Your reference for the words, moves, and gear you'll run into in the gloving community. Bookmark it: beginner or veteran, there's probably a term in here you haven't heard yet.
Figure 8s: A fluid motion where you trace the number 8 in front of you with one hand following the other. Can also be performed in reverse.
: A fundamental move involving a continuous, rhythmic motion of opening and closing one's hand, starting on one side and ending on the other. The foundation of many advanced techniques.
Finger Tutting: Creating geometric shapes and boxes with your fingers by moving them through an imaginary grid. Each position creates a different boxed shape through precise angles and orientations.
Liquid: Making your hands flow in a wave-like motion by keeping fingertips loosely connected and using a combination of finger and wrist movements. Influenced by liquid dance style.
Stacking: A fundamental technique where fingers are stacked or layered on top of each other in various configurations.
Dials: The stacking of one finger onto another in a half-circle motion. Often combined with other techniques to demonstrate finger independence and dexterity.
Digits: Any technique involving various fingers rotating around each other or stacking on top of one another. Requires high dexterity and shows finger isolation and independence.
Flails: Rotating your wrists or elbows while keeping fingers extended in an open-hand position. Creates circles of light and various patterns depending on arm movement. Larger diameter than whips, done at the wrist or elbow.
King Tuts (King Tutting): An advanced form of tutting with larger, more dramatic movements incorporating full arm geometry.
Wave Tuts (Wave Tutting): A hybrid style combining liquid hand waves with tutting geometries, using finger rolls as transitions between tut positions.
Whips: A finger roll that you whip out towards the viewer with dramatic arm and hand movements. Creates dramatic light trails and is often combined with complex arm movements.
Creatures: Shaping your hands into animal-like forms during performances.
Infinite Finger Roll: An advanced continuous finger roll technique that looks like it never stops, one of the most mesmerizing moves to watch.
Tunneling (Tunnels): A whip-like move creating tunnel-shaped patterns with multiple variations. The viewer's perspective makes it appear as if looking through a tunnel of light.
Conjuring: A gloving style that creates the illusion of manipulating light as a tangible object, as if the light has physical properties.
Flow: The overall smooth, connected feeling of a performance. Also refers to a style focusing on fluid, continuous movements and seamless transitions.
Impact: A type of move or style used to create dramatic effects by getting close to the viewer during changes or drops in the music.
Musicality: The measure of how well a glover's show synchronizes with and interprets the music. Good musicality means the movements match the rhythm, energy, and feel of the song.
Tech (Technical): A gloving style characterized by precise, often geometric movements focusing on isolations, finger control, and exact positioning.
Tutting: A style of dance incorporated into gloving, inspired by ancient Egyptian art. Involves creating angular, geometric shapes with hands and arms. Named after King Tut.
Blow (someone) up: To give someone a lightshow.
Cypher: A tag team lightshow consisting of multiple glovers' performances in sequence or simultaneously.
Double (or more) Team: A lightshow performed by two or more glovers simultaneously for one viewer.
Fingershow: A performance using fingers without lights, optionally with just white gloves or no gloves. Focuses purely on hand movement technique.
Fresh Whites: Clean, new white gloves.
Levels: Using the entire performance space instead of staying in a single spot, so the show stays visually varied rather than static.
Lightshow: A performance conducted using LED lights, typically on gloves. Usually done with the performer kneeling in front of a seated viewer in an intimate setting.
Melting (someone's face): Giving a lightshow so intense it metaphorically "melts" the viewer's face. The ultimate compliment.
Transitions: The techniques used to smoothly connect two different moves together, creating seamless flow between concepts.
Chip: Short for microchip, the electronic component (PCB with microcontroller) that controls the LED lights in gloving.
Chip-to-Chip (C2C): The ability to transfer modes or programming from one microlight to another directly.
Genos: Glow LEDs' designation for the shape and form factor of their proprietary microlight chips. All Glow LEDs microlights and compatible products use the Genos platform.
Microlight: The small LED device placed at the fingertips of gloving gloves. Contains a programmable chip, LED bulb(s), and battery.
Mode: A programmed color and pattern configuration on a microlight. Microlights can store multiple modes.
