Can you walk the talk?
The Basics:
| Ball change: | shifting of the weight from the back foot to the front either on the ball or the entire foot. |
| Flap: | two sounds executed by a brush step in any direction. |
| Heel: | using the bottom/back of the foot to make a sound. |
| Shuffle: | two sound step made by brushing the ball of the foot forward and then backward. |
| Stamp: | transfer of weight onto the entire foot. |
| Stomp: | strike the floor with the whole foot without transferring weight. |
The Rest: (Abridged)
| Buffalo: | a combination of leap/shuffle/step. |
| Chug: | drop the heel while sliding forward with force. |
| Closed third/flam/slurp: | a 'sloppy' flap where the heel is allowed to make a sound before the step. |
| Cramproll: | a rapid movement combining steps and heels. |
| Dig: | strike the floor with the heel/ball/toe of the foot without transferring weight. |
| Drawback: | a common step moving backward combinig brush/opposite heel/step. |
| Maxiford: | named after dancer Maxie Ford (leap/shuffle/leap/toedig) |
| Open third/riffle/scuffle: | a 'sloppy' shuffle where the heel is allowed to make a sound before the brush back. |
| Pullback/pickup: | a brush or series of brushes executed mid air. |
| Perrididdle/paddle 'n roll: | a combination of heel dig/brush/step/heel drop in various rhythms performed in rapid succession. |
| Riff: | ball of the foot brushes forward followed by the heel of the same foot. |
| Scuff: | kick forward hitting the heel on the way. |
| Shim Sham Shimmy | The 'national anthem' of tap dance choreographed by Leonard Reed. |
| Slide: | a travelling step where the dancer literally slides in any direction as if on ice. |
| Soft shoe/essence: | a slow, smooth dance originally done with no taps. |
| Time step: | a repeated pattern used to set the tempo of a piece. |
| Waltz clog: | a basic tap waltz step (step/shuffle/ballchange). |
| Wing: | A mid air step executed by scraping the foot outwards and a brush step on the way back. |