Dance Glossary v1.2
In dance classes and the hiphop dance scene, there are specific terms that your teacher might use to communicate concepts.
Here are a few terms that you may come across when you take a dance class with us or go to one of our dance events:
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And count
An "and count" is a half beat in the music. A whole count is one full beat.
To really understand this concept, it's best to listen to music during dance class and ask your dance teacher to break down the music.
Battle
What dancers sometimes do to test their dance skills. Basically involves listening to whatever music the DJ is playing at the moment, and improvising a dance set for a set period of time while a panel of judges grade you on a variety of different factors such as your technique, creativity, and musicality. There are a wide range of different battle formats such as 2v2 all-style battles, or 7-to-smoke bboy battles.
B-boy / B-Girl (also referred to as breakers):
Any person who does breaking (the street dance. not other people’s stuff!)
Biting
Stealing someone else's style, moves, rhythm, art or slang and claiming it as your own.
Usually conveyed by moving your arms from a crossed arms position to symbolise a mouth "biting"
In most cases, it's used in a friendly manner
NOTE: It's perfectly normal for your style to resemble someone else's, especially when you're learning from them.However, it we highly encourage you to add your own style / flavour / swag to everything you learn your own!
Blocking
A term derived from the practice of 19th century theatre directors who worked out the staging of a scene by using miniature blocks to represent each of the actors.
In the dance community, it is used to refer to the precise positioning and location of dancers/performers on stage or other performance areas that they move to and from during their performance. This is used most commonly with dance choreography.
Break Beats
Invented by DJ Kool Herc (one of the pioneers of hiphop culture in the 1970s) by isolating the most dance-able parts of soul/funk songs containing percussions and repeating them over and over again for the purpose of all-night dance parties. This style of DJ-ing is referred to as "Break-Beat-DJing”.
They form the rhythmic basis for hiphop and rap music.
Break it down
When a teacher refers to "breaking down" the choreography or dance move, what they're saying is that they're going to demonstrate the moves slowly, and separate the different elements as much as possible.
This is to help students understand how to achieve the desired movement.
If you're ever confused by a move or a part of the dance choreography where it seems like there are a lot of things going on at once, you might want to ask your teacher if they can "break it down".
Breaking
(see also break beats)
The original and proper term for what is now commonly referred to as “breakdancing” by the general public and media.
The term originated from the “break beats” that DJ Kool Herc invented, and to which B-Boys danced to.
Canon
When people perform the same move one after another. This is usually used in choreographed sets to emphasise a certain move, or make better use of the number of people in a team.
Think of a Mexican wave at a football match. Now replace standing up in a sequence it with a more sophisticated dance move. That's canoning.
Choreography
The art or practice of designing sequences of movements in dance. When you watch performances by dance crews where they’re all in sync - that’s choreographed.
Most beginner-level dance classes will consist of a choreographed routine.
When training your street dance skills for freestyle (improvisation) though, the typical advice is to practise your moves over and over again. It can be boring and tough, but it really helps!!
Cleaning
Sometimes your teacher might suggest that you to make your moves "more clean". This refers to the cleaning up of movements by making them more accurate and precise, rather than incorrect or sloppy.
If a performance routine is challenging and the class/crew/team doesn't seem to have a good grasp of the moves taught so far, the teacher may make a judgment call to hold off from teaching more choreography toward the end of class, and instead clean.
The term is also sometimes used in feedback for battlers, as how clean your technique and movements is one factor that is commonly taken into consideration when judging battle performance.
Cypher
(see also battle and jam)
At some point, you;re likely to hear the word "cypher" (pronounced "sy-fer"), especially when you hang around b-boys and b-girls. This is a term used to refer to the act of freestyling in a circle, whether it be rapping or dancing. It is mainly used to dance freely without judgement by others.
This is different to a jam in the sense that it has a set structure that one person goes into the circle at a time.
It is also different to a battle in the sense that there's no official competitive element.
Dope
The hiphop way of saying something is awesome.
e.g. “Man, that dance set was dope!"
Double-Time
(see also half-time)
When a dance teacher refers to doing a routine or a technique double-time, they're going to speed it up to double the speed of what you're doing at that point in time. Some teachers will have you do the routine double-time to counts, and some will use music.
Eight count
Most hiphop dance instructors teach the movements in a piece of choreography in sets of eight counts. Each count is one beat in the music. Each set of eight beats is an eight count. Where an eight count starts and ends is not arbitrary, but can be heard in the rhythm of the music. Some teachers like to count music, but others prefer to explain which parts of the music you're hitting.
Focus
Your focus is where your eyes are looking while you dance. You'll work with your focus very little, if at all, in most beginning hiphop classes. But in more advanced classes, it's a major element of dance. So especially in beginning/intermediate classes, there are teachers who'll ask you to change your focus at times. For instance, you may look down or to the side during a movement. If you're making a sweeping gesture with one arm, your focus may follow your hand.
