A Dancer's Journey through Figure and Fancy Skating
RHV: Many of the positions and even the jumps are ballet based. EF: No they’re not. RHV: Elizabeth Fisch yes they are- there are many ballet positions, jumps end in arabesque, spirals in arabesque, spins in attitude or à la seconde, lifts in ballet positions. An axel is basically a tour jete with extra rotations. The … Read more
How important is ballet for figure skating? Has the IJS caused it to be disincentivized with so many other things to work on? https://www.facebook.com/TheSkatingLesson/posts/pfbid0Rraqd6EUDRkRVMt1A1GFaqRXSvU16SftQw4r759xDFm1gXrgVXDDJ359Yn9W1jchl Ballet develops a number of things that are essential to figure skating, and are easier to develop on the floor vs on ice. For that reason it should be at the … Read more
Original thread: https://www.facebook.com/groups/adultsskatetoo/permalink/2027143018189019/ OP: It tickles me to death to fall. It means I’m pushing my boundaries, and that makes me happy. Here practicing my snap into air position.Eliz: I disagree there is no reason to fall on backspin.OP: Well, I wasn’t working on backspin. I was working on snapping as fast as I could … Read more
Why do some people progress so quickly in skating and others don’t? I have been skating on and off for 20 years and I still don’t have an axel or any doubles. And then I see people who have all of their doubles after 2 years of skating and it’s really discouraging. How are they … Read more
I dunno, I’ve demonstrated plenty of ability to master motor skills as an adult. I did professional ballet training at age 28 and made it into the professional company. More recently (many years later), I won the World Figure Sport Figure & Fancy Skating International Open after only 5 months on the ice. I have … Read more
As you mention, an S-step and then a 3-turn are part of the spin. You have identified issues with both of them, which will cause problems in whatever comes after them (the spin itself). I would suggest a 3-part approach: (1) 3-turns; (2) S-steps with 3-turns; (3) the spin itself. Below are details on each: … Read more
A “figure” in many kinds of dance from the British Isles is a named pattern of movement larger than a step and smaller than a phrase. When English people started skating, they brought their dancing with them and created English Style Skating, which involved a caller and people moving around the ice to make patterns, … Read more
I was thinking about these questions my entire ballet career (and beyond). I’ll try to share briefly here. I took the attitude that the primary purpose of dancing is to get to dance all day every day. Some people just need that, at least for a portion of our lives, and I am one of … Read more
My opinion: Dance education is different from academic education because knowledge must not only be learned, but also embodied. We bring our neuro-muscular system into the studio, which operates largely on autopilot with only limited ability to take direction from our thinking mind. The goal of dance education is to teach dancers (thinking mind) how … Read more
I love making beautiful figure artwork on the ice, an intense meditative practice that develops internal energy, relaxation and mental focus to generate power. Each figure — a named pattern of movement — is a puzzle to be solved inside my body. I am learning blade magic, drawing power from each edge to skate forever … Read more