Event
Balance beam

Skill type
Dance

Value
A

Known as
Sissone

Spelling note: The skill should actually be spelled sissonne with two n’s as it is named after the Count of Sissonne, a region in France. For whatever reason, the element lost an n along the way. So, if you choose to spell it with two n’s, that is also acceptable and probably more correct, but no one in gymnastics does it.

Named after
Ballet things

About
When trying to determine whether you’re looking at a split jump or a sissone, the defining factor will be the landing. The split jump lands on two feet, and the sissone lands on one. The sissone also should show a split position at a diagonal to the beam (or floor), while the split jump should be parallel, but honestly that happens very rarely. We see a lot of sissones landing on one foot with a split position pretty much parallel to the beam.

At an A (0.1) value, the sissone cannot be used for connection or series bonus, so it’s not the most popular selection in beam composition compared to its B-rated brethren, but we do see it. Some gymnasts will always include it to fulfill the dance combination requirement, though it is also a favorite Plan B for the same purpose. If your main idea for a more valuable dance combination goes awry, there might be a sissone sitting in your back pocket (imaginary, leotard) that can be tacked on somewhere to make sure you get that 0.5.