Event
Balance beam

Skill type
Dance

Known as
Switch
Switch leap
Switch split
Change-leg leap (chiefly British)

About
The most popular beam skill (as well as the most commonly performed skill on any single event not including casts and giants on bars) is the switch split leap. It is as close as exists to a compulsory element in modern gymnastics. Everyone plus one does the switch leap.

The reason: it’s the most straightforward of the C dance elements and, at the same time, fulfills the requirement to show a split of 180 degrees in a leap series and acts as a fairly reasonable first element in a dance combination connected into something like a split jump. Who could resist it? Sometimes, it’s even performed acceptably.

Value
C