Ceroc is a fusion of Salsa and Jive with the main innovation being to remove the set footwork so as to make it more accessible to beginners.

History

Ceroc was invented 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. Ceroc, in fact, 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 were claiming to teach Ceroc 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.

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 Ceroc that was used by teachers and clubs that were not part of the newly created Ceroc Enterprise.

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 also a large unofficial following at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California.

Class format

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:

Beginners lesson

A Beginners lesson, involving a routine drawn from a restricted repertoire of 19 beginner-level moves, and lasting approximately 45 minutes. To allow beginners to practice what they have learned with beginners from other venues, the Beginners routine taught on any given day is the same across all teachers and all venues.

Freestyle period

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 Snow Ball (starting with a few couples on the dance floor, every 30-40 seconds the "Snow Ball" 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.

Intermediate lesson

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.

Intromediate or Bridging class

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.

Second freestyle period

A second freestyle period lasting for the rest of the evening.

New Zealand

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.

How classes work

Ceroc classes are not arranged as a fixed sequence. Beginners can "just turn up" to any Ceroc classes. The routine taught in the Beginners lesson is permuted from lesson to lesson 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.