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Who can tell me what an elevé

is? A fish dive? A tilt? After 

reading this book, you will be 

able to answer all of those 

questions and lots more, such 

as; 

-"What is the difference between 

a grand jeté and a saut de 

chat?" 

-"How do I do a z-sit?" 

-"What is quickstep dancing?" 

-"Where did salsa dancing 

come from?"

-"How do I do an aerial?"

-"What is the difference 

between an open turn and an 

inside turn?"

Read on to find out...

This photo is showing a side aerial. A side aerial, which is a non-handed cartwheel,   is 

different than a front aerial, which is a non-handed front-walkover. (“A dancer in mid-air 

performing an aerial cartwheel” by Ilana Bressler is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.5.)

The letter A stands for Aerial, a dance 

move in which one's feet leave the floor. 

Here are four steps in doing an side-aerial; 

Run into a hurdle, swing your arms 

overhead, push hard off of the front leg, 

and lift your chest to help you rotate. If you 

do these steps in order, you will be able to 

complete a side-aerial.

The letter B stands for Ballet, a type of 

performance dance that originated in the 

Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th 

century and later developed into a concert 

dance form in France and Russia. Ballet is a 

French word which had its origin in the 

Italian word balletto, a diminutive of ballo 

(dance) which comes from Latin ballo, 

ballare, meaning "to dance".

This is a ballerina preforming a dance move called an arabesque, a dance move in which you raise 

your leg to 90 degrees and lift your arms up as well, all while keeping your upper body completely 

still. ("Arabesque position with working leg à la hauteur (forming a 90° angle with supporting 

leg)" by Frode Inge Helland is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.)

enter text here

This woman is happily doing a cartwheel down the hallway of her new office building. 

(“Cartwheel” by DAXCO is licensed under CC BY 2.0.)

C stands for Cartwheel, a sideways rotary 

movement of the body.   It is performed by 

bringing the hands to the floor one at a 

time. The legs travel upwards over the 

arms while one or both hands are on the 

floor, and then the feet return to the floor 

one at a time, ending with the person 

standing up.

D stands for dance. There are many 

different types of dance, such as jazz, 

lyrical, contemporary, tap, ballet, hip hop, 

ballroom, salsa, and many more.

These dancers from Jazzart Dance Theatre are preforming a jazz piece for a large 

audience. (“Jazzart Dance Theatre – 69185” by Jazzart Dance Theatre is licensed under 

CC BY 3.0.) 

This ballet student is in elevé. This student is in pointe shoes, 

which means that she can go on the full platform of her toes 

(the very tip of her toes). Ballerinas that are not on pointe can 

just rise to the balls of their feet. (“Modern Pointe Shoes” by 

Lambtron is licensed under CC BY 2.0.)

E stands for elevé. An 

elevé is a movement in 

which a dancer rises up 

high onto the balls of 

the feet, or all the way 

up to full-pointe, from 

flat feet. This step is 

often confused with a 

relevé, which is a 

similar movement, only 

the dancer rises up 

from a plié. In 

conclusion, an elevé is 

simply a relevé without 

the plié.

The letter F stands for 

Fish Dive, a 

partnering lift in which 

the ballerina is in 

retiré position and 

held low to the ground 

by a male dancer. This 

lift is often preformed 

during a classical 

ballet, such as The 

Nutcracker or Don 

Quixote.

To do this lift, the female stands in arabesque. Then, the male 

dancer lifts her up, and the female bends her bottom leg. He 

then dips her down to this pose. (“A Fish Dive Lift” by 

Lambtron is licensed under CC BY –SA 4.0.)

The difference between a grand jeté and a saut de chat is that to do a grand jete, you do 

not bend your legs unless you are landing. In a saut de chat, you bend your front leg to 

get it up in the air. (“Français : Variation extraite de Coppélia au Prix de Lausanne 2010.” 

by Fanny Schertzer is licensed under (CC BY-SA 3.0).)

G stands for 

grand jeté, a 

leap in which a 

dancer jumps 

from one foot to 

the other with 

one leg forward 

of their body and 

the other 

stretched 

backward while 

in the air. The 

dancer does this 

without bending 

their legs on the 

way up.

The letter H stands for Hip Hop. 

Hip hop is an upbeat style of dance 

that includes a wide range of styles 

of sharp movements. It is very 

common for hip hop dancers to 

dance to a huge mash-up of 

different pop songs.

