Melvis and the Jive Cats
I felt like I darted from the rainy night right into the movie Grease. Girls were in full swing skirts and polka dots. Hairdressers made sure those beehives stayed in place with industrial strength hairspray and bobby pins. Melvis and the Jive Cats were getting everyone All Shook Up with tunes from the fifties. I was actually at the Rialto Theater for Jive Fest Montreal, a three day festival with Rockabilly Jive dance competitions, live bands, and oh-so-much more!
With a throw of an extra large dice, the Rockabilly Jive Jack N’ Jill competition was on. Drinks in hand, my sister-in-law and I grabbed a booth and bopped along to Melvis singing Elvis and watched in awe as around 20 couples moved about the dance floor.
In the Jack N’ Jill competition, individuals register themselves and then are randomly assigned partners. The dance is totally improvised and the judges look at technique and chemistry created with your randomly assigned partner. The only rule is the dance content must be 70% jive.
I’ve never wanted to take dance lessons so much in my life as I watched the couples bounce all over the dance floor! The energy at Jive Fest Montreal is high and I did my best to capture it in these photos and the video below.
What do you think? Would you like to attend Jive Fest Montreal?
Thank you to Tourisme Montreal for hosting us at Jive Fest Montreal. As always, all opinions are entirely my own.
Sofie says
That looks so cool!
I’d love to attend.
But I’d have to take some classes first:)
Jennifer Dombrowski says
Most definitely need classes first, Sophie! I didn’t even attempt to dance. But it sure was fun to watch!
Cathy Sweeney says
You know, that’s never been a real favorite kind of music or dance for me, but I think I’d still get caught up in the fun. And .. I have to say that I’m always impressed with people who can dance like that!
Jennifer Dombrowski says
I was totally impressed by all the dancing! It is an entire culture and clearly everyone had a lot of practice to dance as well as they did. They were so much fun to watch!
Dale says
There’s a dance hall in my town where I could always hear the jive sounds coming out of at night of people just having the best time imaginable, but for whatever reason I never popped in to join-up. Shame on me.
Next time, I’m shaking it, no questions asked.
Jennifer Dombrowski says
From what I witnessed, the people in the dance hall probably ARE having the best time! You should go check it out, Dale!