Elegant arm movements on the ice | Golden Skate

Elegant arm movements on the ice

Johar

Medalist
Joined
Dec 16, 2003
Are skaters coached on what to do with their arms? I was watching the difference bewteen two skater I like--Meissner and Sarah Meijer. The latter does some elegant moves with her arms and Kimmie still seems to have a problem with her "airplane" arms.

What are skaters supposed to be doing with their arms on the ice?
 

*Sniper*

On the Ice
Joined
Dec 17, 2006
I think, more than anything, it's an innate thing.
You either have it, or you don't.
One can try hard (ie Miki Ando), but it always looks so labored.
 

Bennett

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 20, 2007
My list is:

-Learning and practices. Beautiful positions and movements can be taught and learned. Off-ice dance training helps to focus on these details. If you cannot dance off ice, it is most likely that you cannot dance on the ice, either.

-Get advice from coaches while doing arm movements on the ice. They will have you try countless times.

-Practice in front of mirrors and watch videos of your practices.

-Watch other people who look beautiful and try to think why they look beautiful.

I also think it really important to appreciate the beauty in general. People who can appreciate beauty can notice subtle nuances. People who can see details can pay more attention to details. People who care about posture and positions can pay attention to their posture and positions. People who appreciate music can pay more attention to tempo and changes in melodies.

But people who don't care such things won't know what to do.
 
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JonnyCoop

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 28, 2003
I think, more than anything, it's an innate thing.
You either have it, or you don't.
One can try hard (ie Miki Ando), but it always looks so labored.

Well, it can come with maturity, too. One skating quote that always cracked me up was by Tonia Kwiatkowski, who one time during an interview said something along the line of "Yeah, I was 15 years old and I could do the triples, but then they'd tell me to put my arm up and yeah, I'd put my arm up but it didn't mean anything to me and it didn't look good because I didn't know why they wanted it up there." [She said it much funnier than it reads, whatever exactly it was she said; that was the gist of it.]
 

ks777

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 15, 2003
well, I thought Miki was elegant with her arms when she was with David Wilson. Merry Christmast Mr. Lawrence was a really good program. I thought Miki was feeling the music and she was very artistic in that program and I didn't notice her usual bad postures.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=1qA2NDd1R9Q
 

cosmos

On the Ice
Joined
Oct 2, 2007
I think it is an innate thing!! One true example is YuNa. She had never learned dance or ballet (she is currently learning), but she showed (and still does) one of the most beautiful arm movements last season.
 
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Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Dick Button told Kimmie she needs to walk around hugging a beachball to develop more rounded arms. If you look at old films of Button -- and all the men of his era -- sure enough, in those days they skated with their arms held forward and rounded, like they were hugging a giant rubber ball. That was regarded as elegant in those days. :)
 

Tinymavy15

Sinnerman for the win
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 28, 2006
if you are an artistic skater, you have no problem with arms. You use them to tel the story and feel the music. Skaters like miki and kimmie are not artistic skaters, so they need a chreograher telling them, and even then it dosen't look right.
 

Bennett

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 20, 2007
mirror

When I saw a training video of Mao, I noticed that her rink had large mirrors, just like ballet studios do. That's really cool. I have never skated in rinks that had a mirror. I think it would really help! (But you can be hit by other skaters if you are watching yourself a lot in the mirror. So be careful! :laugh:)
Another thing that I found difficult when I was skating was the music. In my skating environment, it was kind of difficult to play my own music. The time for music run through sessions was so limited and expensive that it took a lot of time to get used to the music and all the choreos.
 

*Sniper*

On the Ice
Joined
Dec 17, 2006
if you are an artistic skater, you have no problem with arms. You use them to tel the story and feel the music. Skaters like miki and kimmie are not artistic skaters, so they need a chreograher telling them, and even then it dosen't look right.

Yeah, you are so right.
"Arms" are not really noticeable when it comes to skaters such as Michelle, Sasha, or Yuna because they are natural part of their skating.

On the other hand, I get very distracted when watching Miki or Kimmie because Ando looks like she's treading water, and Kimmie riding a hang glider.
I think Kimmie is improving, but Miki.... I personally think hers are harder to adjust.
 

Bennett

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 20, 2007
Yeah, you are so right.
"Arms" are not really noticeable when it comes to skaters such as Michelle, Sasha, or Yuna because they are natural part of their skating.

On the other hand, I get very distracted when watching Miki or Kimmie because Ando looks like she's treading water, and Kimmie riding a hang glider.
I think Kimmie is improving, but Miki.... I personally think hers are harder to adjust.

Miki seems to be working on it though. Besides, Morsov is a former ice dancer so that he should be able to help.
 

passion

On the Ice
Joined
Sep 17, 2005
Bennett;278351I also think it really important to appreciate the beauty in general. People who can appreciate beauty can notice subtle nuances. People who can see details can pay more attention to details. People who care about posture and positions can pay attention to their posture and positions. People who appreciate music can pay more attention to tempo and changes in melodies. But people who don't care such things won't know what to do.[/QUOTE said:
 

Ms.Anthrope

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 24, 2007
Watch Katia Gordeeva. She had gorgeous line & arms even as a younger skater. I remember G&G in a pro competition in Japan where I thought the commentator was going to have a heart attack while going on & on about how amazingly beautiful her arms were. She is one skater who I heard many commentators talk about her ability to hold her arm beautifully even while doing simple strokes.
 

passion

On the Ice
Joined
Sep 17, 2005
Watch Katia Gordeeva. She had gorgeous line & arms even as a younger skater. I remember G&G in a pro competition in Japan where I thought the commentator was going to have a heart attack while going on & on about how amazingly beautiful her arms were. She is one skater who I heard many commentators talk about her ability to hold her arm beautifully even while doing simple strokes.

[gush] Katia! Another skater with beautiful arms! She has a delicateness to her skating in general.
 
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