendants, one of the youngest one named Ceroc has arrived here a couple of years ago but it is never a craze (although I am also a ceroker).
As far as I know, Lindy hop and jitterbug are the two origins of a lot of dances for the younger generations, the derivatives according to the subsequent metamorphose are Swing (East Coast Swing & West Coast Swing), Boogie-Woogie, Beach-Pop, Rock 'N Roll, Twist, Disco, Hustle, and the latest one may be the French style Ceroc (LeRoc); most of them were and keep being danced to swing music, which in turn is classed as jazz and later youngest dance variants swapped to Rock and Roll music. Nowadays the most widespread jive is the International Latin one, which has been standardized so that every dance school in different countries teaches the same syllabus. I personally think that helps promote the dance because when we meet someone new we do not have to accustom ourselves to the local variations and still could look good together.
Jitterbug itself has been quite popular since the 1940s in our Western counterpart, in here it was quite a fashion to jitterbug in the 70s & 80s. Hongkongers kept up with the style changed as the dance evolved to Rock N Roll, Twist and Disco. However, from then on, we fell back to the jitterbug and the international Latin Jive.
Despite my preference, I still would like to dig a little deeper so that I can know more about the dance I am dancing, and that may help presenting it. The jitterbug I know is mainly a six count dance, which differ from international style's eight count. Without the extra count, it does not incorporate the jive chasse- it makes quite a difference, much slower and relaxed. Of course if you want you can make it violently energetic but in normal social dance classes, it seldom goes popping and hopping like a bunny. 

Ar... there are tons of things I need to know about dancing, especially those not included in the International style. I am not complaining. As a dancer, who wants to perfect the dancing, and explores as more opportunities as I wish, studying about dancing is a must. 

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