Uconn Dance Sport

Ad Lib: Means to improvise.Axel Turn: An axle turn is basically two turns in one. It starts with a chain turn then without stopping one leg goes to pass position and the other joins it in a jump before landing. The arms pull in for the chain, then for the axel jump one stays in first position front while the other opens to second then circles above your head and down.Ball Change: This is a change of weight between both feet. Change weight and do a stamp-stamp.Barrel Jump: Basically a jump in the air with both legs bent back from the knee and both arms in the air in any basic pose.Barrel Turn: A turn with your arms straight out but one is higher then the other and as you turn the arms switch heights. The arms can stay opened or closed during the actual turning action. The body stays bent forward and the dancer spots the floor or to the front.Bounce: Basically a swing type step or bounce to a step.Cake Walk: A type of diagonal walk with each step the foot raises as far up as to the knee like an obnoxious type of exaggerated walk almost with an arched back.Cat Walk: A type of walk where one leg smoothly crosses over the other in a tango like fashion or a “cat like” way with the other foot bending back from the knee and the other extends forward.Catch Step: This is a flat footed ball change.Chass: A basic ballet move that is a kind of gallop where one foot chasses the other. It is a traveling step.Coffee Grinder: This is a turning step that starts with a pirouette fouett jump and one leg is bent while the other is in 2nd position. So do the fouette and a little jump while in mid turn.Contract: A basic modern movement used in all styles. This is where the dancer contracts the mid section and pull back against a movement for emphasis.Curve or “arch”: This is the opposite of a contraction. The mid section pushes forward and the back arches curving the back.Dolphin: This is a movement where the body flows in a snake type movement starting from the chest moving up.Drop and Recover: This is more of a modern dance step but can be used in jazz as well. It’s when a dancer has to drop to the floor in a controlled fall from a position.Fall: A way for the dancer to fall to the ground in a graceful and controlled movement that appears natural.Fall Over the Log: A step where the dancer steps out onto one foot while the other foot lifts and points at the knee of the other. In ballet terms it would be considered a “piqu pass”.Fan Kick: This is a roundabout kick where the body stays aligned but the leg kicks high in a fan motion starting inward and around or vice versa.Figure 8: This movement you will see in mambo or the like and belly dancing even: it is when the hips smoothly roll around in the trace of the figure eight.Flick: A jazzy and sassy way of doing a dveloppe envelopp. Basically the working leg sneaks up the supporting leg and flicks out straight ahead.Flick Kick: Another ballet move done in a jazzy way which is basically a dvelopp battement. This is when the working leg again sneaks up the supporting leg in a pass then jets out to a high kick in a flicking motion. This is a very “Fosse” like movement.Funk: This is more of a energy then a specific movement that tells the dancer to get into the music and ride with it or grove with it in a loose and fun way. Funk is also a rhythm and a type of music.Head-roll: A head roll is letting the head move around its entire circular access in a controlled but relaxed fashion while the body stays aligned and in position.Hinge: This is when the body is aligned but it is being tipped from the knees down with the feet on the ball pushing it forward.Hip Walk: A basic jazz walk that jets the hips out in a circular sexy movement with the arms rounded in back while in pli.Hip-fall: This is a controlled drop to the floor whether on knees or feet and a slide through till the body is on the floor on its side and one arm is straight out against the floor.Hip-roll: This is an isolated roll of the hips while the rest of the body stays in position.Hop: This is a jump off of one foot that lands on the same foot. Like in hop scotchJazz Drag: This is a jazz walk or hip walk with a drag in it.Jazz Run: A running jazz walk. This requires a fluidity and grace to make it look natural and not awkward.Jazz Split: This is a split on the floor with the back leg bent upward from the knee. Sometimes the knee can be grabbed or the head can be arched back towards it.Jazz Square: This is a smooth four step movement, example: step out on your right leg, step back with your left, cross over with your right leg and step forward with your left.Jazz Walk: A low gravity type of walk where the body is in pli and the shoulders and arms are curved in opposition while walking forward. This is without a hip roll. The Hip walk is the same but with a hip roll.Jump Over the Log: This is a jump from one leg to the other that is a little more grand but not big enough to make a flying leap. It’s a control leap from one leg to the other.Kick: This is a high kick that throws the working leg in the air in a controlled manner, while the supporting leg and body stay properly aligned in the jazz position of choice.Knee Fall: This requires knee pads! It’s a fall onto the knees which usually preludes another move and lands as a “punch” in the choreography.Knee Slide: This is a very “rock n roll” move! It requires knee pads as well so you can slide across the floor on your knees without floor burn (ouch)!Lay Out: The body must be flexible to kick out and within’ the kick the body will lean into it with the leg still high, and the entire torso will follow it until it’s parallel with the floor and the arms follow behind (or above) it.Limbo: We’ve all done or seen the limbo! Basically walking in a hinge and sometimes adding a shimmie to the shoulders.Mess Around: This is a static turn that starts with one leg that crosses over the other and brings the body around in a 360 degree two legged turn (in ballet it’s called a soutenu). The head sometimes roll as do the hips and the arms are straight out in opposition like an “airplane” move.Pencil Turn: This is a spin on both feet where the body is straight and the body spins a few times with ease.Pitch: Often the position is a deep arabesque with the playing leg up in the sky and the chest towards the floor hitting the standing led. It’s a very dynamic movement often done after a pirouette (turn pitch).Pivot Step: This is a step forward (or in any direction) with a pivot right after.Ripple: A snake movement which starts at the pelvis and works its way up to the torso and moves in either direction one after the other. The actual “snake” starts from the head though this differs cause it starts (again) from the pelvis.Shimmie: This movement is done from the shoulders. One shoulder moves forward while the other moves back and is done really fast in a shake. This movement is also a type of “breast” shaking movement in burlesque dancing (just so you get the picture)!Shoulder Fall: This movement started from Martha Graham and her series of “controlled falls”. Basically the dancer arches back almost into a backbend but pushes the body out when it would otherwise backbend or hit the ground so the body slides back leaving you on the ground flat on your back.Shoulder Roll: An isolation movement of the shoulders. A shoulder roll!Skate: This is a skating movement like a speedway skater. The leg pushes in then pulls out side forward then the other leg does the same.Snake: The snake is an S movement starting from the head and curving the body sideways in a smooth and slinky movement all the way throughout the body and going to the other side in a seamless way.Snap: A finger snap.Spins: Continuous moving turns (a.k.a. chains).Spiral: The spiral is a turn that turns the spine around in separate order. The top will turn faster than the bottom of the body and vice versa.Stag Leap: This is a high leap or jump in a split but with the front leg bent from the knee inward.Step: As it sounds.Switch: This is a way to switch the working leg. Moving the working leg back so that the other leg is now free for the next movement.Tilt: High dvelopp in a 2nd position with the body tilting to the opposite direction.Touch: This is touching your pointed foot to the floor with a quiet energy.Tripplettes: Diagonal walking at tempo.Turns: Turning on the beat.Twists: Pivoting from one foot to the other.Worm: Dolphin going backwards with steps or chasss.