- Joined
- Jan 27, 2014
Hi everyone! I'm looking for some comments from ice dance enthusiasts especially
I was doing some off-season wikiwalking and came across the entry for the Twizzle. I gotta say I was very very surprised to see that according to Wikipedia, twizzles were first performed or invented as late as 1991 ! Does anybody know any history of the element? I'm especially interested in how it came to be such an integral part of ice dancing.
I became an ice dancing fan this past year really. Although I remember sort of following it before - partly because Rahkamo & Kokko were such celebrities in Finland in the 90s - I never got chills from it like I do now watching D&W and V&M perform. Recently I watched a few old performances by Rahkamo and Kokko just to see if I used to like them as a kid just because they were Finnish or because they actually were that good (for the most part, they were!), and though they were awesome, it is incredible how far ice dancing has come as a sport! It has to be the one discipline that has made the most progress without sacrificing any quality, consistency or artistry.
The twizzle, although it is just one element, makes a huge difference. I don't know whether it's a coincidence but the advent of the element seems to coincide with general increase of speed in ice dancing. For instance, R&K's Valse Triste, though beautiful, now seems like a slow borefest compared to even some junior dances this year! Their quickstep - the original Finnstep - on the other hand seems like a preview of what has since happened in the sport. It's funny when you watch some performances from the 80s and 90s how the audience oohs and aahs and claps for the simplest little tricks that the skaters do, some of which would be considered mere transitions today!
I was doing some off-season wikiwalking and came across the entry for the Twizzle. I gotta say I was very very surprised to see that according to Wikipedia, twizzles were first performed or invented as late as 1991 ! Does anybody know any history of the element? I'm especially interested in how it came to be such an integral part of ice dancing.
I became an ice dancing fan this past year really. Although I remember sort of following it before - partly because Rahkamo & Kokko were such celebrities in Finland in the 90s - I never got chills from it like I do now watching D&W and V&M perform. Recently I watched a few old performances by Rahkamo and Kokko just to see if I used to like them as a kid just because they were Finnish or because they actually were that good (for the most part, they were!), and though they were awesome, it is incredible how far ice dancing has come as a sport! It has to be the one discipline that has made the most progress without sacrificing any quality, consistency or artistry.
The twizzle, although it is just one element, makes a huge difference. I don't know whether it's a coincidence but the advent of the element seems to coincide with general increase of speed in ice dancing. For instance, R&K's Valse Triste, though beautiful, now seems like a slow borefest compared to even some junior dances this year! Their quickstep - the original Finnstep - on the other hand seems like a preview of what has since happened in the sport. It's funny when you watch some performances from the 80s and 90s how the audience oohs and aahs and claps for the simplest little tricks that the skaters do, some of which would be considered mere transitions today!