A Dancer's Journey through Figure and Fancy Skating
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
Today I learned about a new (since 2010) discipline of skating art, called Freestyle Ice Skating. NOT to be confused with its distant and much more established cousin Freestyle Figure Skating, Freestyle Ice Skating is related to extreme sports, break dancing, snowboarding and skateboarding — in hockey skates and on ice! Skating contests are organized … Read more
I’ve thought a fair amount on how linear momentum is built when skating on one foot. But angular momentum is important too, and there are three axes to consider. Here are some initial thoughts. Vertical Axis At its core, figure skating takes place in a rotating reference frame in which the rate of rotation around … Read more
Hi, my name is Elizabeth! This blog is all about this dancer’s journey through the world of figures, and how we train our bodies for it. I will be looking at the technique from the points of view of physics, biomechanics and past understanding of ballet technique. I will be finding relationships where they exist, … Read more