TERMINOLOGY OF JAZZ DANCE

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Introductions

basics

legs

falls

rolls

undulations

turns - pirouettes

jumps

miscellanious:

other steps

(other techniques)

a delicate matter....
The terminology in jazz dance still stays at present a delicate point, for it can change depending to which
country you find it in. The steps are varied to each origin wich are numerous. So the issue of style is
certainly not definite, they can be created by teachers or choreographers or just inspired by watching
peoples walking down the street. So one should not be suprised of finding the same step with different
names and spellings.
 BASICS:

BALL CHANGE Change weight R+L ball-stamp (step-stamp), or

stamp-stamp.
CAT WALK Walking like a cat, crossing one leg in front of the
other with a bend back.
CATCH STEP Like a ballchange but from flat foot to flat foot
(stamp).
CHASSES One foot chases the other.
FALL OVER THE LOG Piqué passé. (see also jumps over the log).
HIP WALK Déhanchés sidewards or front-back.
JAZZ DRAG It's like a catwalk but with dragging one leg behind.
JAZZ RUN Like a jazzwalk but fast (running).
JAZZ WALK Walking straight in plié with shoulders in opposition.
MOONWALK The walk forward that goes backwards (Michael
Jackson).
MOONWALK 2nd version: tribute to the first man that walked on
the moon. Piqué attitude-fondu in slow motion. «
Walking on the moon » de Sting .
PIVOT STEP Step front, twist and step back twist (pivot).
STEP Step
TOUCH Point your foot to the floor (step touch or touch step)
TWIST Pivot ,changing of direction

LEGS:

FAN KICK Kick like a high rond de jambe to the front, like a
"fan".
FLICK KICK Développé battement.
FLICK Développe enveloppé.
HITCH KICK Flicking one leg while the other one passes
shooting into the air.
JAZZ SPLIT Split the legs on the floor; the front one is straight
and the back bend in attitude.
KICK Grand battement .

FALLS

HIPFALL Slide to the floor through a forth position.

HIPFALL Lift the hip to a high retiré and drop it sidewards to
the other standing leg.
KNEE FALL Fall on your knee (after a turn slide or jump).
KNEE SLIDE Slide down to your knees (after a run, turn, drag,
jump).
SHOULDER FALL Arch backwards completely until your shoulder (or
shoulders) touch the floor (near to the ankel) then
slide.(Graham technique).

ROLLS:

HEADROLL Roll the head.

SHOULDERROLL Roll the shoulders.
HIPROLL Roll the hip.

UNDULATIONS:

DOLPHIN Do a flowing S movement starting from the chest.

KIVER Fast chest movement forward and back.
RIPPLE Do a flowing S movement starting from the pelvis.
SHIMMIE Shoulder vibration (shoulder shaking type Brazil).
SHIVER Tremble fast in the whole body.
SNAKE Serpent ondulation (face).
WORM Dolphin going backwards with steps or chassées.

TURNS - PIROUETTES:

BARREL TURN Airplane turn, open (or close) your arms while
turning, the body is bent forward and the spot is to
the floor (or to the front).
KNEE TURN Turn on the knee.
PENCIL TURN Turns straight, straight legs and hold the arms like
the skaters or the russian.
SPINS (chenés) Turn through the beat. (from french "enchainer" )
Déboules are on the beat, chainés are through the
beat.
TURNS Turn on the beat.
 JUMPS:

BARREL JUMP Like jumping over a barrel with both legs bent.
COFFEE GRINDER Pirouette fouetté . Turning jump with one leg bent
and the other in 2nd position.
vidéo-clip (5" / 288 Ko)

HOP Jump from one foot to the same.

Jump over the leg (forward and backwards). The Canadian
woodcutters the "Lumberjacks" amused themselves on the
rivers with the wooden-logs rolling them and jumping from
JUMP OVER THE LOG one to another changing legs
vidéo-clip
video-clip (5"
/ 375 Ko) extract from the
movie "7 brides for 7 brothers".

STAG LEAP Grand jété with the front leg in plié.

MISCELLANIOUS:

JAZZ SQUARE Cross right-r, step side-l, step side-r, step together.
SKATE Slide forward like a skater
TEXAS T Ballroom West Side Story.
POP CORN Step flick. (kind of chorus line exit).
SUSY Q Cross front 4x and left (charleston 1920).
PRIMITIVE SQUAT Hop to the front in a deep second position parallel.
SHORTY GEORGE 1937 it's quite a funny step difficult to describe...
FUNKY FOUR CORNERS: (or funky for cooners?) The hip hits the four direction in a funky way (funky
four corners, or funky for cooners).
CAKE WALK Walking diagonally doing developpés with a arched back (like a
final exit).During the time of slavery, white people organised for
their amusement dance competitions for black people, the best
dancer won a piece of cake. Finally the dance that the black
people made was a parody of the white high society.
LIMBO Walking in a hinge with a shimmie. (Jamaican
dance)
JAMES BROWN James Brown has taken over many steps that black
dancers created at the beginning of this century
(Minstrels, Vaudeville ..) The James Brown is very
fast and funky heel and body movement
MESS AROUND Kind of soutenus with a hiproll and arm spirals
FUNKY CHICKEN Do the chicken, also a James Brown step.
(PECKING CHICKEN)

FUNK It's a way to groove the music, to be funky (to be

hip,- loose, -cool) Funk is also a rhythm. People say
that the origin of the word funky comes from a
mixing of "fun" and "skunk".
MASHED POTATOES Kind of Charleston (also a James Brown step).
TRUCKING Step-hop r+l forward with the index finger doing
no-no
Matt Mattox trenching on a log, extract from the movie "7
brides for 7 brothers".

TRENCHING
vidéo-clip
video-clip (5" / 375 Ko)

SWIM DIVE RESCUE Swim dive and rescue movements (typical 1960-70
Beach boys ).

OTHER STEPS

(Others techniques):

AD LIB Term used by JAZZ MUSICIANS, it means go on, continue,

improvise, add to it!
BOUNCE Bounce, swing
CONTRACT Is the action of contracting a muscle. Often in dance
its referred to the abdominal contraction
CURVE (Cunningham) : Curving the back from the pelvis to
the head, there is no contraction.
DROP + RICOVER As it's said, drop and recover: This action is more
used in modern dance, it means to drop from a
position and immediately (using the bounce)
recovering the equilibre and the center.
FALL Fall, a way to fall or to drop to the floor
FIGURE 8 Often a hip movement that draws an 8 (like the
mambo).
FREEZE Freeze, stop, don't move!
LAY OUT Making a developpé to the side having the upper
body in a table-top position.
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).
RELEASE To be in release means to be in a normal position
with out extra tension, just holding. Contract and
relax (let go) are the extremes .
SNAP Snapping the fingers , like the jets in West Side
Story (spanish origin "picos").
SPIRAL The back turns in a spiral beginning from the low
section of the spine.
SWITCH Changer, changement, change!
TABLE TOP 2nd parallel with a straight back tilting flat (like a
table).
TILT High développé in a 2nd position with the body
tilting to the opposite direction.
TRIPPLETTES (Graham tecnique):diagonal walking at 3/4.
HINGE (Horton tecnique) : alignement from the hips to body tilting
backwards in a 2nd position parallel (limbo), there is no
contraction.

The right terminology ....?

Help us up to date this syllabus, thank you!

Corrections? Précisions? Suggestions? Propositions?

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