	About Modern Jive dance Blues dancing Modern Jive (Leroc) Dancing In the beginning ... Dancing in the street was a way of promoting Modern Jive from the early days. Here we have many of the pioneers of Leroc, as the dance was first called. Michel Ange Lau, Christine Keeble, Roger Chin, Mike Ellard and others unknown to me. Mike Ellard now owns Ceroc, the largest Modern Jive organisation, quite a step up from going for a night out dancing. LeRoc was the first organisation to promote Modern Jive. It was rapidly followed by a dynamic franchise organisation called Ceroc (Tm). Ceroc and time has altered many of the moves seen on the video that Christine is advertising. Ceroc is ... well, see for yourself A compilation of short clips in a promo video. It is ... ... what you make it. A dance for you to express your way to your music. Confidence So much in life is about confidence. Feeling confident is usually the same as feeling good, but it is more than a feeling. Feeling confident is usually the first step in achievement. We are on the verge of doing something good. What makes these "ordinary" people have enough confidence to dance in public? Being apprehensive can be useful It is a warning that we may be getting out of our depth. At best we are out of our comfort zone, at worst we are in peril. The problem with feeling apprehensive is that it tends to be the same in both cases. We are often frightened to do something even though there is no danger, no downside, nothing bad can happen to us. At worst we feel apprehensive and frightened when nothing but good can happen. This sort of apprehension keeps people away from dance lessons, which would make them feel better, br healthier in mind and spirit, and enhance their social lives. This is a bad sort of fear to have. These dancers were enjoying themselves, and giving others to the chance to enjoy themselves in the same way.You can be amazed and discover a hidden, unsuspected you. A you that has more fun and a better social life, a you that can change the lives of others too. .You should not need to look for excuses to enjoy yourself, or excuses not to. Just share as much fun as you can, when you can, Life is too short. More dancing in the street, less excuses This is just a demo to show normal social dancing. There is a champion dancer here, and at least two teachers, but nobody is "strutting their stuff", they are doing what they would do on a normal dance night, and that includes some chatting to friends. Nobody is here to "show-off". They have just come together to have fun and invite others to share it. Excuses If you have any imagination at all you can come up with some sort of excuse for any of these dancers not to be dancing. Every one of them was born, like all of us, unable to walk. Most started feeling out of their depth at their first class. .I have known cases where over 40 turn up to do these demos. Most of them started with available excuses not to dance, now they look for excuses to do so. Excuses aside ... Why they dancing in the street? Modern jive is the easiest first partner dance to learn, and the most versatile. It is a great place to start. For whatever reason, people join and people leave. In the summer months numbers tend to drop off, and these public busks are used to top up the numbers if necessary. Most people start Modern Jive by being brought along by a friend. There is no need to advertise it, which is why so many do not know it exists. People learn to dance, and for some an occasional trip to the dance floor is then enough, others, like myself and most of these dancers, keep coming back for more. These demos are run to top up numbers in the slcker summer months. The slack summer period is the ideal time to start. Beginners can get even more attention from the Taxi dancers and Teacher, and it is the keenest that dance in the summer. Onwards and upwards Some move on to other dance forms, Tango and ballroom are two favourites. Some move into WCS (West coast swing). The first two dancers seen here are Sara White and CJ. Sara made the journey from "What's Ceroc" to running her own venues, events and workshops. CJ has added to his career as a musician the skill of DJ'ing up and down the country. He specialises in so called "Mariachi" nights, where many of the genres of guitar based music are presented to delight and challenge the keener dancers. There is a CJ playlist and some superb examples of Modern Jive at its limits on the Blues page later on. Meanwhile CJ and Yliander show some more advanced Jivenites moves to the crowd. The reason why do children enjoy it, and why we should Children enjoy physical activities because their biological systems are built to encourage the exercise necessay to build muscle and bone, strength and coordination. These are things we need. They are feeling good because what they are doing is doing them good. These biological drives reduce with age, sense and experience take over. That sense and experience used to keep our ancestors in shape as they hunted for food, tended their crops, fought or fled from foes. Most of us in the developed world don't live like that now. All of the comforts and benefits we enjoy are at the expense of keeping our bodies in shape. The modern world is not best designed for our physical and mental well-being.What does amaze most those that try it is that they enjoy it too. We had that spirit as children, leaping about, heavily into rough and tumble, just for the sheer joy of it. Exercise is good for you, dance is good for you It would do the vast majority of us the power of good to go to the gym, swim or run.. I cannot tell anybody to do that, because I do none of those. How I get my bit of aerobic exercise is dance. I am 6'3" and built like a carthorse. not designed to dance. What I do is modern jive, usually at Ceroc venues. This must be a candidate for the easiest partner dance to learn. It is not focused on style, but on people having a good time together. Some evenings are indistinguishable from having a party. It is all about having fun. If dancing with a woman is fun, why not try two? So you get the Modern Jive dance bug, and move where there is none. Learn another dance? Or start your own venue? No contest, recruit some friends an to the streets. The man has to work harder t learn, so there is usually an excess of ladies in new venues where beginners abound. We have ways ... It is about confidence I have been dancing a long time. I have seen a very small number of newcomers come to their first Modern Jive class literally trembling with fear. Mostly these have been dragged along by "friends". Many more are stiff with tension. I have seen the transformation in them, often on the first night, sometimes only after three lessons. From "I can't do that" they soon move into "can't stop doing that". Dancing actually makes them blossom as human beings. There are more than a few in the dancing in the street clips below that started like that. They are now prepared to dance in the streets to spread that message, to pay back in some way for the benefits they have received from dance. If you look at those clips and think "I couldn't do that", actually you almost certainly could. Even more surprisingly, perhaps you should. Dancing, not necessarily in the street, is one way to build the confidence you need to stand up for yourself, to go on and become a leader in those situations where your leadership is needed. Every journey begins with a single step. For men that first step may be learning how to lead a willing lady around a dancefloor. For two ladies in those clips it transformed them from dancer to business women, earning their living from dance. Does Strictly Come Dancing encourage dance, but destroy confidence? I loved this show, and was an avid watcher. I have laughed at some of the witty insults thrown at the contestants. Sometimes it takes me a very long time to see the obvious. I dance with necomers to partner dance every week. Far too many of start tense and nervous and cannot relax and enjoy themselves. It usually takes some clowning on my part before they realise that this is not serious, there is no standard to meet, no test to pass. I have been so indoctrinated that dance is fun that I could not understand where this fear came from. Then, whilst we were watching Strictly with friends, watching some unfortunate contestants being torn apart, one remarked "Why would anbody put themselves through that". The light came on. The general ethos of the show, picking over detail, competing for prizes, being nasty about mistakes, must all put anybody that has not tried them off of dance classes. At Ceroc very few dance to win, dancing is winning. Your dance journey might start with a free lesson or demo, where might be next? * hours of fun and a new social life. * dance weekenders or holidays * the love of your life * dancing Modern Jive at your wedding * helping beginners * demonstrating * competing * becoming a DJ or qualified teacher * running your own venues This is not a sequence. You can miss most of those steps, but it would be a real shame if you missed the "having fun" one. Click here for more advanced clips You should experience a Modern Jive class. www.modernjive.co.uk has a map of venues in the UK and a list of organisations around the world. Apologies, I am new to web design, as though you had not guessed. I am working on it. A lot of the site defects are due to my experimenting. Thanks for getting this far.