Ice Dancers: Ballroom or Stage?

I got my start in skating because I wanted to be an ice dancer, because (shoot me for this), I'm one of the few who actually liked the histrionics and dramatics of ice dance. Friends and I used to joke--if skating was cable, singles skating would be HBO, pairs would be ESPN during the XGames, and ice dance would be...Lifetime.

At any rate, there seems to be two styles in ice dance-- people who are better suited for stage dancing (which shows in their programs), and people who would be great as ballroom dancers. Do you think the current rules have shifted ice dancers more from one towards the other? Are there ice dancers that actually fit both?

I'll start-- I think the current rules are making it so that the shift is more towards stage dancing, rather than ballroom dancing. I remember some commentators stating that ice dancing is finally making its way back to its roots--ballroom dancing on ice. I think now that dance has become more acrobatic, teams are starting to look like ballet and modern dancers, rather than ballroom dancers.

Of our current crop, I think Tessa, Charlie, and Jana K seem to be leaning more towards stage dancing. Scott, Meryl, Andrew P all seem more ballroom-y to me. Andrew's partner, Kaitlyn, while a good ice dancer in her own right, seems more suited to pairs skating, to me.

I started being serious about dancing on skates because I wanted to be able to skate the compulsory dances in public sessions. (This was roller skating, but I ice skated too, and did the same dances on ice.) What would happen was there would be a half hour or so of just dances for couples. What the dance was would be called out on the loudspeaker, and couples would pair up and skate, one group starting at the left side of the rink, and one group on the other side. It was just lovely, and I enjoyed the heck out of it. You couldn't skate if you didn't know the steps.

Plus like many little girls of my era, I took a couple years of ballroom dancing, at first because my mother made me go, but as it happens, I like ballroom. OTOH, I took ballet and didn't like it very much. For one thing, there is a requirement in ballet that you look like a dancer. I didn't (and don't).

So I like ice dance, and like it best when it seems like ballroom. I love it when I can see what ballroom dance the skaters are translating to the ice by their movements & expression (if any). It's why I've always preferred the OD & CD's to the FD. The OD & CD always required the skaters to express what was usually a particular ballroom dance. And so I loved it. Some dances can be either social/ballroom dances or stage dances; for example flamenco or Scottish dancing. But mostly, they were social/ballroom.

Even the SD is supposed to be ballroom, although a number of teams have strayed far from this concept.

The FD OTOH is often stage-based-based on musicals or ballets, for example, although a ballroom interpretation is not forbidden. This year, D&W, V&M and the Shibs are all doing what are essentially ballroom or social dances. V&M are doing Samba/Latin, D&W are doing tango, and the Shibs are doing foxtrot/quickstep .

Chock / Zuerlein are doing Caberet, obviously stage. Ilinykh and Katsalopov are doing Don Quixote-stage again. Bobrova/Soloviev are doing a dance to a Russian movie-stage. F&S are doing My Fair Lady for the SD, and Manolete for the FD-very much so stage. P&B are doing Chaplin this year, and clowns last year, both stage concepts. OTOH, I have no idea where the Kerrs Muse piece fits I suppose stage.

Of the current crop of teams, the team most rooted in ballroom to me is the Shibutanis. The team most rooted in stage dancing, Ilinykh & Katsalapov, second most would be Chock/Zuerlein and P&B.

Other teams move from one concept to the other. D&W have always been very serious about portraying the character of their dances, and so I feel they have reasonable roots in ballroom (and they have taken ballroom dancing, and the ODs were always decent in ballroom expression. Their FD's have generally been stage dances, though. In general, Meryl carries more of the expression of the dance than Charlie, IMO.

Jana certainly is a stage dancer, with her roots in Ice Theater.

However, W&P's really good SD is a great ballroom piece by both skaters, IMO, so I wouldn't denigrate Kaitlyn by saying she was a pair skater.

In my opinion, under the COP, ice dancing has evolved beyond the polemic of ballroom dancing vs. stage dancing. The COP really emphasizes intricate, powerful and varied footwork. It may be similar to what competitive ballroom judges look for in theory, but in practice, doing it on ice makes it very different in both speed and what moves are possible. Ice dancing also allows a far greater variety of dances and rhythms than competitive ballroom.

It's also dissimilar to stage dancing because the nuances it rewards aren't just the crowd-pleasing ones. There have been teams past and present with great acrobatic lifts that get tons of applause that go nowhere in the scores because their skating skills hold them back. Or imagine if ice dancing was presented like a stage show. Skaters would not bother with throwing in the most varied turns in their footwork, they'd stick to lifts, and I bet there'd be a lot of hydroblading.

I find ice dancing to be one big footwork competition under the COP, with a few lifts and spins thrown in. It's what I love about it. It's a giant showcase of skills almost completely unique to figure skating.

Sure, it can be very theatrical. Some programs will tell a story or showcase another culture. But the same happens in any discipline of figure skating to varying degrees of integration depending on the skill of the choreographer and the skaters. I think by this point, ice dancing is very much its own beast.

While I am hesitant to give the ISU credit for evolving ice dancing from the "Strictly Ballroom" concept, it has allowed folk dance and modern dance to the structure, which has nothing to do with ballroom. I do think the IDTC still wants to hold onto the "basics" of ballroom in some capacity, which is probably why we are seeing it continue to insist on using some form of a Pattern Dance. I do feel that Pattern Dances are fine for Novice and Junior levels but kind of redundant for Seniors, especially when there are plenty of skill levels already in the structure of the new COP rules. Ice dancing is becoming more "athletic" and I see nothing wrong with that as ice dancing must be considered a "sport" in order to be included in the OWG in answer to those who complain that ice dancing isn't a sport. I don't think that is an argument one can seriously make anymore.