This is a picture of hip-hop dancer Joseph Coine performing in 2011 in Wallace 

Theater at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. (“Hip-hop dancer Joseph Coine performing in 

2011 in Wallace Theater at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.” by Tim Hipps is licensed under 

CC BY 2.0.)

I stands for Illusion, 

which is a dancer turning in 

the position you see on the 

right. The dancer turns 180 

degrees in a position with 

one leg straight up, and 

one leg supporting the 

dancer.

This is a dancer in the middle of her illusion. Illusions 

are hard to do, but with training and flexibility, 

illusions can come naturally to any dancer. (“How to 

Do an Illusion” by Courtney Broderick.)

J stands for Jump! In the 

dance world, there are 

many different types of 

jumps, such as Temps 

levé sautés, Échappé 

sautés, Entrechat quatres, 

Tours en l’air, Tuck jumps,

Straddle jumps, Firebirds, 

and Pas de poissons, just 

to name a few. There are 

also Tour jetés, Petit 

jetés, Glissades, Barrel 

turns, Stag jumps, and 

Calypso leaps.

This dancer is preforming a Stag jump. The difference 

between a Stag jump and a Firebird is the bottom leg; in 

a Stag jump, the bottom leg is bent, while in a Firebird, 

the bottom leg is straight. (“The difference between a 

stag jump and a firebird jump” by Regan Norton.)

The letter K stands for kick. 

Depending on the choreographer's 

preference, the toes can be flexed 

or pointed; the top leg and be 

bent or straight; the bottom leg 

can be bent or straight; the arms 

could be up, down, out, or 

hanging limply by the dancer's 

sides. It really just depends on 

your choreographer and the style 

of dance. 

In this picture, the dancer has straight legs, pointed 

toes, and her arms are up. Most choreographers prefer 

this clean, sharp look to any other kick. (“Flamenco 

Dancer at Battle Of The Dance” by Prayitno / Thank you 

for (9 millions +) views is licensed under CC BY 2.0.)

The letter L 

stands for leap. 

There are 

Switch leaps, 

Straddle leaps, 

Supported 

leaps, grand 

jetés, and Saut 

de chats, just to 

name a few.

This dancer is in the middle of a very beautiful saut de chat. 

Before this picture was taken, the dancer took a great big 

chasse forward. She then pushed off of her left leg and 

developped   her right leg, bringing her left leg up behind her, 

making a perfect split. ( “Variation extraite de Don Quichotte 

au Prix de Lausanne 2010.” by Fanny Schertzer is licensed 

under   CC A-S 3.0, 2.5 Generic, 2.0 Generic and 1.0 Generic.)

The letter M stands for music. Music is 

very crucial to a dancer. Almost every 

dance routine is choreographed to 

music. Music keeps the beat, sets the 

mood of the dance, and it helps to aid 

the dancer in sharing messages to the 

audience.

This amazing musician, Lindsey Stirling, loves to dance and play her violin 

at the same time. This requires a lot of talent and skill, but Lindsey has 

worked hard, and hard work pays off. She now has over 7,590,000 

subscribers on her YouTube channel, and her music has really been a 

success. ("Lindsey Stirling” by Glittermistress is licensed under 

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported.

The letter N stands for 

Needle, a pose in 

which one leg is 

pointed up to the sky, 

while the other leg is 

underneath the dancer, 

supporting them. The 

arms can be up,behind, 

or on the ground, 

supporting the dancer. 

Both legs are straight in 

this move. 

This picture is showing a partner needle, where the female dancer leans into the male and developpes the leg 

upwards, hitting the needle pose. In a partner needle pose, the male is usually kneeling and the female's 

arms are usually back. ("Arabesque penché" by Luiscaraqueño is licensed under This file is licensed under the 

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International, 3.0 Unported, 2.5 Generic, 2.0 Generic and 1.0 

Generic license.)

The letter O stands for 

Open Turn. An open turn 

is when a dancer rises into 

passé and turns in a   set 

direction, depending on 

what foot is in passé. In 

this case, the dancer's 

right foot is in passé, so 

she would turn to the 

right. If the left foot was in 

passé, then the dancer 

would have turned to the 

left.

As opposed to an open turn, an inside turn is just the 

opposite. For an inside turn, if the dancer's right leg is in 

passé, then the dancer would have to turn to the left. (“How 

to Skip and Tips!” by Alyssa. )

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