Home : Indroducing Partner Dancing : Ceroc & LeRoc
Ceroc & LeRoc
Another "national" style of jive was the French family of dances that also derived from the "dance instruction" American GI's left behind after World War Two. While in Britain 'the swinging sixties' lifestyle pushed jive into the background, the French kept on partner dancing, adapting it to suit new sounds, which gave it a distinct look. The French picked up the dance socially and thus never took to the 'triple, triple, double' steps of ballroom jive.
In the early 1980's French style 'roc' or 'rock' was imported into Britain by individuals intent upon promoting it. They did so through three London clubs Ceroc (short for C'est le roc), Le Roc and Cosmopolitan Jive.
It can be argued that these clubs created a whole new dance since hundreds of new 'moves' were developed. Note: teachers of Le Roc use the term 'moves' rather than the term 'figures', of UK Ballroom Jive, or the term 'patterns', of US Swing.
A more detailed history can be found on these web pages.
These are the dance's characteristics:
Musically Flexible - moves have varying numbers of counts, which can cross over bars of music. This makes it very flexible and it can be danced to many types of music including up to the minute sounds.
Easy to learn with scope for individual style - Learning the moves is easy because the basic footwork is a simple stepping in and out. As dancers become more proficient and expand their repertoire, their footwork increases in complexity.
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