Point Your Toes, Please | Golden Skate

Point Your Toes, Please

S

SkateFan4Life

Guest
Why is that some skaters perform their competitive routines with great technique - including pointed toes - while others never seem to "get with the program", as far as pointing their toes are concerned?

Some coaches absolutely insist that their students develop the habit of pointing their toes, and, this really adds to the artistic side of their skating, in my opinion. When a skater lands a jump with a perfectly pointed toe on the extended, free leg - wow.
When a skater performs a camel spin or a layback spin with a well-positioned free leg/pointed toe - wow. Great technique!!

On the other hand, some skaters achieve greatness without pointing their toes. Dorothy Hamill once stated that she never considered herself to be an artistic skater, because, among other things, she never pointed her toes. :D Oh well, that little flaw did not prevent her from winning the Olympic gold medal in 1976!
 

thvudragon

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
I'm not sure if this was really much of an issue before. I like the pointed toes, but I don't think it's pivitol.

Maybe that's why many skaters take pilates now, since it emphasizes pointed toes.

TV
 
S

SkateFan4Life

Guest
I'm not saying that pointing your toes is an essential aspect of figure skating, but it does add an artistic polish to one's performance.
 

shine

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
It's nice that the coaches and the skaters pay attention to pointed toes. But it's also very annoying when the pointed toe has become the end all be all for some people (*cough Dick Button cough*).
 

rachelstarlet

Rinkside
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
Argh, un-pointed toes is one of my pet peeves, probably because I have some (a little) experience with dance and was always admonished for not pointing enough.
 

tdnuva

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Well - might it be that it depends on the style you're doing? My credo is that it's boring after a while if a skater (or team) does only one style. And yes, for a balletic style pointed toes are ok. But could you imagine Candeloro's Braveheart with pointed toes??? And hey, I would be glad to see more different styles in amateur skating, too. I'm glad that some ladies last year e.g. did tangos instead of classical ballads (which are nice, but I don't need 30 in a row in one competition). Tangos with pointed toes???

So I'm voting for the differences. For good choreography which includes the little things like pointed toes or not, head position and so on.... all depending on the routine a skater is doing. Variety rules! :D
 

Ladskater

~ Figure Skating Is My Passion ~
Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
SkateFan4Life:

When I skated, pointing ones toe was pretty much in the skating "Bible" rule book. Our coaches beat it into us. This was why figures were so important - part of the discipline of doing figures is pointing the toe. Unfortunately, with the demise of figures some of the important details are lost. Ice dancers of course, are expected to do this. I too love to see a skater pay attention to this minute detail. It adds so much to the skaters carriage.

Could you imagine watching a prima ballerina perform Swan Lake or Sleeping Beauty and forget that one important detail - pointing the toe!

Good point! (No pun intended)

skater2a.gif
 
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dlkksk8fan

Medalist
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Nothing worse then seeing a skating foot that just hangs there and is not pointed.

Lad-how did figures teach you to point your toes? Ballet class taught me that.
 

Ladskater

~ Figure Skating Is My Passion ~
Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
dlkksk8fan:

While tracing the circles of the figure eight on one edge the opposite foot is held off the ice - toe had to be held and pointed until one skated to the center of the figure. It just looks better.
 
S

SkateFan4Life

Guest
Ladskater - I agree with you.....I've seen numerous photos of skaters tracing the compulsory school figures, and the free leg was typically pointed out to achieve better balance. It looked very refined.

As for free skating - a pointed toe is just the icing on the cake, artistically speaking. John Curry was a master at pointing his toes, achieving a classic line and carriage, etc.
 

dlkksk8fan

Medalist
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Lad you are right:) It's been such a long time, but I do remember having to have that free foot pointed when it was facing forward.
 
S

SkateFan4Life

Guest
Look at photos of Tenley Albright, Peggy Fleming, Barbara Ann Scott, Timothy Wood, and John Curry tracing their school figures.
They all have one thing in common - POINTED TOES!!
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
Can you picture a diver who did not point his/her toes?

The esthetics are essential as they should be in figure skating. A spiral without pointed foot looks like a club foot to me.

Check out Maria Butryskaya's camels. Absolutely beautifully executed. Not only is the boot pointed, the entire leg is turned out at the knee, as it should be. For me it is much more effective than grabbing a foot to do a cirque du soleil trick spin to show flexibility. A beautiful camel and a well executed split jump already show flexibility, if that is so important. Why push it?

Joe
 
S

SkateFan4Life

Guest
Kathryn Healey had beautifully pointed toes. Her extensive ballet training was so evident! Her split jumps and spirals were a thing of elegance and beauty.

:D
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
Granny - Katherine Healy does skate often with the NY Ice Theatre. She still has that beautiful line, all the double jumps and combos, the perfectly placed spins and, that great flow over the ice. A pleasure to watch if you enjoy the Art of Figure Skating.

Joe
 
S

SkateFan4Life

Guest
Katherine Healey married coach Peter Burrows a while ago. She was one of the most beautiful ballerina-skaters I've ever seen.
An absolutely perfectly extended free leg, great spirals and spins.
Had Katherine devoted all of her energies to figure skating, who knows how great a skater (i.e. titles) she may have become!!
 

4dogknight

Final Flight
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
I agree non pointed toes definately get on my nerves, especially when it's one of the elite group. One would think that by the time a skater gets to this group pointing of the toes would be automatic.

Turn-out
The following is the definition of Turn-Out from the ABT (American Ballet Theater):
This is the ability of the dancer to turn his or her feet and legs out from the hip joints to a 90-degree position. This turn-out, or en-dehors, is one of the essential principles of the classical dance, giving the dancer freedom of movement in every direction.
The key words here are freedom of movement in every direction. The supporting leg must be turned out as well as the free or extended leg. And this segues into what else that drives me right up a wall. I’ve been noticing, and wincing, the beginning and ending poses of skaters who use the skater’s equivalent of the Cou de Pied position and wind up with the foot of the free leg perpendicular to the ice. To those skaters I say, get that heel down.
Here’s a link to a picture of the correct Cou de Pied position and although it shows the position in pointe shoes, you’ll get the idea.

http://www.abt.org/education/dictionary/index.html
(scroll down on the left side to the Cou de Pied Position and click to display the photo)

One other thing before I get off my soap box, dangling thumbs. I realize this is a nit but it does get on my last nerve. Why can’t we have pleasant hand positions and finger positions? For example: in the 2000-2001 season I wanted to put duct tape on Sarah’s hands because I couldn’t take the dangling thumb in her Don Quixote routine. She was performing to highly recognizable music for a highly recognizable variation. This routine looked ridiculous with ‘jazz hands’. Although in her Fosse exhibitions the ‘jazz hands’ were most appropriate. Please don’t get me wrong, I’m only using Sarah’s 2000/2001 performances as an example; in this year’s World’s, her hand positions were pleasing – not perfect but more pleasing than in previous years.
Of course there are other skaters whose hand positions are, IMHO, deplorable in relationship to the music and/or characters they are depicting so I guess I’ll just have to get used to wincing during their performances.
Or should that be grin and bear it?

4dk
 
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