Palmlight: A microlight placed within the palm of each hand, usually held in place with Velcro. Creates additional lighting effects.
Thumblight: A microlight placed in the thumb position of the glove, either inside or on the outside.
Aeos: Glow LEDs' beginner-friendly mid-tier microlight with 3 mode slots, 20 colors, 13 patterns, and a unique Timer Mode. Green PCB design. Best for new glovers who want simplicity without giving up the essentials.
Helios: Glow LEDs' advanced/professional-tier microlight with 6 mode slots, 260 colors, and 20 patterns, including advanced options like Ribbon, Ultra Dops, and Morph variations, plus deeper functionality (Shift Mode, Randomizer, Global Brightness, Light Lock). Built for experienced glovers who want maximum customization.
Glowskinz: Protective accessories that fully encase microlights, offering protection and enhanced effects. Available in CLOZD and OPYN styles.
CLOZD: A style of diffuser or Glowskin that fully encloses the LED bulb and chip, creating a solid, even light effect with no hotspot.
Diffuser: An accessory placed over the LED to alter the light's appearance, changing its shape, size, or softness. Available in many shapes and sizes.
Diffuser Cap: An opaque cap that fits over diffusers or directly onto microlights, used to display 2D shapes by blocking light in specific patterns.
EXO Diffuser: A 3D geometric-shaped diffuser (Dodecahedron, Icosahedron, Hexahedron) worn inside the glove, creating complex three-dimensional light shapes.
Inverted: When a microlight is placed upside down inside the glove, usually facing toward the palm. Creates different lighting effects and is useful for certain styles like conjuring.
OPYN: A style of diffuser or Glowskin that allows the LED bulb to poke through, enabling compatibility with additional diffusers or creating hotspot effects.
Glow Jar: Storage container for glove sets and accessories, keeping equipment organized and protected.
Supreme Gloves: Glow LEDs' most popular glove option, stretchy, comfortable, and durable.
Ultra Gloves: Premium glove option with enhanced durability and fit.
Bulk Batteries (CR1620, CR1225, CR2016, CR1616): Battery packs for powering microlights, available in the full range of sizes needed for different chip types.
Refresh Pack: A bundle of multiple glove pairs and batteries (120 count), so you're never caught without fresh gear mid-season.
Mode Creator: Glow LEDs' web-based platform for creating custom color sets and modes. Features an HSV color selection interface, pattern preview, and export settings for programming microlights.
Gloving Academy: Glow LEDs' free tutorial platform, 51 tutorials from fundamentals to advanced technique, organized as a skill tree.
Dops: A specific strobe/flash pattern effect.
Hotspot: The bright center point of an LED when not using a diffuser or when using an OPYN-style casing.
Morph: A flashing pattern that blends from one color to the next.
Ribbon: An advanced flashing pattern creating flowing ribbon-like light trails.
Strobe: A rapid flashing effect creating staccato bursts of light.
Tracer: A pattern creating visible trails of light behind the LED movement.
Ultra Dops: A more intense version of the standard dops pattern.
Creator Program: Glow LEDs' merit-based affiliate program with three tiers (Oracle, Olympian, Titan) supporting content creators through commissions, discount codes, and rewards.
Flow Arts: The broader category of movement-based performance arts including gloving, poi, orbits, staff, hooping, and other LED/fire-based disciplines.
Glover: A person who practices the art of gloving.
Space City Gloving Competition: Glow LEDs' annual gloving competition in Houston, Texas. Runs without festival restrictions, giving competitors more room to perform.
Begleri: A flow art using beads on strings manipulated with finger dexterity. Glow LEDs is developing LED-integrated begleri systems.
Orbits (Orbiters): A flow toy with an LED disk that spins between two strings, creating tornado-like trails of light. Users create shapes and patterns by manipulating the strings.
Poi: A flow art using weighted objects (traditionally balls) at the ends of ropes or chains, spun in circular patterns. Can be done with LED or fire poi. Has origins with the Māori people of New Zealand.
This dictionary is current as of 2025. New terms show up as the community keeps evolving, so if we're missing one, let us know.
