When people hear the saying ‘jig’, they don’t necessarily associate it with dancing. For anyone people that don’t know, a ‘jig’ is in reality a form of folk dance that is certainly lively in nature. The name itself, ‘jig’, is in fact derived from ‘giguer’, which is a French term that means ‘to jump’, hence, the lively nature in the dance.
This form of dance is frequently associated with Scottish and Irish dance music, but it actually originated from England in the sixteenth century. The dance was performed in 2/4 times. Subsequently, it has taken different forms and adaptation in a number of time signatures. The ‘jig’ is actually split into different forms, all of which would be discussed in the following paragraphs.
Light Jig
Among all the various types of jigs, the light jig is recognized as the fastest as it is performed in 6/8 times. In this form of jig, your feet hardly ever off the ground for a long period of time. That is so because the steps in this dance are relatively fast, in excess of 116 speeds at feiseanna.
Each light jig step can certainly vary with each dance school with each teacher, but there are specific standard steps or movements which can be used in almost all forms of light jigs, knowning that step is referred to as the rise and grind, or rising step. Everything you do to perform this step is essentially place your weight on your first foot, then raise your second foot off the floor, once you have done this, you simply perform two hops on your own first foot, or for the foot that is still on the ground.
As soon as you take your second hop, you then drop your second foot and convey it at the back of your first foot, or perhaps the foot that did the two hops. Once you have done this, you just need to shift your weight from your first foot for your second foot while letting your first foot remain in the air following your second hop. There is normally a small delay during the hop and the hop back.
Single Jigs
In the fastest form of jig, we currently proceed to the least common one. The one jigs considered to be the least common among the jig dances because it uses a not common time signature, which can be 12/8 at times, while normally it uses 6/8. This is so because this type of jig follows a musical pattern of a eighth note following a quarter note.
Slip Jig
The slip jigs is known as a bit longer than the light jig because it uses a longer time signature compared to the light jig. The time signature that the slip jig uses is really 9/8 time, although the dance is conducted with a music that has basically similar quantity of bars to a light jig. This manner of jig is considered by some as ‘the ballet of jigs’ since the dancers often perform this dance when they are high up on their toes.
Treble Jigs
Treble jigs would be the only form of jigs which might be performed wherein the performer is wearing hard shoes, allowing the performer to do certain moves and steps, such as clicks, stomps, and trebles. Beginners usually try this dance in a traditional speed, while more advanced performers perform the slow, non-traditional treble jig.
Hop jigs may perhaps be one of the more problematic forms of jigs to spell it out, as a lot of people often confuse it with other forms of jigs, such as slip jig, or single jig. Some basically identify this form of jig through it’s once again time signature, which is 9/8 time.
Look into the web site AMI Jukebox