What does the male partner wear under his clothing to protect his body ?

barnkeeper · Feb 22, 2014

What does the male partner wear under his clothing to protect his body ?

When the female partner in pairs or ice dance stands on the male partner for elaborate lifts, HOW is the man protected from being cut by her skate blade? I have never heard the TV commentators talk about this and am curious. Thanks.

gsk8 · Feb 22, 2014

A bro bra? :laugh:

I couldn't resist as John Coughlin referred to that once in a tweet....

Procrastinator · Feb 22, 2014

For both Scott and Charlie in 2010 for their free dance lifts, commentators mentioned that they just withstood the pain because they preferred it to having something there covering them.

ice coverage · Feb 22, 2014

barnkeeper said:
When the female partner in pairs or ice dance stands on the male partner for elaborate lifts, HOW is the man protected from being cut by her skate blade? I have never heard the TV commentators talk about this and am curious. Thanks.

Procrastinator said:
For both Scott and Charlie in 2010 for their free dance lifts, commentators mentioned that they just withstood the pain because they preferred it to having something there covering them.

Also going back to 2010 and Virtue/Moir's goose lift, Scott said that Tessa knew exactly where to place her blade and how to balance her weight so that she would not cut him. [ETA: Without any padding, as barnkeeper already said.]

Scott added that because of Tessa's precision, he did not even have a bruise there. He made a joke in a Vancouver press conference along the lines of (I'm paraphrasing), "I'd be happy to show you my thigh so you could see [the absence of a bruise], but I don't think that would be appropriate." :laugh:

Tonichelle · Feb 23, 2014

the padding is similar to a shoulder pad (worn way too often in the 80s and early 90s in women's apparel) is how I remember it being explained a few years ago.

usethis2 · Feb 23, 2014

Something like modesty patches.. I suppose?

Antilopa · Feb 23, 2014

nothing, only thier bruises

emma · Feb 23, 2014

This has been a question of mine for a while, and it's stunning to me that you can place the blade that precisely without cutting, just in general, but then specifically in the 'heat' of the moment of a competition. Well, this goes on my long list of all things utterly stunning (athletically/sports-wise) about dance.

Icey · Feb 23, 2014

Has any of the male ice dancers ever suffered a blade cut as a result of such moves?

altuixde · Feb 23, 2014

Figure skating boots seem to protect a skater's foot when his partner stands on it. Why not use boot leather under the costume as well?

Edit: A possible answer for my own question - Boots are tightly laced and not likely to slide, but boot leather under the costume is much more likely to slide.

sowcow · Feb 23, 2014

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As long as the blade stays stationary and does not move/slice forward & backwards, then it will not cut through the material nor the skin.

Next time you cook a roast, take a (non-serrated) knife and place it on the roast. Apply as much pressure as you can straight down (e.g. no back & forth); you are unlikely to cut or cause any damage to the roast.

mirai4life · Feb 23, 2014

it must hurt

rollerblade · Feb 23, 2014

But how does the blade stays COMPLETELY still when the woman basically takes a step up on the man's thigh? Figure skating blades are not completely flat on the bottom. It's like an inverted-U with a shallow concave in the middle. The edges would dig into the surface when you put pressure on the blade.

Alisa · Feb 23, 2014

I recall reading somewhere that Nikita wears special padding during practices, but not during competitions.
Here's a practice video (at 1:33 you can see Nikita taking off something, I believe that is the padding)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeYO_LpDrVs

emma · Feb 23, 2014

sowcow said:
.
As long as the blade stays stationary and does not move/slice forward & backwards, then it will not cut through the material nor the skin.

Next time you cook a roast, take a (non-serrated) knife and place it on the roast. Apply as much pressure as you can straight down (e.g. no back & forth); you are unlikely to cut or cause any damage to the roast.

Fantastic analogy-this I can visualize without even bothering to verify.

rollerblade said:
But how does the blade stays COMPLETELY still when the woman basically takes a step up on the man's thigh? Figure skating blades are not completely flat on the bottom. It's like an inverted-U with a shallow concave in the middle. The edges would dig into the surface when you put pressure on the blade.

Right, but this is what gets me saying, but how??? In practice sure, but when the nerves of competition come, how do they achieve such precision? It impresses me.

Layfan · Feb 23, 2014

sowcow said:
.
As long as the blade stays stationary and does not move/slice forward & backwards, then it will not cut through the material nor the skin.

