Heel Clacks

Difficulty: Beginner

Category: Floorwork

Type: With heels

Points of Contact: N/A

Pre-requisite Moves:

• N/A

These Heel Clacks are the quintessential technique to making lots of noise in your floorwork routine. After all, if you’re sporting heels, then it only makes sense to show it off and incorporate it into the choreography. Fun and simple, these are perfect for just about any style that includes heels.

Best of all, you can easily connect these with other floor moves and get creative with the motion. Once you have the clack noise down and you feel comfortable playing with the motion, try it interspersed with leg waves, leg clocks, right-side-up, upside-down, and however else you want to clack.

Move Steps

1. Start sitting on the floor with your legs outstretched in front of you.
   1. Alternatively: Start on your back with your elbows bracing your body up, legs criss-crossed in front of you.
2. Tighten your leg muscles and keep the ankles as straight as possible, pointing the toes.
3. Open the legs into a wide straddle.
4. Keeping the legs engaged and toes pointed, bring your heels together in one fluid motion. This should produce an audible, loud ‘CLACK‘ sound.
5. Repeat as many times as desired.

Safety Tips

• This move requires that you push your feet together firmly from a wide straddle. It is important that you keep your ankles straight and engage the calves with a toe point. This should keep your feet strong and keep you from hurting your ankles.
• To keep the feet aligned, practice the motion gently without heels first. From a wide straddle with toes pointed, bring the feet together, connecting the ankles and ball of the foot at the same time. Practicing the motion is helpful before you start trying this with heels on, especially if you aren’t experienced with heels yet. The video provides a helpful demonstration of this exercise.

Common Mistakes

• Ouch! My Ankles Hurt: If your ankles are sore after heel clacks, then you are likely trying to do heel clacks without connecting the ball of your feet together. The key here is to keep the feet as straight as possible so you align the whole foot on impact. If you have flat feet or aren’t used to this motion, it may even feel like you are pulling your toes in towards each other, rather than straightening the foot.
• My Clack Doesn’t Feel Firm: Make sure you are engaging your glutes and leg muscles, pointing your toes through the whole motion. This should give you a firmer heel clack.
• I Don’t Have Nice Lines: If your ankles are bending during any part of the clack motion, it is going to look like your lines are broken. This is especially noticeable with heels; the higher the platform, the more noticeable it is. Try strengthening your ankles and calves with toe point exercises.