JAZZ TERMINOLOGY

JAZZ TERMINOLOGY & TECHNIQUE 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 ball change but from flat foot to flat foot (stamp).
CHASSES	One foot chases the other.
FALL OVER THE LOG	Piqué passé.
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
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 sideward's 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

HEAD ROLL	Roll the head.
SHOULDER ROLL	Roll the shoulders.
HIP ROLL	Roll the hip.

ONDULATIONS

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	Turn through the beat. (chenés)
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.
HOP	Jump from one foot to the same.
JUMP OVER THE LOG	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 one to another changing legs
STAG LEAP	Grand jété with the front leg in plié.
SISSONNE FALL	Sissonne to the side parallel and fall

Miscellaneous

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 FOR CONERS:	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 peace 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.
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

Other Steps

AD LIB	Term used by jazzmusciens, 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 + RECOVER	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):diagonal walking at 3/4.
HINGE	(Horton) : alignment from the hips to body tilting backwards in a 2nd position parallel (limbo), there is no contraction.

TIPS & TECHNIQUES HOME