IS IT POSSIBLE TO TEACH YOURSELF TO ICE-DANCE

[FSWer]

Say, I was wondering if it is indeed possible to teach yourself to Ice-Dance? As I was thinking of teaching myself. So, if this is true, is there anyone out there who has taught themselves that can give me some tips? Thanks.

 

[purple skates]

Yes and no. You can teach yourself the easier patterns, maybe, if you are good at reading the dance patterns from a book and know how to do swing rolls and chassis. But ice dance, including solo, really needs a coach if you are going to do it well.

 

[Clarice]

I think it's very important to have a good coach. You can't learn everything you need to know just from the diagrams. Watching good videos can help, but nothing beats feedback from your coach. They can see in the moment what needs to change and can tell you exactly what you need to do differently.

 

[overedge]

It would be very difficult, even if you have good basic skating skills. You can practice the dances on your own, but you would learn them a lot faster, and probably learn them more correctly, with a coach teaching them to you.

 

[FSWer]

Thanks for the advice.

 

[FSWer]

Btw. am I also right at saying, and is it true that it would be important to remember that you can't dance the way your used to on a dance floor on ice? Just wondering if I'm correct?

 

[gkelly]

Yes, that's true. You need to be comfortable with your skating and focus on your skating technique so you don't fall.

Dancing on the floor can be very improvisational, but dancing on ice needs to be planned carefully. ESPECIALLY if you're skating with a partner, you need to know exactly what you're going to do next and exactly what your partner is going to do next.

That's why ice dancing starts out with set pattern dances. Everyone does exactly the same steps. (In many of them, including all the beginning dances, both partners do the same steps side by side in Kilian position. In a lot of the more advanced dances, each partner is doing something different, but everybody who skates the "lead" steps/men's steps will skate exactly the same steps, and same for everyone who skates the "follow" or women's steps.)

You have to learn the correct steps with the correct technique and correct timing. You have to have good control of the actual skating before you can start to really dance to the music. Doing it correctly is very important for your safety, and for the safety of the other skaters on the ice.

If you like to move to music and want to move to music on the ice, stick to gliding on two feet and just move your arms or maybe your shoulders, etc., in a controlled way, only as much as you're comfortable with to maintain your balance on two feet.

 

[FSWer]

To what Kelly just said,what about in Solo Ice-Dance?

 

[gkelly]

For solo, you don't need to worry about what your partner is doing, or worry about them worrying about what you're doing.

But you do need to feel steady on your feet and not try to make things up on the spot that might be more challenging than what you're ready for technically. Learn a number of different skills first. Learn the beginning dance patterns correctly and practice doing the correct edges with good technique, and then you can start to add more musical interpretation to be more dancy.

 

[On My Own]

Say, I was wondering if it is indeed possible to teach yourself to Ice-Dance?

No.

 

[overedge]

If you're doing solo ice dance, you still need to have good basic skating skills, and not try things that are too difficult for you. If you fall, you could hurt yourself and maybe hurt other skaters as well.

 

[FSWer]

For solo, you don't need to worry about what your partner is doing, or worry about them worrying about what you're doing.

But you do need to feel steady on your feet and not try to make things up on the spot that might be more challenging than what you're ready for technically. Learn a number of different skills first. Learn the beginning dance patterns correctly and practice doing the correct edges with good technique, and then you can start to add more musical interpretation to be more dancy.

So, if I am to make something up, it should bed something that I know I can handle. Right?

 

[purple skates]

@FSWer, when you say “make things up”, are you talking about pattern dance or solo dance?

 

[Clarice]

First you need to know how to skate. You need to be able to do different skating steps that could be put together into a dance - things like stroking, swing rolls, progressives, chasses, three turns, and c-steps. When you can do those things safely, you can learn pattern dances that use them or possibly even make up your own patterns. Sometimes skaters improvise to music, but they're using steps they already know how to do very well. First you learn basic skating, then you learn how to ice dance.

 

[FSWer]

@ FSWer, when you say “make things up”, are you talking about pattern dance or solo danc Solo, and interpting anything that comes to mind.

 

[purple skates]

@FSWer, got it.

If you are doing solo pattern dance, you can’t make things up. If you are doing solo free dance, you can. Especially if you are not competing. You can pick music you like and you can practice on the floor - but don’t do anything on the floor that you can’t do on the ice if you want to practice on the ice later.

But in all honesty, making a solo ice dance routine up on the floor would a lot of fun, and you don’t need to worry about whether it not it would work on the ice, right?