In short Modern Jive is a social partner dance where one person leads and the other follows. With hardly any specified footwork, learning moves and putting these into practice is often easier than other dance styles.

In Modern Jive there is a leader and a follower. The leaders job is to lead the moves and use signals to guide the follower to where they will be travelling to and from. During lessons the teacher will often use phrases like "push and pull, high and low" this indicates the small movements signalled to the follower usually through a loose hand hold allowing them to know where the leader intends them to go.

Followers, your job is to interpret the leaders signals and look amazing doing it. You do have an element of control on how fast you do movements. For example, a spin can be done in 1 beat of the music, it can also be done in 2 or more beats. Follows are the stylists of Modern Jive and will often be the ones that make the moves look so good!

It's very hard to explain in black and white what makes Modern Jive so much fun to be part of. The video is a few of our dance community freestyling. Freestyling is when music is played and the leader will lead moves in a random order for the follower to interpret.

Along with the fun and laughter dance is proven to have a host of physical and mental health benefits. These range from improved heart and lung function through to better memory and co-ordination. With Modern Jive the physicality of the exercise you're doing helps to improve stamina, core strength, muscle tone and balance to name just a few. Dancing can cause the body to release endorphins into the blood stream causing an overwhelming positive feeling helping to lower stress and relax the mind. Combine this with the social aspect of dance you end up with an activity that gives you a full body workout, helps you to feel positive and less stressed and increases your social circles.

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