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Although figures are competed and performed on blank ice, the ability to make marks on the ice is a critical component of training. That has traditionally been accomplished using scribes and the heel of one’s blade, which make marks by cutting into the ice. However, extreme white-ice conditions common in most rinks these days make … Read more

The advice and observations here are based on my experiences with professional ballet training, a professional ballet career, 40+ years of dancing in multiple dance styles, 15+ years of training in violin performance, 11 years ice dance experience as a child, and 7 months of training in figure skating, grounded in figures. The basis for … Read more

In the 1930’s, ice dance was the backbone of most figure skating clubs in America. Miracle Vinson, in her Primer on figure skating, suggested that most people wanting to learn to skate, did so in order to participate in social ice dancing. Today social ice dancing has all but vanished, along with the Swing Era … Read more

….also known as the Lean Equation Figure skating is all about riding edges in circles, like a bicyclist riding in a circle. This can be analyzed from two reference frames: that of a stationary observer, or from the non-inertial reference frame of the skater. From the observer’s reference frame: we know from a study of … Read more

I recently wrote: As kids we take it so personally, whether we can do a particular move. My advice to any dance (or skating) student is to step back and look at your body more objectively. Each session is an opportunity to take out this amazing machine called your body, work with it, and improve … Read more

I’m skating in a different universe from the rest of my local club, and I wanted to find ways to bridge that gap and participate more like I’m a present member of this club. I had the opportunity to enter events at Bay State Games, which is a big deal for my local club. So … Read more

I began this journey March 15, 2024 but did not begin to blog about it until recently. So here’s a quick re-cap of how my training has gone so far. I skated ice dance as a child because my parents made me. Then I quit at age 19 and pursued a ballet career instead. Professional … Read more

Internally I’m sure many of us think of skating elements on a spectrum of easy to challenging. Pushing on a forward outside edge is easy, landing a triple Axel is challenging. And when we consider our safety, we implicitly assume that easier things are safe, whereas more challenging things are more likely to result in … Read more

Figure skating relies on the following fundamental principles, which I will explore more in-depth in later blog posts: Additional Topics