Auxiliary:  Another term for the color guard. This term is often used in the marching band setting to describe the visual ensemble which may include color guard but which also may include other visual performers such as a dance team, baton twirlers or pom poms. The term Auxiliary covers visual ensembles which may or may not include all of these types of visual performers.

Air Flag:  Working without equipment.

Blade:  Part of the sabre that, if it were a real sword, would be sharp

Blade Toss:  Right-handed tosses on sabre that are thrown and caught from the blade

Bolt:  Screw-like weight some guards use to weight flags

Butt:  Larger end of a rifle

Cattle Guard:  When a guard doesn’t use enough of a plie (plee-ay) when doing dance or across the floors and sounds like a herd of cattle

Chasse:  (shaw-say) Dance move: right-left-right or left-right-left

Crutch Tip: Rubber stopper on each end of a flag

Double Time:  2 steps for each beat

Drill:  Formations and where a performer moves to on the floor

Drop Spin:  The most basic spin where one grabs thumbs up thumbs down, and always under the other hand

Flag:  Most basic piece of equipment

Flag Feature:  When the whole guard is on flag; a key point of the show

Half Toss:  Most basic flag toss

Hilt:  The handle of a sabre

Jete:  (jet-ay) a dance move where one jumps from one foot to the other with a sweeping motion

Parallel Toss:  Toss that rotates parallel to the ground over the head. Can be done with flag, rifle, or sabre

Peggys:  Basic spin where one grabs down, flat, up, flat, always grabbing over the other hand

Pique:  (pee-kay) a turn in which one steps onto a pointed foot while the other foot is raised to the knee

Pirouette:  (peer-o-wet) a turn where one spins fully around on a pointed foot

Plié:  (plee-ay) used in dance, downward bending movement of both knees

Pole:  Metal part of the flag

Releve:  To rise onto the balls of one's feet

Rifle:  Prop weapon that looks like a gun, but is really only a piece of wood with a piece of plastic and leather attached

Sabre:  Prop weapon that looks like a sword, not sharp

Saute:  (soh-tay) a dance leap where one lands on the same foot

Silk:  Part of the flag made out of silk or other light material

Spotting:  A technique to help dancers maintain a straight line and prevent dizziness while spinning. When turning, the dancer picks a spot and follows it until their turn takes that spot out of sight. They then whip their head around to bring that same spot back into view as quickly as possible. This action is repeated for the duration of turns/spins.

Strap:  Leather strap on a rifle

Tape:  Refers to the tape at the middle of the pole holding the bottom of the silk on

Tip:  Smaller end of a rifle, or the non-hilt end of a sabre

Turn Out:  To rotate one's leg outward from the hip

Washer:  Weights in a flag