Figure Fouetté

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1503550726620855/permalink/3957480411227862 Thank you for an interesting post that requires a serious response. Here is mine. First of all, ballet / contemporary dance is NOT a sport, rather it’s an athletic art (and chess is a non-athletic sport). The distinction may seem academic, but it results in world of difference in the social communities. That said, … Read more

https://www.facebook.com/groups/adultsskatetoo/permalink/2050449785858342 I have faced endless crap surrounding the practice of figures, and it’s mostly from figure skaters (and their coaches and parents): 1. Run out of town by two USFSA clubs, both which banned my practice of figures during their sessions. One also made up stories, tried to get me arrested and accused me of … Read more

I am quickly responding to this video, with more notes later: This is so fascinating, it explains how we learn and train our bodies to dance. It’s basically the same process I described here, which is what I learned at JMBT: Very exciting work.  Watching the video I believe the key missing component for people … Read more

Yes. The reason most adult skaters look like this is because they haven’t learned to twist their spine (shoulders against hips), a movement that is critical to figure skating. Without spinal torsion, the only way to turn things is to turn your entire body, which is slow because it has adult-size mass and inertia. The … Read more

A little history here… there is no single “real music.” In the 1930’s and 1940’s — a time when social ice dance was the backbone of most FS clubs — Skating Magazine published various lists of commercially available (78 rpm) records recommended for each dance. Some but not all of those recordings are now available … Read more

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