Thread by @JiminUncut

[Analysis Thread]

Body waves vs body rolls: Did you know there was a difference? Did you know Jimin likes to torture us with both? And he’s really good at it? 😓

Warning: This thread is not for the faint of heart.
#JIMIN @BTS_twt

Though their names are often used interchangeably (even by us 😅), body waves are quite different from body rolls. Both are techniques used in the Boogaloo street style and each are complex enough to be a specialized style on their own. #JIMIN @BTS_twt

Waving is a technique that involves creating the illusion of a wave passing through your body. Body waves start as high as the head and travel through the chest, abdomen and finally hips.

cr. James Barry

In order to wave, you must first learn how to isolate each body part, moving from one to the other slowly and showcasing each stop. #JIMIN @BTS_twt

Once you get comfortable with the isolations, you can gradually increase the speed between stops until it looks like a smooth motion. #JIMIN @BTS_twt

Eventually you might get as smooth and quick as Jimin, waving multiple times in quick succession and ending us all. 😭 #JIMIN @BTS_twt

cr. Peach Jelly

Most people learn how to wave downwards first, and many have difficulty when it comes to moving the wave back up. However, Jimin seems to have no problem - here you can see he starts the wave from his hips and it travels up through his chest. #JIMIN @BTS_twt

Jimin excels at body waves and they might just be his favourite thing to adlib in a choreo. They are the single leading cause of our collective support group. #JIMIN @BTS_twt

And to add insult to injury, Jimin uses quite a bit of advanced waving techniques. To start, he can isolate and wave each side of his chest and hips to diversify his waves and add to our breathing problems. #JIMIN @BTS_twt

cr. Flying Angel

He’s also quite adept at tracing. Tracing is a technique where your hand follows the motion of the wave as it travels through your body, creating the illusion that your hand is controlling it. #JIMIN @BTS_twt

The tracing hand can follow the wave through the air or...directly on the body. R.I.P. #JIMIN @BTS_twt

#JIMIN also uses arm waves and kicks out his knees to give the illusion of the wave traveling through his entire body. Here he waves out both his arms before kicking out each knee and creating a wave from the bottom up and back out through his arm. And talk about fast! @BTS_twt

So what are body rolls? Body rolls are the three dimensional cousin of body waves and quite a bit more difficult to master. They involve a lot of circular body motions and tricky transitions. #JIMIN @BTS_twt

Body rolls can be done with the head, shoulders, chest, hips and legs. Each part can be isolated and rolled independently. #JIMIN @BTS_twt

Whereas body waves work in two dimensions (forward and back), body rolls move in circles (left, forward, right, back) as they travel throughout the body. Here you can see Jimin rolling his shoulders (forward, up, back, down). #JIMIN @BTS_twt

cr. Little Blossom

At the beginning of the Black & White performance, you can see Jimin isolating his chest to roll in a full circle - right, forward, left, back. #JIMIN @BTS_twt

It comes as no shock to anyone that Jimin is a master at hip rolling. Boy’s had that on lockdown since his early dance days. #JIMIN @BTS_twt

Leg rolls involve rolling the knees either clockwise or counter clockwise. You can move them one at a time or at the same time, but they should always be going in the same direction. Here Jimin rolls both counter-clockwise. #JIMIN @BTS_twt

Now, once you’ve practiced all your separate body rolls, the real test is to put them in combination. Here you can see Jimin do a leg roll and then kick out to transition into a traveling technique called the Old Man involving hip and upper torso rolls. #JIMIN @BTS_twt

Transitioning between different rolls is trickier to master than waving, but rolling is a more versatile style since you can roll from any angle to and from different positions. Waving has to be done at a stationary angle from the audience so the full effect can be achieved.

Now, Jimin being Jimin actually often incorporates rolls into his waves to add to their lethal effect. Here Jimin starts with an arm wave and then rolls his shoulders before letting the wave travel down to his legs and back up again. #JIMIN @BTS_twt

And Jimin ALSO being Jimin always finds a way to makes things as dangerous to our health as possible. Here he is actually rolling his shoulders and chest and then waving down to his hips. 💀 #JIMIN @BTS_twt

cr. @/doublekm1

So. Yes. Jimin does a lot of waving, especially in their choreos, and because of his acute awareness of body lines, he can milk even the simplest wave into a thing of beauty. #JIMIN @BTS_twt

And if that weren’t enough, Jimin uses a lot of advanced waving techniques and even incorporates rolls into his waves when he’s feeling particularly playful. #JIMIN @BTS_twt

I think this thread was very educational and I think we all learned something here today. Those of us still alive anyway. 🙃 #JIMIN @BTS_twt

cr. Little Blossom