Modern Jive

[Swinging bee]

Interesting to see Bruce Forsyth interviewing Frankie Manning ( founder of lindyhop) on TV lately ,where he said the word 'jive'was used to portray someone who is not dancing very well!

[clevedonboy]

I saw that too. Jive was the word used by Brits to describe Jazz so I suspect that's where the name comes from. It could well be that Jive may have been looked down on by the original dancers who took the word and turned it to their own use to describe something phoney - I could be talking rubbish though

[bigdjiver]

As I remember it he said that "jive" was something that was not very good. That early usage seems to fit with the current dictionary definitions. Talking jive would be talking rubbish or falsely, dancing jive would be doing swing dancing poorly, and playing jive would be playing swing or jazz music badly. In all cases beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and "jive" could be the experts derisory view.
I started out doing "Trad jive", dancing to bands like Chris Barber. Like Modern Jive there was no footwork to learn, we just skipped in time with the music. It was big on bounce. I believe Trad Jazz was big in France too, and wonder if the nightclub Jive that inspired Michel Ange Lau and James Cronin was derived from Trad Jive, rather than directly from G.I. Jive. I wish James Cronin would give his version of the history.