How To Do Battement Kicks In Jazz [ Dance Skill Tutorial For Absolute Beginners ]

Let's learn some jazz kicks (AKA "battements")!
Battement is a French word that means “beating”. What we can take away from this literal translation is that this movement is typically meant to be explosive. In a traditional jazz class, you’ll likely do battements to the front, the side, and potentially the back.
For battements to the front, you'll keep your leg parallel and brush a straight leg up into the air. Make sure you point your foot as soon as it leaves the ground. Once you hit your highest point, bring the leg back down the way it came. Keep both legs straight the entire time and be careful not to let your hips or upper body move when you battement. Try to keep your arms and torso as still and calm as possible.
For battements to the side, you will turn your leg out. Remember, turnout starts from the hips, so make sure you have everything turned out from your hips to your toes. You’ll want to perform your battements to the side at your natural turnout. What does that mean?
Put your feet together with your heels and toes touching (unless you have bunions like I do, in which case just get your toes as close together as possible). Now, without forcing anything, turn your toes out as far to both sides as possible while keeping your heels together. Your feet should form a V (it might be a wide V or a narrow V, but it should look similar to a V nonetheless). This is what I’m referring to when I say your “natural turnout” because it’s where your feet are naturally going without you forcing a turnout that your body is not ready for and could potentially cause pain. See where your toes are pointing? That’s the direction you want your battements to go to the side. This should allow you to keep your legs turned out once you bring your leg up in the air for your battement to the side.
Now that we know which direction/angle we’ll be going for our battement to the side, go ahead and put your arms to the side and kick your leg out to the direction we just established (with our V). Once you hit the peak height, bring your leg back down the way it came. Keep both legs straight the entire time and make sure you point that foot as soon as it leaves the ground. Try to keep your arms, hips, and torso as still as possible while also breathing.
For battements to the side, there are different schools of thought on whether or not you should kick in front of or behind your arm. My philosophy is that since most of us are probably operating from a turnout that is less than a full 180 degrees (myself included, because really, unless you’re dancing for ABT or touring with the circus as a contortionist, most people are not naturally sporting a perfect turnout), it makes the most sense to have your arms out directly to the sides while your leg kicks slightly in front of your arm. That way, we’re not moving our arms forward in order to allow us to kick behind them.
When doing battements to the back, you’ll want to turn your leg out because this will actually help your leg get higher. Don’t believe me? Try doing a battement to the back with your leg completely parallel. It’ll probably feel like you’re hitting the ceiling just a few inches off the ground. To avoid that and to give us a nice line, turn your leg out.
You can practice your battements to the back with your arm out to the side, or you can bring the same arm as leg in front of you while the other arm stays out to the side/on the barre or wall (in an L position). Keeping both legs straight, brush your leg back. Point your foot as soon as it leaves the ground, and once you’ve hit your peak height, return the straight leg back down the way it came. Again, try to keep your arms, hips, and torso as still as possible while also breathing.
NOTE: You’ll notice that I often use “battement” and “kick” interchangeably. That’s pretty common in dance classes, especially for jazz. If you’re in ballet, they will almost always use “battement”, but in any jazz class I have taken or taught, I’m pretty much always switching back and forth between the two words.
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