Lifting figure
A lifting figure is a dance piece in which a dancer lifts another dancer. More formal: A dance figure in which one dancer is supported by at least one other dancer and does not touch the ground.
The internationally used English terms for “lifting figure” are lift (from English (to) lift for “to lift”) and aerial / air step (English for “airy”, “above ground”), whereby aerial also includes acrobatic dance figures.
In Lindy Hop , a forerunner of today's jive and rock 'n' roll , the first "air step" is awarded to the dancer Frankie Manning , who performed a "back to back roll" in a dance competition in the Savoy Ballroom in 1935 .
Delimitation of the term
By definition, lifting figures are differentiated from jumps (in which the dancer is neither touched nor supported on the floor) and falling figures (in which the dancer is supported but touches the floor).
The widespread assertion that the term lifting figure is based on the colloquial incorrect use of “lifting” instead of “holding” and that it should correctly mean holding figure is wrong. In fact, the term comes from “to lift high”.
Definition according to the tournament and sports regulations of the DTV
- Lifts are figures in which one partner, with the support of the other, leaves the floor with both legs for more than a part of the bar. ( TSO G 8.3 , see also TSO F 3.6)