THE Jive by the Wye group of dancers which meet at Bishopswood Village Hall every week, raised a total of £200 for the Monmouth Flood Relief fund at their annual Christmas party.

The group meet every Sunday for easy to learn jive lessons and have gone from strength to strength promoting dance as a brilliant exercise for all.

The dancers have also entertained the crowds at various events during the past year including the Victory in Europe celebrations at St Mary’s Church in Ross-on-Wye and at the Prospect for the lighting of the Beacon.

The swing jive is a modern partner dance combining elements of salsa, jive, ballroom, and tango and focuses on simple, impressive moves for social settings like clubs and weddings. The more ambitious dancers can have a go at learning Lindyhop, an energetic partner dance that originated in the African-American communities of Harlem, New York, during the 1920s and 1930s.

The instructors also teach adhoc workshops during the year for people to learn to dance the Charleston.

But jiving is an easy to learn format to learn with Nicky Kyte, Gary Chamberlain and Liz Morgan taking students, who always say they have two left feet, and transforming them into dancers who have no problem creating some pretty impressive shapes on the dance floor.

The ages of dancers at Bishopswood range from 16 to 86 years old and the class benefits from people who don’t have a partner as the class rotates all dancers.

Classes restart on Sunday January 4 at Bishopswood Village Hall, starting at 6.30pm Just turn up and you will be treated to a warm friendly welcome.

This is just in time for those new year resolutions to begin - Get fit, meet friends and be prepared to have lots of fun.

Aside from lessons there are regular dances with live music. For more information call Nicky on 07470 074643.