Figure Fouetté

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

See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBTaSS43wVo In relation to your video, I encourage you to read my blog post on the history of figure & fancy skating, or my blog in general: https://www.artofskating.org/introduction-and-history-of-figure-fancy-skating/https://www.artofskating.org/blog/ A little history: The Pannin creative figure you showed won the Special Figures (now Creative Figures) event at the 1908 Olympics, but that was the first … Read more

This week I stopped by a small local outdoor ice rink in upstate New York, open to the public for FREE. I arrived right when it opened at 10am and told the rink attendants I wanted to “cut some figures.” When I got on the ice I proceeded to measure out space for three large … Read more

I skipped a couple of days for lack of cell service. I will fill in later. but first a brief update: the Alaska Highway turns into serious wilderness, just the highway and boreal forest, starting soon after it starts. The farms and oil infrastructure give way to just oil infrastructure and eventually even the utility … Read more