Glossary of Terms

Glossary of Terms Used in this Article
This is relevant only to dance, of course many of these words have other, recognised meanings in the world outside dance. This is not an exhaustive list of terms, only terms used in articles by the author.

Charismatic Bluffer - You will meet them teaching Modern Jive and Smooth Jive lessons. You probably have already! There's two types, knowing and unknowing. Both types are smooth and charming - much more charming than Andy McGregor (and much more handsome! ed.)

The unknowing Charismatic Bluffer is fooling themself as much as they are fooling their students - these people are like your average dancer-in-the-street: nice, friendly and law-abiding, just a bit self-deluded, and who isn't from time to time? The unknowing type are easy to spot if you are on your guard, just ask them about their dance teaching qualifications and listen carefully to their answers, are they being evasive, do they say they attended a course but didn't do the exam, do they say they are qualified in aerobics, or have been certified as safe by a health professional with no dance qualifications, do they say they've been doing it for years and don't need to take an exam?

Thankfully uncommon, the knowing Charismatic Bluffer is a con-man, a trickster and a cheat. They see the nice, friendly people in the dance world as "prey" - their objective could be money or sex - or both! The knowing Charismatic Bluffer has honed their charm to such and extent you will not know you are being fooled - listen carefully to the words of people you can trust who have been in the dance world for long enough to know where the skeletons are hidden!

CPB - Centre Point of Balance, this is the balance  point of the body. Sometimes called "Centre of Mass". It's about 2 inches above the belly button.

Compression - part of "connection". This is the gentle force applied to send the follower back, away from the leader.

Connection - this communicates the lead to the follower via physical means, tension and compression or through "frame" in the closed hold. Connection can also be verbal and visual, however, this is very rare in Modern Jive.

Cross Body Moves - these are moves where the man and woman changes places. This includes moves where the man stays in place and leads the lady past him and moves where partners both move and swap places. The convention is that the man usually leads the lady to pass his right hand side or clockwise around his body.


Downbeat - this is the first beat in the musical bar. Called "down" because of the downward movement of the conductors baton. Commonly used to describe the odd numbered beats in a bar. Conversely the "upbeat" is the even numbered beat.

Hitch - this is where the unweighted foot marks a beat by being placed next to the ankle of the weighted foot.

Indication Lead - this is where the man indicates the lead to the lady. The lady follows this lead by moving herself rather than being forced in to following by brute force (and ignorance).

Inertia - the force required to move your partner.  This should be very little as the lead is an indication, not an unstoppable or irresistible force.

Mambo Step - One foot anchors in place and the other is stepped forward and back. This is derived from a Latin American dance and is danced ball-flat with a rolling, Cuban motion of the hips.

Momentum - measured by the force required to stop your partner from moving. For smooth jiving this should be very little force as partners are responsible for their own momentum, not that of their partner.

Pressure step - this is where the weight stays in-place on the same foot but a pulse of pressure is applied into the floor to mark a single beat.

Rock-step - a step characterised by rocking back on one foot and then stepping forward to replace your weight on the anchor foot.

Scuff - this is where the beat is marked by the unweighted foot scuffing away from the weighted foot as if to remove something stuck on the sole of the shoe


Tension - part of "connection". This is the gentle force applied to draw the follower forward, towards the leader.

N.B. This glossary is a work in progress and has been produced to accompany a series of articles which are currently being written.