Someone wrote recently about her experience figure skating growing up. She took lessons until the age of 12 but stopped because it was stressful, she was disillusioned trying to find a healthy balance of enjoyment and competition. This story is so common, are we surprised? At its core, figure skating is a movement language built around balancing on one leg on top of a blade; which requires training and practice to master. What is it about this technique and movement language that leads to disillusionment?
Nothing, of course. A movement language is just that, a language. And once someone has learned its technique, they can use it for any purpose that suits them. Figure skating can be used in so many ways — for example to draw artwork on the ice, to engage in an evening of social dancing, to present performing art to an appreciative audience, or enjoy skating with others toward a shared goal. The act of training can be rewarding on its own, with a positive social aspect between teacher and student(s) and the satisfaction of mastering a challenging new skill! Sometimes figure skaters come together from afar to share with and learn from their peers, creating social bonds and reducing isolation for those training alone. Figure skating can also be a form of meditation, a way to put our life’s worries aside for an hour and focus on making a beautiful circle, considered by the ancient Greeks to be the most perfect shape. This is all great stuff!
The Problem: Figure Skating Culture
So what is it, again, that causes one to become disillusioned? Not figure skating itself, but figure skating culture. There are a number of problems, but they can all be traced back to an emphasis on competition above all else in a hierarchical system with the Olympics at the top.
With competition front-and-center, students who want to be taken seriously refer to themselves as competitive figure skaters. The best skaters deserve attention from the best Olympic coaches, who measure their career status (and hourly rate) based on medals won by their students. In contrast, the term “recreational skater” connotes lack of commitment, lack of quality, and someone who does not deserve top coaches’ time. The act of competing therefore validates the act of skating, with skater quality and commitment being measured by willingness to compete and results produced: a skater who does not compete has not been measured and is therefore “recreational.” Predictably, this situation stresses out children and adolescents and works against healthy social/emotional development. It is only made worse by parents who let their children know, either directly or indirectly, that their value in the family system depends on their performance on ice.
In this way figure skating becomes one giant competition lasting one’s entire childhood and into the young adult years, with Olympic Gold as the highest prize. Figure skating competitions are not discrete events to be experienced, but instead a required part of the annual “grind” in pursuit of the ultimate prize. It is all exorbitantly expensive (if you want to win), and there are parents willing and able to spend this kind of money to turn their children into champions. Children who are coached more win more medals; and thus every child is coached 30-50% of the time, stunting their growth as independent Skating Artists. No effort is put into teaching Skating Artists to train and take care of themselves on the ice. Families who cannot afford this level of coaching should not expect to win, and figure skating is seen as an activity available only to the wealthy few.
In theory, human beings perform better in the face of increased competition. But too much competition can drive people to take fewer risks, resulting in a worse overall outcome. That is what we are now seeing in figure skating, especially under IJS, in which programs are designed to maximize points. A specialized expert is required to choreograph these programs, further driving up costs. And they choreograph it in ways that maximize points, while avoiding things that do not maximize points. This leads to an ever-growing list of “Forgotten” Skating Elements and an environment where creativity is not rewarded. The end result of is a series of soulless, indistinguishable programs filled with quadruple jumps, but with a declining viewing audience. Fanboys gush about the “evolution of the sport” and how great it is we see so many quad jumps, but increasingly the public is tuning out. Hence the recent decision to allow backflips in a desperate attempt to win back audience. Will this work? Consider that other kinds of skating (eg Freestyle Ice Skating) have backflips too, and also other difficult / dangerous tricks that figure skaters don’t even attempt, and are probably more interesting to watch.
The hyper-competitive atmosphere drives a preoccupation with fairness: the higher the stakes, the more people care that judging is “fair.” This preoccupation has driven a desire for increased objectivity, resulting in IJS scoring, and this drives what we value. Because we value what we can measure, and what we cannot measure we don’t value. The dynamic becomes clear when we watch figure skating on TV, which is presented with a score box in the corner, as if the skaters are Pac-Man running around a maze picking up prizes. We see elements get “called” and points tally up and cheer for the skaters each time that happens. But most of the time, the skater is not racking up points, which suggests their skating during those times is not valued. Competitors understand this and fill that time with little more than crossovers getting ready for the next chance to score some points.
