Modern Jive is a dance style derived from various styles of Swing, Lindy Hop, Rock and Roll, Salsa and many other styles, the main innovation being to simplify the footwork.

Like many partner dances, Modern Jive is traditionally a male-led dance, with the male indicating the move to his partner using a compendium of Frame, Connection and occassionaly Signals.

Modern jive is a relatively new phenomenon that has only been going since the 1980s, mainly in the UK, Australia and New Zealand. It is easy to learn and can be used for much of the modern music that is about today as well as rock'n'roll and swing etc. You don't take lessons to learn modern jive, they are an integral part of the evening and everybody dances with everybody - you need not bring a partner - and a beginner will not find their first time daunting. It is not a precise dance like the ballroom jive or most other swing dance but can be used as a framework for one's own interpretation.

Balboa was very popular among the College Kids and the sophisticated dancers in the mid 30s and is now extremely popular once again. Originally Balboa was a closed position swing form with intricate footwork predominantly based on 8-count patterns. But when the hot Swing music really hit the scene some of the younger dancers like Maxie Dorf and Lolly Wise added break-aways and swing turns to the Balboa, which nowadays is often referred to as Bal-Swing. Balboa can be danced to any speed of music, from slow songs at 120 beats/min. till very fast ones at 300 beats/min. Pure Balboa is probably the easiest way to dance to fast swing music, enjoy it, and look good.

Balboa is a form of the swing dance in the Lindyhop family, which evolved from Charleston and Shag. It is a smooth dance, danced in a close hold (Pure Balboa) or the dancers may separate (Bal Swing). It is often only thought to be a dance for very fast music when it is at its best, however Balboa can be danced at all tempos down to Blues. An excellent way to dance on a crowded dance floor and very handy if you want to hold a conversation while you are dancing.

Balboa is a dance where people build communities, and friends. It is an international dance with workshops and festivals all over the world.

The Lindy Hop (or Lindy) is a partner dance that originated in 1920's and 30's Harlem, New York. The Dance itself consists of both 8 and 6 count steps and it includes footwork borrowed from the Charleston and Tap.

The dance can be wild and spontaneous, with frenzied kicks and body movements, or it can be cool and sophisticated. The most important aspects of it are that it is danced with your partner, to the music, and that you enjoy it!

The Lindy Hop is considered a cultural phenomenon that broke through the race barrier when segregation was still the norm. Modern dancers, interested in cultural history are piecing together the roots of Lindy through the tales and film footage of the original dancers, now in their 70s and 80s. Although the lineage and history of Lindy may be muddled, it is certain that it was born from the blending of African rhythms and movements with European structured dance.

The Lindy Hop has enjoyed a revival since the mid 1980's, when Swing Legend Frankie "musclehead" Manning, an influential choreographer and performer of the era, was rediscovered. Now the Lindy Hop and other Swing dances and variations are part of a world wide trend to get back on the dance floor.

"Lindy Hop" refers to how this particular dance was done and Swing was the music they would dance too. The term "Swing" is now commonly used to include many styles of dance: Lindy Hop, Jitterbug, Balboa, Shag, East and West coast swing, Boogie Woogie and many more, and has also inspired other dance styles such as Jive, Rock & Roll and Salsa etc, with regional differences in each dance family.