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basic step components

I have begun to put a bit of a step dictionary onto my site.  Here are some basic step components.    

I have uploaded all of my video clips to Youtube, they are available for FREE to the public.  
Click the individual links indicated by the .  You can also check out my Video Links page.

Step (S)

Place weight on the whole foot bending the knee slightly once you’ve put weight on it and lift the other foot.

Rock (R)

A Step (above) but without any weight on the heel.  Place weight on the ball of your foot, typically beside the arch of the other foot, but could be in back, to the side and in behind or in front depending on the step.

 
Ball (Ba) Place weight on only the ball of your foot (heel off the ground) like you were jogging in place.

 

Drag (DR)

Adding Drag/ Slide motion

With your foot flat on the floor, knee bent, straighten the knee, pulling back just a bit

 

Slide (SL)

With your foot flat on the floor, leg straighter, bend the knee and  push forward just a bit

Heel Click (HCLK)

Marks the down beat of the music, using the weight bearing foot, rise up on the ball of the foot and then snap or “click” the heel back down in place. Used to replace the Drag/Slide motion.  This is sometimes used to replace the drag/slide motion that is involved in traditional clogging.

Touch (TCH)

Touching with the ball of the foot to ground and lifting it up again, usually followed by a heel click of the weight bearing foot to mark the beat of the music.  

Toe Touch (TTCH)

Touching the ground with the tip of the toe to the ground (generally behind the weight bearing foot) and raising it again, also known as Toe Tap.

 

Heel Touch (HTCH)

Touching the ground with the back edge of the heel and raising it again.

Kick (K)

Swing your leg out straight with foot flexed to the front, side or back.

Brush (BR)

Swing your leg out in front but scrape the ball of your foot on the floor along the way ending by lifting the knee up.

 
Skuff (SK) Swing your leg out in front but scrape the heel of your foot on the floor along the way ending by lifting the knee up.

 

Stamp (STA)

A touch but the whole foot gets put down flat and then lifted up again.

 

Stomp (STO)

A step but with heavy emphasis on the Step, make lots of noise, foot takes weight.

 

Double Toe (DT)

A double toe is done by quickly kicking forward from the knee scraping the ball of the foot along the ground, then allowing the leg to fall back naturally scraping the ball of the foot along the ground again. Because you don't lift the foot very far off the floor, this forward and back movement makes two quick sounds: a tap as the ball of the foot brushes forward and another tap as it brushes back. (In tap dancing terms, this is a shuffle)

Double Toe Step (DTS or DS)

aka RUN  

The double toe above is then followed by a step onto the ball of the same foot, which also makes a sound.

 

BASIC or CLOG

(DS RS or DT S RS)  

Double Toe Step followed by a Rock Step – this is the most commonly used step.  (In tap dancing terms, shuffle step ball change)

 

One thing to remember about clogging is that steps usually, most often (but not always) start on LEFT foot.  This is different from most forms of dance.

When you get more comfortable you can add a bit of spring to your steps by bouncing a bit, this might eventually lead to the drag and slide motion that many advanced cloggers use instead of just the heel click.  For every forward there must be a back, thus the drag and slide – it is hard on the knees, that’s why a lot of cloggers just use a heel click.