Freestyle
Freestyle is dancing without choreography (such as you might do in your bedroom, at the club, or, um, wherever the mood strikes you). To give you a chance to be more self-expressive, a teacher may give you one or a few counts in the routine to freestyle before moving back into the choreography. Experienced dancers often freestyle to the beginning of the song in class while waiting for the start of the choreography. This helps them connect with the music, which improves their dancing.
Full out
Dancing full out means performing the routine with full energy and effort. Usually, this term is used to clarify what the teacher wants when the class is switching back and forth between marking the routine and dancing full out.
Some teachers will use percentages to indicate the level of energy and effort to exert in the routine.
Groove
A groove is a large, rhythmic dance move performed using your entire body, such as you might see people doing when dancing at a party. By contrast, isolation moves use only a single part of your body. In the case of finger-tutting, an isolation could be as small a movement as extending or contracting your finger.
Half-time
(see also double-time)
When a teacher refers to doing the routine half-time, they're going to slow it down to half the speed of the actual tempo of the song. Some teachers will have you do the routine half-time to counts, and some will use music.
Hold
Hold means to wait and not move during whichever count the teacher is referring to.
Isolation
An isolation is a movement that involves isolating a single part of your body and moving it, while keeping the rest of your body still.
Jam
When a dancer asks if you "wanna jam", they're not asking if you want some mashed fruit jelly.
Chances are, they're asking if you want to dance for fun. If that's the case, the correct answer is "YES" with a big grin on your face.
Layers (of the music)
When people dance, they tend to dance to the beat of the drum, or the beat of the bass. If you've ever seen a whole bunch of people at a party bopping their heads up and down - it's most likely that part of the music.
But there's more than just the beat to music that you can listen and dance to! It could be the lyrics. It could be the sexy saxophone in the background, or the electric guitar. The point is, there's a whole bunch of other instrumentals that you can ride off when dancing and grooving.
Try it. The next time you listen to music, see if you can pick apart the different layers of the song :)
Levels
In hiphop, the default level is with your knees bent. But you'll straighten your legs some of the time, and may also go up on your toes or even down on the floor. If the teacher asks the class to pay attention to levels, they mean how high or low your body is while performing the movements.
Musicality
Choreographing or dancing to sounds in the music other than the beat, such as the lyrics or a sound effect (see layers), is termed musicality. It also refers to how well you convey the feeling of the music that you're dancing to.
Plie
This is a French dance term borrowed from ballet. Most of hip hop is performed in plie (plee - ay), meaning with the knees bent. It's a good idea as a hip-hop dancer to learn to pay attention to whether your teacher's legs are bent or straight as they demonstrate a movement. This is essential to the dance style.
Seven-to-smoke (commonly written as Seven2Smoke)
A battle concept created in 2002 (same time that D2MG was started!) by Dutch b-boys Dutchbboyn and Got Skillz crew Rotterdam.
It involves 8 solo dancers (typically b-boys) lined up in a sequence, clashing in quick 1vs1 battles in front of a panel of judges.
The judges give their decision quickly, and the winning dancer of the round gains 1 point and remains while the other one joins the end of the line. Then the next dancer in sequence comes up to clash with the previous victor and the cycle repeats over and over for a set period of time (typically 20 minutes).
There are 2 ways to win this battle: Either smoke (beat) 7 dancers in a row without losing, or have the most wins (points) at the end of the 20 minutes.
In the case that dancers end up with the same amount of wins at the end, they end up battling each other in a tie-breaker.
Tempo
(see also Half time)
Tempo is basically how fast or slow the music is. In hiphop classes, the tempo is usually fast.
Dance teachers will normally teach you how to do a dance move or set by taking you through the movements at a slower tempo before the actual speed.
Depending on the level of your class (Absolute beginners, intermediate, or advanced), how fast your teacher goes through the different tempos will vary.
Transition
The point where one eight count ends and the next begins is referred to as a transition. It's the movement you use to get from "eight" or "eight and" to "one." Teachers tend not to demonstrate transitions, which makes them a common source of challenge for beginners.
Window
In a dance class, a window is the space within which a person can see their reflection in the mirror. To learn a dance, it helps a lot to be able to see what you're doing and whether your movements are correct. So try not to block another dancer's window. It's important to be aware of the people around you, especially behind you, and try to spread out the lines so everyone can see.
Smoke
(see also Seven-to-Smoke)
Originating from the slang term meaning “to kill”, in the hiphop community it means to win against someone in some form of competition - only it’s not just winning by a little bit. It’s typically winning completely - there’s no argument who has won and who hasn’t.
Take it from the top
One of the most common things you'll hear in a dance class is "Take it from the top". It basically means to start from the beginning.
The "top" usually refers to the very beginning of the routine, but sometimes there is confusion when a teacher asks to "take it from the top" but really means the top of the section of choreography the class is currently working on.
If you're ever unsure which "top" the teacher means when he/she says to "take it from the top", make sure to ask.
Call-out:
When a dancer initiates/requests a battle with another dancer by calling them out.
This can be as simple as going “let’s battle!”, pointing to the other dancer or giving eye contact and attention in the middle of a group battle / cypher / jam.