Most of figure skating — that is everything except jumps and spins — is crammed into soulless “step sequences” that barely matter compared to the jumps. Points are awarded for doing more things in a limited timeframe, hence we learn how many rockers per second is human possible. Things that take time — such as holding an edge, any edge — are avoided. Spirals are timed and held only for the minimum required to be “called.” Finally, jumps are judged almost exclusively on their number of rotations, whether or not the jump looked any good, or fall, or cheated the technique, or didn’t go around as much as advertised. Today’s jumps are inferior in almost every way to those of the past, except for the number of rotations — which happen so fast the general public can’t even tell the difference between a triple and a quadruple. In all these ways, IJS judging has sucked out the soul of figure skating, changing it from a complex art/sport with emotional range into a video game. A very expensive video game.
And now consider “Adult Skaters,” a catch-all term for anyone over the age of 21 who is not a professional or coach of some kind, especially those beginning as adults. They watch TV, understand figure skating as jumps and spins, and focus on that to the exclusion of all else. All in the context of frequent private lessons taking up 30-50% of their ice time. Those most interested in being considered serious go to endless competitions, thereby justifying their activity as competitive figure skaters. In a world full of competitions at every level, anyone can be a competitive figure skater, all you have to do is travel to and enter a competition!
What’s remarkable about the “Adult Skating” world is how much it mirrors the “Child Skating” world. There will always be adults who wish to play out their fantasies of a lost childhood with a sparkly dress on the Adult Bronze competition stage while attempting jumps not suitable for any body over the age of 25. Why is this the only option presented? Especially when there are so many ways we can figure skate, most of them more mature? Why aren’t adults today encouraged to practice Figures (including Creative Figures) and Ice Dance (including not-test ice dances)? Why are so many adults, including many who actually try, afraid to do much of anything on the ice? Recall that figure skating in the 19th Century was an adult activity, and figure skating in the 1930’s was dominated by adults interested in social dancing.
Back to the balance between enjoyment and competition: figure skating education at its best builds awareness through movement, freeing the Skating Artist to do whatever they want to on the ice. But if that is done in a culture that values only a narrow range of people and things they might do on ice, then there is no balance between enjoyment and competition. Competition is the alpha and the omega.
Alternative: Freestyle Ice Skating Culture
Surely there must be a better way. But that better way requires a different kind of culture and community be built around the activity of figure skating, understanding that the status quo today was never inevitable. Consider, for example, the new sport of Freestyle Ice Skating, practiced today mostly by young adults in Europe. It shares an aesthetic with breakdancing and snowboarding; it involves the execution of “tricks” ranging in difficulty level; and like breakdancing, competition happens in a one-on-one “battle” format. Whereas Figure Skating has erected high barriers to participation, Freestyle Ice Skating has almost none. See here, 15 Reasons Why You Should Start Freestyle Ice Skating. And yes, that means YOU, there is fundamentally nothing stopping you (or me) from engaging in this new sport and its community. The 15 reasons are as follows (OK 14, I think I combined two):
- It’s something new (and therefore interesting / fun).
- You can invent new moves, even with medium skills, and create a unique style that other people can adopt. New tricks pop up out of nowhere and you can copy others’ tricks.
- With some basic knowledge It’s easy to learn impressive tricks within days or weeks. (Assuming you already have the basics of “plain skating”).
- All the knowledge is concentrated in one place, the ice rink. To train, you just go to the nearest rink.
- It’s a great way to relieve stress.
- Your endurance on ice is outstanding because it’s cold, no overheating.
- Falling on ice isn’t dangerous. (Not sure if I agree with this, but falling is certainly less dangerous without a toe pick).
- You don’t have to do extreme tricks if you don’t want to, there are plenty of opportunities for all ages and bodies. The trick base is getting bigger and bigger.
- You progress by yourself, no need to travel to more advanced areas, buy more expensive gear, etc.
- Some tricks don’t require too much space, can be practiced in crowded areas.
- You’re building up a lot of useful skills: improving balance, endurance, increasing explosiveness. Health benefits like stronger immune system. It’s reachable.
- You just need a pair of skates and minimum maintenance, ice rinks are pretty common these days.
- You will have a unique style that nobody else has. The surface of the ice is just another world.
