Daily Playlist — Jive

Explore what makes the musical backbone to this ballroom dance

In latin dancing, the jive is a dance style that originated in the United States from African-Americans in the early 1930s. It is a lively and uninhibited variation of the Jitterbug, a form of Swing dance.

The characteristics of its music include a fast bpm: In competition it is danced at a speed of 176 bpm, although in some cases this is reduced to between 128 and 160 bpm. However, its most recognizable feature is the syncopated beat pattern of the triple steps, creating a bouncy feeling. Many of the songs with these features are also written in the time signature of 2/2, since the time signature is used for fast, upbeat music. This time signature creates the illusion that the beat is accented on the 2nd and 4th beats, another form of syncopation. In conjunction with the music, the modern form of ballroom jive is a very happy and boppy dance with extensive lifting of knees and bending or rocking of the hips.