Want to be the person everyone wants to dance with at Modern Jive? How do I improve my lead/follow techniques? How do I build on that feeling of achievement each modern jive dance lesson? What’s the best way to lead my dance partner in modern jive? How do I become a great dance lead quickly? How can I become an awesome follow?
All great questions!
If you’re new to modern jive or partner dancing in general tips for getting the best from your dance classes are always helpful. Here Harry is talking about modern jive dancing as that’s what we teach however the tips also apply to most forms of partner dancing, such as ballroom, salsa, swing etc. If you’ve toyed with learning to dance and wondered how to dance modern jive, read on. And if you’ve been coming to modern jive for a while you’ll know there is always something to learn and that we help each other learn and improve our dancing. So dive into these dance tips by Harry H, one of our modern jive beginners dance teachers. Keep these dancing tips in mind, put them into practice consistently and watch your dancing take off. Ready? Off we go.
Modern Jive dancing is very much a conversation, a friendly and easy-going one. It is not always easy to speak over loud music on the dance floor, but there are other ways of conversing for example:
— you should be looking your partner in the eyes at the beginning and end of every move, so don’t start or finish twisted out to one side – you may know you are going to turn out that direction, but try to return to facing each other directly, and looking in your partner’s eyes after every move – try to avoid looking down at your feet (it’s about trust!).
— in a class environment, everyone is trying to learn and improve at all times – you may have done a Wurlitzer/American Spin a hundred times, practice is always good, you never know what small tips you may pick up about footwork, hand position or what have you. Please always remember that what is old hat for you may be new and quite challenging for your partner of the moment. Now, it is only good courtesy to not disrupt the instructor by chatting with your partner, however if there is something you feel he or she should do differently, anything from firming up a lead to asking a follow for more arm tension or to not anticipate the lead ….say it quietly and nicely, of course. Or better still make a friendly helpful mention to any of the teachers during the practice session. We all want to help one another.
— try to show your appreciation for your partner’s effort – this is HUGE – just a little smile, or even keeping the eye contact is enough; leads – if you think she spins very well, tell her – follows/ladies if you think he leads extremely well with no ambiguity or flabbiness – tell him, because he’d love to hear that.
In other words, have fun and let that come out in all you are doing, either in class or in freestyle practice. Now, what about dance tips? Here are some practical modern jive dance tips for the ladies (dance “follows”) and for the men (dance “leads”).
