Summary: A straddle jump in modern dance is a sideways jump with legs spread apart. Do a straddle jump with tips from a professional dancer in this free modern dance video.
Chell Garcia-Trias has been dancing for 30 years. As a community scholar at Columbia College Dance School, she earned a B.A. in dance and acting. Garcia-Trias was artistic director for...read more
"Hi, my name is Chell Garcia-Trias and I'm a modern dance instructor in Austin Texas. I'm going to show you a straddle jump that I like to do in modern dance. It moves to the side, we jump from one leg to the other. If we want, we can start small, just jump one leg to the other but I'm going to think about straightening my legs to the side and I'm going to imagine that I'm jumping through a hoop and I need to get one leg through it and then the other leg through it. One and then the other so there's this up and over action that's happening, and I'm going to reach out with my arms, to make it look complete. A little bit faster, it'll be up and over. We really want to have it square off forward, I want my upper body nice and straight, I want to feel a connection between the top of my head and my tail bone, and I want straight legs and straight arms to the side. You want to look really strong and really fierce so I'm going to bend my legs, starting with my left leg in front, and I'm just going to jump through the hoop, jump through the hoop and I can go the other way. Always practice your jumps on both sides. My right leg is in front, I'm going to jump through the hoop. So, that's a nice simple straddle stretch that you can practice doing across the floor or just in one space, if you just want to go back and forth, and it's really pretty jump to add to any modern dance routine."
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