Dear Jiver,
Are you fed up of your repertoire of dance steps?
Have you forgotten all those cool moves your were taught?
This is the place for you to get your next fix!
Clicking "Full Database" takes you to notes relating to more than 500 jive steps, starting at record 1. You may browse through them all one at a time if you have the patients! However, by clicking on "Amend filter" (Gold membership only), you can specify the characteristics that a move must possess, such as "must start with a basket", "be of intermediate level" and "contain a shimmy". This will hone you in on the sort of move you may be interested in. You can go through these one at a time or display them all as a list for easy printing, provided there are less than 100. Many moves are animated (Gold membership only).
Gold membership is currently free.
This filter form is in three sections. Initially all moves are included but firstly you can select only ones that start with a certain basic move or hand combination. Next you decide what general attributes you require to be INCLUDED (eg to include basic and intermediate moves), by default all are included. Finally you can check boxes to RESTRICT yourself only to moves with specific attributes. Sorry - I know this seems complicated but I could not find a simpler way of doing it!
Alternatively, if this is just too awesome to get started, have a look at "Core moves". This has a simple list and links to all the beginner moves and and one example of the majority of the concepts/moves used by intermediates.
There is a "beginners corner" with help for those who have just started and "improvers tips" for those who are humble enough to still be willing to pick up some advice or understand there is more than one way to skin a cat than to choke it with cream!
It is not my intention that anyone learns new jive moves from this database. You HAVE to go and learn from a jive venue. This is the real jive experience and is great fun. The whole point of this database is to remind you of moves you already have learned, perhaps bring out some forgotten learning points and to bring back some vitality into your dancing.
Note that all jive moves are potentially dangerous (especially if you have say a knee injury), but some have been identified with a red flashing warning as having additional hazards. It is important that these are taught by qualified instructors and using additional safety precautions whilst learning (see table).
I have no allegiance to any particular jive organisation and have attempted to use names or descriptions that are generic to all forms of jive. There are, after all, only so many ways of knotting up two bodies with two sets of arms connected on either side of a neck! All jive moves are derived from the 40s and many currently used in other forms of dance such as Lindy Hop and Salsa etc. However the phrase search will detect memorable organisation specific names, where they are known, but the summary will only display generic ones.
The database is not available for e-mailing in its entirety as there is no suitable format that does not waste paper (actually it is a spreadsheet) and it is constantly being modified and added to. As with all databases, computer caching has been switched off to avoid the considerable confusion that ensues. However the last filtered selection as a list which is cached for off-line use - See Site FAQ.
If you have any moves you would like including then please let me know. Alternatively feel free to suggest it in the discussion forum, or perhaps ask others for some information on a cool move you have forgotten but can describe a little.
These are my own personal notes. They were entered around midnight after returning from a long night, learning and seeing the sort of moves that were being danced. As such many are perhaps not quite in the best form yet for publishing. I am reviewing each move for clarity of description and consistency, Over 400 have already been reviewed and you may restrict yourself to these by clicking the "reviewed checkbox" on the filter page.
Let me know what other features you would like and I will try to support them. If you know of any resource or are willing to offer any article of advice, please let me know as its my vision to offer such or link to it from this site. My email address can be obtained from the feedback page.
Richard