W O RK !

HOME
FAMILIARIZE THE FOLLOWING ELEMENTS
OF CHEER DANCE:
 MOTIONS
 JUMPS
 TUMBLINGS
AND PREPARE FOR A PRACTICAL QUIZ
NEXT SESSION.
 Cheerleading is an event that consists of cheers
and organized routines for sport team
motivation, audience entertainment, or
competitions. The routines contain many
components of cheers, jumps, dance,
gymnastics, and stunting.

The purpose is to encourage the spectators of event to cheer for sports teams at
games. The yellers, dancers, and athletes involved in cheerleading are called
“cheerleaders”. When they are grouped together as one, they are called “squad”.

Cheerleading is a physical activity that mixes dance with gymnastics, cheers and
stunts. It is all about trust and teamwork. It’s an art and sports which develops
coordination, balance, and flexibility. It requires precise movements with
inclusion of gymnastics skills.
Cheer dance is relatively new in the field of sports and dance as it has
only emerged during the early 1990’s as part of the cheerleading events.
It is one of the categories in International Cheerleading Competition that
focuses on dance techniques and basic elements of cheerleading,
excluding stunts and advance gymnastics skills.

The performers are

cheerleaders and not just
dancers per se.

They can portray character

depending on the theme
they choose.

They set limitation.

 ELEMENTS
OF
CHEER DANCE

1. Dance Techniques- depending on the competition requirements, various dance

techniques may be used in a cheer dance competition. Sometimes they incorporate
techniques from contemporary, jazz, hip-hop, modern dance, ballet, and ethnic or folk
dance.
2. Elements of cheers- cheers are coordination of organized words and movements
relating to an athletic event. These are used during a sport event when play has been
stopped on the field or court. The purpose is to draw a unified response from the
crowd to highlight their support for the playing team.

3. Motions- Motions should be sharp, snappy, and synchronized with your team. Be
sure to practice in front of a mirror, and with the rest of your squad for proper
placement and technique.
 ELEMENTS
OF
CHEER DANCE

4. Jumps- whether part of an overall routine or done after your team scores to win,
jumps add a lot of excitement. Jumps start with the most basic moves.

5. Tumbling- Tumbling skills for cheerleaders are not required by all squads, but are
becoming increasingly important for competition squads, all-star cheerleading, and
college squads. It’s important to build a strong gymnastic foundation, with proper
training and instruction from gymnastics coaches, to begin to incorporate tumbling
skills into your cheerleading cheers and dance routines.

6. Formations- formation in cheer dance are crucial to the success of a squad’s

performance. A squad may use several formations but the two commonly used
traditional formations are the following:
 Bowling Pin (Pyramid)
 Staggered Line
 MOTIONS
1. BEGINNING 3. CLASP-Hands
STANCE-Feet clasped, at the
together, hands chin, elbows in
down by the side in
blades

2. CHEER 4. CLAP-Hands in
STANCE-Feet blades, at the chin,
more than shoulder elbows in
width apart, hands
down by the side in
blade
 MOTIONS
5. HIGH V-Arms 7. GOALPOST (or
extended up TOUCHDOWN)-
forming a “V”, Arms extended
relax the shoulders straight and
parallel to each
other, fist facing in

6. LOW V-Arms 8. LOW

extended down TOUCHDOWN-
forming a “V” Arms extended
straight down and
parallel to each
other, fist facing in
 MOTIONS
9. 3/4 T (or BOW 11. DAGGERS (or
AND ARROW)- TABLETOP)-Arms
One arm extended bent at elbow, fists
to side with other in front of
arm bent at elbow shoulders
in a half “T”
motion

10. OVERHEAD 12. LOW CONE-

CONE-Arms are Arms extended
straight, above the straight down, in a
head in a clasp and clasp and slightly
slightly in front of in front of the body
the face
 MOTIONS
13. PUNCH-One 15. DIAGONAL-
arm extended One arm extended
straight up, one in a high “V” and
arm on hip, in a fist the other arm
extended in a low
“V” (Right
Diagonal shown)

14. L MOTION- 16. T MOTION-

One arm extended Both arms
to the side with extended straight
other arm extended out to the side and
in a punch motion, parallel to the
(Left L shown) ground, relax the
shoulders
 MOTIONS
17. HALF T-Both 18. SIDE LUNGE-
arms parallel to the Lead leg bent with
ground and bent at the knee over the
the elbows, fists ankle, back leg
into shoulders straight, feet
perpendicular to
each other

19. FRONT
LUNGE-Lead leg
bent with the knee
over the ankle,
back leg straight,
feet perpendicular
to each other
 JUMPS
1. Bring knees to 3. Keep head and
chest; keep knee chest up; pull legs
together to arms; reach for
the arch of the foot,
not the toes

2. Keep knees 4. Bent knee faces

forward; keep a the crowd; keep
straight body knee on straight leg
without piking facing upwards
 JUMPS
5. Bring straight 6. Keep head up;
leg up to chest and bring legs to arms,
between the arms; arms parallel to the
back knee points ground
towards the
ground; land with
feet together at the
same time

7. Bent knee faces

down; keep knee
on straight leg
upward

HERKIE
 TUMBLING
FORWARD/FRONT ROLL

BACKWARD ROLL
 TUMBLING
CARTWHEEL

ROUND-OFF
 FORMATIONS
a. Bowling Pin (Pyramid)- the formation is set up like bowling pins in a bowling alley. This
works great when highlighting a few members on a squad/team. The figure below is an
example of a bowling pin formation.
 FORMATIONS
b. Staggered Line- a simple line where the back line is positioned in the windows (space in
between individuals) of the front line. Vertical lines in formations highlight differences in
levels rather than suggest squad uniformity.