Next time you cook a roast, take a (non-serrated) knife and place it on the roast. Apply as much pressure as you can straight down (e.g. no back & forth); you are unlikely to cut or cause any damage to the roast.

OUCH!!!!!!!!!

Thanks a bunch! How am I ever going to watch ice dancing now without thinking of a knife pressing down on a pig roast :eek:

sowcow · Feb 26, 2014

.

rollerblade said:
But how does the blade stays COMPLETELY still when the woman basically takes a step up on the man's thigh? Figure skating blades are not completely flat on the bottom. It's like an inverted-U with a shallow concave in the middle. The edges would dig into the surface when you put pressure on the blade.

If you pay close attention, when the women "steps up" or "steps onto" the man's thigh she is very carefully "placing" the blade onto a very specific area on his thigh. This move will have been practiced thousands of times (although despite all the practice and repetitions, often in competition you'll still see the woman 'hesitate' and/or be noticeably cautious during the foot placement ...often recognizable as a 1-second 'break' in music interpretation). If I recall correctly, for one of Virtue & Moir's lifts (I believe in the Olympic team event, free dance) there was a blade misalignment; and Tessa had to look back and re-place her foot before they could do the lift.

In general, the man usually gets into a bent-knee/squat position; and then the women will "place" the blade onto a specific area on the thigh. By design, that specific area will usually be a 'balance-point' in line with the woman's 'center-of-gravity' thereby minimizing the likelihood of back & forth slicing movement. :eek:

Of course skateforever is absolutely correct that padding is used when first learning the lift/move (and even afterwards for program run-throughs until everyone is completely comfortable):

skateforever said:
I recall reading somewhere that Nikita wears special padding during practices, but not during competitions.

In terms of keeping the blade COMPLETELY still, you'll notice on these sorts of lifts that once up, the woman is "locked" in position. This helps ensure no movement of the blade. However, even if the woman adjusts her position slightly (which would transfer to the blade and potentially cause movement) in most cases the friction/pressure of the blade pushing down onto the thigh is enough to stop minor weight/position changes. To better explain, try this real-world example:

Take a hardcover book and place it on the top sheet of a (nicely made) bed. Push the book so it moves slightly. Now place the same hardcover book on top of your duvet or comforter. Push the book again until it moves. Notice how much more force is required to move the book while it is on the duvet/comforter. This is similar to how the blade pushes (depresses) into the thigh, which increases the frictional forces required to move it.

Or, to more closely illustrate the "inverted-U [shape of a blade] with a shallow concave in the middle", re-do the book experiment BUT place the book upright and sideways on its front & back cover edge (e.g. stand the hardcover book up so the spine is facing straight up) so that it more accurately represents the 2 concave edges of a blade.

Cheers,
Steve

Violet Bliss · Feb 26, 2014

It always amuses me to see infomercials for knives where they press one down to flatten the bread or squash the tomato and then slice with the advertised knife to show how sharp it is. I figure the partner has to place her skates straight down as close to 90º as possible on her partner's thigh. Two edges also distribute the weight more than just one edge such as a knife's. (Think lying on a bed of nails vs lying on one nail.) Practice and precision, that's what a top skater does.

sowcow · Feb 26, 2014

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rollerblade said:
But how does the blade stays COMPLETELY still when the woman basically takes a step up on the man's thigh? Figure skating blades are not completely flat on the bottom. It's like an inverted-U with a shallow concave in the middle. The edges would dig into the surface when you put pressure on the blade.

Also remember, when a blade glides across the ice, it actually is gliding on a thin layer of water on top of that ice. The weight of a skater (even that of a small child) pressing down onto the edge(s) of a blade produces enough friction/pressure that the ice immediately below the edge(s) 'melts'. And, since the ice below the blade is in fact always in a liquid state, this provides the lubrication which allows the blade to easily glide (almost completely friction-free). So technically, skaters glide across water, not ice!

However, the same phenomena does not occur when the woman steps up onto the man's pant leg. No state of 'liquid lycra' exists; and therefore no 'lycra lubrication' effect allowing the blade to easily slice forwards & backwards. Thus, unless considerable force is applied, there will be little or no movement of the blade when pressing down on the man's thigh.

:agree:

EDIT - Actually, the explanation above is not entirely true. The pressure exerted through the blade edge(s) onto the ice does NOT technically cause the ice to 'melt'; but rather the ice/water molecules under the blade edge(s) enter a semi-liquid state (which provides lubrication similar to that of liquid water).
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What does the male partner wear under his clothing to protect his body ?

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