Get active at UAL's Jive Dance Society

by Maryse Farag

Spice up your dull winter evenings and get a taste of 40s glamour with UAL's Jive Dance Society.

Jive is a fun and easy dance to learn, with plenty of room for self-expression allowing you to bring out your inner Elvis.

You don’t need to have a partner’s hand to grab or any previous dance experience to get a lot out of this energetic form of dance.

The style of dance taught is ‘40s jive, with a faithful rhythm, blues and rock and roll soundtrack.

Jitterbug away

Classes focus on basic moves that can be developed into sequences or more advanced moves.

Lessons in small groups allow intimate one-on-one tuition and teaching breaks each move down into easy to follow steps.

Robyn Minogue, president of the society has been dancing for five years now and was inspired by her mother who was a ‘50s jive dance champion.

Minogue trained in Brighton with Brighton Jive Promotions, but upon moving to London could not find a place of equal caliber to continue her learning.

Having seen such a gap in classes she knew she could teach better than most jive classes presently being offered in London and made the decision to train as a teacher.

Teaching informally for a number of years in clubs, she had so many people wanting to learn jive that she was encouraged to start a society at her university, which she did and is proud its proving to be a success.

Full of humour, jive is and was traditionally a dance for the younger generation brought to the UK by the American GI’s during WWII. The spirit of jive helped to lessen the gloom of war with its carefree attitude and snappy dress-code.

Classes are £3.50 for one hour between 7-8pm or 8-9pm every Wednesday at Davies Street Activities Studio, The Hub. The closest tube is Bond Street.

For more information on starting or getting involved in a society visit suarts.org/sportsandsocs