Ceroc

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Ceroc is partner dance best described as a fusion of Salsa and Jive, but without the complicated footwork. It is derived from many other dances including French Jive, Swing, Lindy Hop, and Rock and Roll, the main change being simplified footwork which makes it more accessible to beginners. The footwork and hand patterns are similar to Merengue, but with the inclusion of outward turns, multiple turns and dips. It is danced to almost any music typically 60s through to modern popular music.

It is generally danced to music with 4 beats to the bar (4/4 or Common time), from latest chart hits to big band music and everything between, in a wide variety of tempos from slow to very fast. Some styles may concentrate on particular musical styles, such as swing.

It does not require special clothes, though for both men and women, smooth soled (non-rubberized) shoes that are easy to turn/spin in are highly recommended.

Ceroc is, like many partner dances, traditionally a male-led dance. Despite this tradition many female dancers today also learn the lead role, even though few male dancers learn the follow role. This is usually because Ceroc events have more female participants than male ones, and many males are less comfortable engaging in a partner dance with a member of the same sex than females are.

Ceroc was created in London, England, by James Cronin who had been living in France, where Swing / Rock and Roll dancing had not been so suppressed by the onslaught of Disco. The name Ceroc is an abbreviation of the French C'est le Roc (It's Rock). Cronin, his brother, and a friend hired Porchester Hall in 1980 and put up some posters. Around 80 people turned up. Within 3 months the numbers had grown to 700.

By 1982, Ceroc had a cabaret team that went around London venues performing routines. Around this time, another cabaret team also formed under the name Leroc

In the late 1980s, James Cronin and Sylvia Coleman registered Ceroc as a trademark and started to sell Ceroc franchises around the country. At this point, teachers who taught this form of dancing but were not part of the new company were legally obliged to stop referring to the dance style that they taught as Ceroc. Some clubs (particularly those in the Bristol Area) adopted the name Leroc instead, whilst many others names also appeared. Around this time, Ceroc took steps to avoid the circulation of secondary material (such as dancer produced lists of moves or move sequence).

In 1990, one of the original Ceroc Franchisees, Robert Austin, (who had broken away from Ceroc to form LeJive) coined the phrase "Modern Jive". This description later became a generic term for Ceroc, that was used by teachers and clubs that were not part of the newly created Ceroc Enterprise.

A video clip of a Ceroc class (filmed in Melbourne) can be seen at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3110289078402648704&q=ceroc

Ceroc Enterprises is operated as a franchise business, and Ceroc is now a registered trademark of Ceroc Enterprises Ltd, founded in 1991. Currently (Sep 2004), there are over 30 Franchisees holding around 100 events per week which are attended by over 10,000 people each week. Ceroc has also spread from the UK to other countries, most notably Australia and New Zealand. There is no legal relationship between Ceroc Australia, Ceroc New Zealand, and Ceroc United Kingdom, they are completely seperate entities.

1 Class format
2 Events
3 Workshops
4 Ceroc UK Championships
5 Further reading
6 External links

[edit] Class format

Ceroc venues run regular weekly classes throughout the year, predominantly on Monday through Thursdays, but also some classes over the weekend. Classes continue over holiday periods, though some stop or reschedule on bank holidays.

The franchise nature of Ceroc Enterprises enforces a degree of uniformity across all teachers and all venues. The uniformity between franchises and venues is significantly greater in the UK than in New Zealand. In the UK Ceroc classes follow essentially the same format, and comprise:

A Beginners lesson, involving a routine drawn from a restricted repertoire of 19 beginner-level moves, and lasting approximately 45 minutes. The Beginners routine taught on any given day is the same across all teachers and all venues. This is intended to allow beginners to practice what they have learned with beginners from other venues
A freestyle period of approximately 15-30 minutes, in which beginners are encouraged to practise what they have learned, and experienced dancers are free to dance whatever they wish. During this period certain venues run social dancing activities such as Dance With A Stranger (all students are to ask someone, that they never danced with before, for a dance) or Snowball (starting with a few couples on the dance floor, every 30-40 seconds the "Snowball" call is made by the teacher and all dancing couples need to "split" and ask someone else [not dancing] onto the dance floor until the next "Snow ball" call is made and the procedure repeats. After a few calls, based on an even number of males to females, all students should be dancing). During freestyle, the use of "experienced" dancers are also used to dance solely with first time students or students that have commenced dancing during the previous four to five weeks. These "more experienced" dancers are referred to as Taxi Dancers. In some venues, Taxi Dancers have also the role to welcome new students on their arrival to class, explain the evening format, and answer any questions they might have about the evening and/or dance style.
An Intermediate lesson, involving a routine drawn from a much larger repertoire of intermediate-level moves, and lasting approximately 45 minutes. (In many venues, depending on available space, a Beginners Review class (often referred to as Consolidation) takes place at the same time, where beginners may review the moves taught in the Beginners lesson. Beginners may instead watch the Intermediate lesson, if they so choose.) Individual teachers are less constrained as to the content of the intermediate-level less.
An Intromediate or Bridging class has also been introduced in Melbourne and Brisbane (Australia) respectively, involving a routine drawn from a mixture of intermediate and beginner level moves, and taught at the same time as the Intermediate class. Individual teachers are less constrained as to the content of the intermediate-level, however they do focus in teaching intermediate technique (footwork, dips, leans, styling) and developing the students' freestyling confidence.
A second freestyle period lasting for the rest of the evening.