- You can ice skate in nature
You can quibble with some of these points, but the overall message is clear: This is a sport that is accessible to anyone, and that anyone can have fun with and derive personal benefit from doing. And we are here on the internet to help you and cheer you along your way.
Thus, the Freestylers have demonstrated healthy balance between competition and enjoyment: it needs to be 90% enjoyment and 10% competition. In the approx. 15 years of its existence, Freestyle Ice Skating has built a worldwide community that fosters active collaboration and participation through the sharing of videos online. It is not an organized sport at this time. But there is an annual meet-up in Budapest that attracts the very best Freestyle Ice Skaters and serves as an opportunity for the worldwide community in get together in person. Freestyle Ice Skating has also made it onto this year’s Disney on Ice Tour, which as been touring around America. I have the greatest respect for the people who pioneered this sport, and only expect to grow in prominence and recognition in the next decade.
Most notably: you do not need an expensive coach or IJS choreographer to learn, train or meaningfully participate in this sport. Tutorials abound online and the community is ready and eager to help you learn and improve. Figure skaters take it for granted that “our sport is expensive,” but here is a community building up a similar (but different) art/sport on ice that is NOT elite and is NOT expensive. We should stop and pause, and think hard about what we can learn from them.
Competition and Enjoyment
Freestyle Ice Skating is not the only “alternative” ice skating culture out there. World Figure Sport fosters one as well, in this case focused around Figures and Fancy Skating. I began (figure) skating again this Spring after 32 years and soon discovered Figures and World Figure Sport. As with Freestyle Ice Skating, there was nobody local to teach me. I trained all summer, mostly on my own with help from the community via Zoom, and I attended the annual competition event in October in Lake Placid, NY. My goals for that event were to meet other Skating Artists; see some amazing Figure Artwork by the best of the best; and learn and improve my skating. Most of all, I wanted skate on rare and special Black Ice all week and see my figures for the first time! I was not disappointed. I took most of the workshops, learned a whole bunch, saw some mind-breaking Creative Figures, and had fun entering every competition I was eligible for, even doing figures I had first attempted just two days before. This was fun, and a way to learn, and I had nothing to lose. As they say, you can’t win if you don’t play!
Funny story #1: I practiced my “Quad Cupcake” figure and made great progress. I thought I was ready to compete. But then someone told me my circles need to be 33% smaller than they were… which makes it all harder… Oops, let’s see if I can practice that before I go on for competition!
Funny Story #2: I prepared a Fancy Skating program for exhibition, with the idea I would only put things in it I had mastered in Figures. Since I had only mastered forward skating by then, that meant only forward skating in my program. Which is somewhat… limiting. I took this as a choreographic challenge, making the most of what I had to work with. I added leg extensions, use of the upper body and port de bras, Quad Cupcakes, and even added a segment skating as fast as I could! When I made the program I thought it was for an exhibition and would not be judged. I was wrong, it was actually part of the competition! Should I have put more fancy “stuff” in this program? No matter, I went out there, skated my best and had fun with the audience. Judges, what judges?
What I did not expect to happen was to win. But that in fact did happened, and I went home with the Gold medal in the International Open division. It was surreal. But winning was not the point. Enjoying myself and learning while at play — and improving all the while — was the point. All of which happened, it was a successful week. I didn’t make the rules. But it is true that when we relax and have fun, we learn better. In this way, “not caring” about winning is actually a winning strategy!
As Figure Skaters we have plenty to learn from the Freestylers, who have put fun and enjoyment as top priority, creating a culture interesting and appropriate for skaters over age 18. We can also learn from our Victorian forebearers, as they challenged themselves and others to skate this or that elaborate, crazy figure — read the books, they are all out of copyright! I maximize my enjoyment by remembering the following principles:
- It’s just skating. Skating is a break from the stress of real life.
- There are infinitely many ways to skate, and I can choose which ones I wish to pursue in my limited time on this planet.
- I am a dancer. My goal is to dance and train every day. I am doing that now, life is good.
- Look at this awesome trick I just got for the first time. Yoohoo!!!!
- I can’t wait to go to the next Figure and Fancy Skating Championship event. I’m cooking up some great stuff to bring to it. I can’t wait to see what others bring to the ice, and I look forward to catching up with friends as well!
- I am thankful to be alive, and breathing, and having fun with my body every day.