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Welcome to Intermezzo from Interlochen Public Radio, where we take a few minutes to bounce some ideas around about classical music.
Christy L'Esperance is cohosting this week with Peter Parra, a Lang Lang Young Scholar pianist who also happens to be a top ten national ranking competitive junior ballroom dancer.
So far this week, we've talked about the Cha-Cha, the Samba, Rhumba, and Paso Doble. On the last day of Latin Ballroom Dance week on Intermezzo, we talk about jive!
Jive evolved from several American swing dances of the 1930s. Some dance halls tried to ban Jive because it was so disruptive, but American soldiers spread the dance to Europe during World War II, where it became very popular. It wasn't until 1968 that jive was officially adopted as the fifth Latin dance for international competitions.
While you won't hear jive in a lot of classical music, there are pieces that embrace the energy and syncopation, like this amazing live performance of pianist Martha Argerich playing Alberto Ginastera's Argentinian Dance No. 3.
Alberto Ginastera - Argentinian Dance No.3
Brian Setzer - "Jump Jive An' Wail"
This week's Mystery Melody
Congratulations to this week's Golden Ears who guessed the Mystery Melody correctly! We heard from Jan Crews, listening from Youngstown, Ohio, and Christian and Ben Hopps, who first heard this in Paris at Mon Premier Cabaret, a kid-friendly cabaret. Listen for the song title revealed at the end of today's podcast episode.