The start time varies from venue to venue, according to local circumstances (and the day of the week — Sunday classes often start earlier in order to comply with English and Scottish licensing laws, which require that music and dancing be licensed), but is generally between 7pm and 8pm. Whatever the start time, the entire class lasts 3 hours in most venues (with rare exceptions).

In New Zealand there are typically Beginners, Intermediate and Advanced classes, with the clearer separation of moves between the classes. Moving up the classes leads to moves which are more complicated, more syncopated and closer. Beginners moves have 2-4 timing, preserve contact between partners at all times, have single speed, single turn spins, the dancers keep their balance (no leans, drops or dips) and partners only contact with each other is hands, arms and shoulders. Intermediate moves introduce single speed double spins and assisted double speed turns, contact with the partners back, and leans (in which one partner takes the others' weight with their body). Advanced moves can include multiple speed, multiple turn spins, loss of contact, significant syncopation, dips and drops (in which one partner takes the weight of the other with their arms) and/or contact with different body parts.

Ceroc classes are not arranged as a fixed sequence. Beginners can "just turn up" (to quote the advertising) to any Ceroc classes. The routine taught in the Beginners lesson is permuted from day to day such that if a beginner attends classes regularly for approximately two months, each beginner-level move will have been taught at least once.

Dancers need not bring a partner, and classes are usually advertised as "no partner required". Lessons are organised so that partners are rotated every few minutes, or every couple of moves.

In Ceroc classes a small number of experienced dancers (called taxi dancers or taxis) are available specifically to dance with beginners, and are in fact forbidden from dancing with other experienced dancers until near the end of the evening. The number of taxi dancers varies according to the size of the venue. In some venues the taxi dancers also take the Beginners Review class.

[edit] Events

Most Ceroc venues occasionally put on special events, termed freestyles, on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. (Sunday freestyles are often termed tea dances.) The format of these is less rigidly determined by the franchise agreement, and franchisees often exercise the greater leeway that they thus have to differentiate their own franchises from others. Some franchisees organise their freestyles exactly as they do normal weekday classes, with Beginners and Intermediate lessons; some have just fun lessons, with "guest" teachers or unconventional moves, near to the beginning of the evening; some simply have freestyle dancing, with no interruptions, for the entire evening; and some organise themed events, sometimes even to the extent of having accompanying dance workshops through the daytime, prior to the main evening event.

[edit] Workshops

Many Ceroc teachers also occasionally run daytime dance workshops, which in the UK are known as Cerocshops. Places on these are booked in advance, and one cannot just turn up as with regular classes. This is to ensure that the numbers are limited, allowing the teacher to focus far more on individuals, and that the sex ratio is approximately 1:1.

A workshop lasts for several hours, and covers more moves than are covered in a single regular evening class. The standard Ceroc workshops are graded (Beginners 1, Beginners 2, Intermediate 1, Intermediate 2, Advanced), although the grading is fuzzy at intermediate level and no workshop is a prior requisite for any other. (In particular, the attendance of a 1 workshop is not a prior requisite for attending a 2 workshop, and Advanced is not of a higher difficulty than Intermediate.)

Some teachers will teach additional workshops. These will vary according to the specific teacher, and include (amongst many)

Style & Footwork,
Dips, Leans, & Seducers,
Lifts & Drops,
Latin,
Double Trouble (one leader with two followers),

and

"set piece" choreographed routines .

[edit] Ceroc UK Championships

Ceroc Enterprises holds an annual UK dance championship. This is held in London at the beginning of May with a mix of freestyle dancing and competitions. Competitions range from beginner oriented ones, such as the Lucky Dip in which dancers are randomly allocated partners, all the way up to the Expert and Team competitions in which competitors will dress up to a particular theme.

Competitions are held over a number of rounds, with judges deciding who will continue on to the next round.

[edit] Further reading

[edit] External links

[edit] Discussion fora

[edit] Dance advice

Scottish Jive -- Dance Tips
AfterFive "A Dancer's Guide", a free downloadable guide to dancing Modern Jive (including Ceroc and LeRoc), plus maps, links, etc.

[edit] Other Useful Sites

Find your nearest Ceroc club via interactive maps
AmanteBallo A music recommendation and download website run by DJ Kenobe which has a large and regularly updated range of Ceroc dance music, including dance, swing, pop, latin, jazz, dance, blues, etc.
UK Jive Find classes and events in Ceroc and Modern Jive
Jango Classes combining tango and modern-jive

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Category: Dance