Ari’s Action Pages • The dance studio

BRUSH

A small action with a lovely sense of motion: the free foot swings past the supporting foot, lightly brushing as it goes.

Imagine that your free foot is a paintbrush. It travels close enough to the floor to skim it — but your weight stays on the other foot.

Brush action, viewed from above The left supporting foot remains still. The right free foot travels from behind to ahead, passing close beside the supporting foot without receiving weight. FORWARD ↑ SUPPORTING LEFT FOOT FREE RIGHT FOOT (no weight transfer)
Ready to brush
1. Stay grounded.

Keep your weight on the supporting foot. The other foot is free to move.

2. Brush past.

Move the free foot forward, passing close to the supporting foot with a light brushing action.

3. Keep it free.

The brushing foot does not take weight. Continue into whatever movement comes next.

A ten-second check

During a brush, does your weight transfer to the brushing foot?

ROUNDALAB definition — BRUSH

ROUNDALAB describes BRUSH as lightly brushing the free foot against the floor or the inside of the weighted foot, without a weight change.

This is a paraphrase, not a verbatim quotation. Source: ROUNDALAB Standards Manuals (Phase II, Actions and Movements).