ABSTRACT
Such diverse disciplines as East Indian dance and modern jazz introduce many examples of rotations/twists of body parts in their basic training. Turning of body parts may be isolated actions or combined with other movements. Most students enjoy diving into this material through improvising to jazz music. Inevitably the Twist will come into the picture as an example of the greatest use of twisting many parts at once. Various rhythms can be introduced in twisting one way and then the other, and simple sequences put together to enjoy fully the exploration of this material while at the same time dancing it. Legs may rotate while supporting, in the process of a transference of weight or as free gestures rhythmically rotating in and out. If limbs are bent the feeling of rotation in the body is heightened, as is the visual effect. Various forms of walks with different degrees of turn-in or turn-out can be tried and the kind of character each expresses discussed. The effect of other accompanying characteristics in walking can be explored, for example flat-footed steps, transference from heel to whole foot, or from ball of foot to whole foot.
