HAVE YOU EVER TOYED AROUND WITH ICE-DANCING UPDATE

[FSWer]

Say,I know we've talked about this before. But,I just want to get an update. Has anyone here ever tried to toy around with Ice-Dancing? As far as just seeing what you could do? You know...nothing dangerous? Just simple fun? I have,and just knowing what I found I can do makes me feel sooooooo good. Anybody else?

 

[overedge]

@FSWer a lot of the skating in ice dancing is similar to all kinds of skating - like stroking, crossovers, edges, and skating in time to music.

So I am not sure what you mean by toying around with ice dancing. There are many things you could do on the ice that are things in ice dancing, even if you aren't thinking you are ice dancing when you do them.

 

[Clarice]

I taught a beginning ice dance class over the summer. It was attended by both kids and adults, who all already knew how to skate. We worked a lot on basic stroking, swing rolls, and progressives, and learned the steps to the Preliminary dances. We did not do partnering. I would say they were just "toying around" to see what ice dance was like. None of them are competing in ice dance, and only one or two are trying to take tests.

 

[Yazmeen]

FSWer, I'm being coached by an ice dancer, and we are working on a lot of the same moves I did in Freestyle in my old skates, namely edges, progressives (ice dance version of crossovers) and other basic skating skills. I guess you could say I "toyed" with ice dance years ago by occasionally competing the most basic pattern dances (Dutch Waltz and Canasta Tango) as a solo skater sometimes (note: solo, no partner), and I used to perform one or the other of these with a male friend at an annual exhibition. But please note that these 2 dances only go forward, no backward moves, and he and I each had solid edges and skating skills required to do these dances. So, I guess I did "toy" around with ice dance previously. Now I'm learning it seriously, although I don't intend to compete, nor do I ever expect to get a partner

And before you ask, that friend and I strictly did this for fun and did not skate together regularly or ever intend to become real partners. He's a foot taller than me and he could rarely remember the steps!!! Every time we performed, I was muttering the upcoming move under my breath to him through my big smile so he remembered what to do next!

 

[Yazmeen]

One other thing that I don't think anyone has ever explained to you: many skaters who do freestyle and/or synchro also learn the pattern dances and test them as part of a way to learn better edgework and footwork and overall skating. They never actually become ice dancers or get partners, but still work on the pattern dances as part of their overall skating training.

Not all ice dance is what you see on TV with partners. Some people just do it for fun, or to compete solo dance, or to just help become a better skater. I did my last lesson at a different rink than usual, and my coach and I ran into another coach who is a former US Pairs Champion, and when my coach asked him about his dance training, he commented on taking the tests up through (I believe) the Pre-Silver/Silver dances. So even pairs skaters do some dance training and testing during their skating years.