Event
Balance beam

Skill type
Turn

Value
C

Known as
Attitude turn
Attitude
Back attitude turn

About
Rather than referring to the snooty diva persona required to perform this element instead of just doing a regular full turn like a working-class voter, attitude is a body position term that gymnastics borrowed from ballet.

It refers to the leg being raised up to the hips with the knee bent and at/above horizontal throughout. As with most things gymnastics borrows from ballet, the position expectations in gymnastics are not the same as in ballet, which makes ballet people flush their diamonds and monocles right down the toilet and never speak to you again.

While this skill has long been called an “attitude turn” and has existed as an option in the code of points since the olden days when the code basically just said, “do a turn, leg position whatever,” the term attitude did not actually make its first appearance in the code of points until 2009, and wasn’t used to describe this skill until 2025.

Typically in gymnastics, we see the leg in back attitude, but it can also be in front attitude.