A look back at Compulsory Figures

[Kitt]

As an ex-jazz dancer, I totally agree with your choreographer. Jazz dancing requires lots of opposition movements in your body, so it will throw off your leaning on an edge. I have struggled with this for years. Ballet is the best for gorgeous lines and presentation and is totally compatible with figure skating.

 

[mskater93]

As an ex-jazz dancer, I totally agree with your choreographer. Jazz dancing requires lots of opposition movements in your body, so it will throw off your leaning on an edge. I have struggled with this for years. Ballet is the best for gorgeous lines and presentation and is totally compatible with figure skating.

I have never taken a jazz class, so I was unaware about the opposition movements. Very interesting and good to know. Seeing as how I will be in ballet only for quite awhile until he approves the "look" gained, I won't have too much to worry about. :sheesh:

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

While all dance forms may improve a skaters' style, not all dance forms focus on body line that is considered appealing in figure skating. My choreographer has demanded that I take ballet in order to work on my presentation through my shoulders and upper back as well as to gain core strength (although he requires me to do yoga for core and relaxtion as well. Can someone tell me when I will have time for my job at this rate? ). I threw out some other options (there's also a jazz/modern class on another evening along with hip hop at the same studio) but he ranked them thus:
1) Ballet
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5) Modern/jazz
6) Tap
7) Hip hop

There is also Classical Spanish, Folk, neoclassic, etc. If one is hung up on ballet, modern ballet incorporates all those elements but some fans are unable to go beyond ballet.

nothing wrong with studying ballet but if you wanna be a contortionist like Sasha you have take some acrobatics. If you wanna do a Spanish exhibition like Lambiel, you have to study flamenco. If you wanna make like Cyd Charise on skates, you have to do all of them. Otherwise you may be a one style skater.

 

[silverpond]

Compulsory figures? Zzzzzzzzzzzzz. About as exciting as those compulsory exercises gymnasts used to do.

Perhaps the skaters could trace the figures to music - perhaps some of the Secret Garden tunes or something of that nature. Nice, easy, and slow.

Any way you look at it, school figures were never much of a spectator sport for the general public. Except for the skaters, coaches, family, media, and diehard figures fans, there were always plenty of empty seats.

 

[Mathman]

As an ex-jazz dancer, I totally agree with your choreographer. Jazz dancing requires lots of opposition movements in your body, so it will throw off your leaning on an edge. I have struggled with this for years. Ballet is the best for gorgeous lines and presentation and is totally compatible with figure skating.

Very interesting insight. Thank you.

Any way you look at it, school figures were never much of a spectator sport for the general public. Except for the skaters, coaches, family, media, and diehard figures fans, there were always plenty of empty seats.

Maybe instead of figures they could have ice sculpture contests. Rather than tracing patterns with your feet, you make three-dimensional shapes with hand tools. They could stage these competitions during Zamboni time at skating events. :yes:

That would also allow the use of a greater range of music.

 

[Sasha'sSpins]

^^^
Training with any dance form will improve a student's free style. It doesn't have to be ballet. All dance forms have body line.

This is true but I find the artistic qualities of the balletic body line/posture to be the most pleasing-skaters like Gordeeva/Grinkov come to mind. I can't imagine such outstanding posture, lines, turnout and overall grace and form without a sound training at the barre. Jmo.

@mskater93 I posted before I saw your response to Joesitz. Well put.

 

[Sasha'sSpins]

As an ex-jazz dancer, I totally agree with your choreographer. Jazz dancing requires lots of opposition movements in your body, so it will throw off your leaning on an edge. I have struggled with this for years. Ballet is the best for gorgeous lines and presentation and is totally compatible with figure skating.

Interesting! Thanks for your post, very informative!

There is also Classical Spanish, Folk, neoclassic, etc. If one is hung up on ballet, modern ballet incorporates all those elements but some fans are unable to go beyond ballet.

nothing wrong with studying ballet but if you wanna be a contortionist like Sasha you have take some acrobatics. If you wanna do a Spanish exhibition like Lambiel, you have to study flamenco. If you wanna make like Cyd Charise on skates, you have to do all of them. Otherwise you may be a one style skater.

I wouldn't go so far as saying being 'hung up' on ballet. I think the general consensus over the years is that ballet is very good core, supplemental training for the artistic sports like ballet, and each gymnastics disciplines-but it doesn't necessarily follow one can't take other types of dance forms as well. But imo ballet is crucial. I remember reading many many years ago of an American skater-possibly a male skater but I can't recall who-making a remark that the Soviets took ballet from early childhood and you could tell by their movements, their grace and carriage. He added something along the lines of 'Americans playing catch-up at 14 years old and by then it's too late'. Not necessarily true, one can always improve irregardless of age but he had a good point imo. The point being it is crucial in the early stages of training. One can certainly branch out as one matures as a skater but that core ballet training imo would have done wonders for skaters like Rachael Flatt-I believe she has said she's taken ballet but with who and how often? It doesn't show. Looking at it another way, watch the entire 1989 World Championship women's Soviet on floor exercise. All 6 women clearly had ballet training. Look at their superb posture. But all 6 showed different styles in the floor discipline from Boginskaya's funky 'Spanish guitar style Rock' or whatever that music was called
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jz69MAAE7GY

Laschenova's spectacular "Hall of the Mountain King":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_gr1DVdAv4&feature=related

to my personal favorite Staszheva's stunning ode to Nijinski's "Rite of Spring". Music by Stravinsky:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_55nfeBj4Q

Just as an aside I believe Nijinski's original choreo caused a riot in Paris back in the day-or maybe Stravinsky's music was too 'jarring' for the sensitive ears of turn of the last century audiences! ! I love it!

To pull it back to figure skating I think Oksana Baiul is also a good example. She could pull off many styles imo (in exhibition especially) but she clearly had some kind of ballet training as a base.

I have also read in the past of the Eastern European athletes in artistic sports taking drama classes! Makes sense, especially for interpretation, etc.

Jmo.

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

This is true but I find the artistic qualities of the balletic body line/posture to be the most pleasing-skaters like Gordeeva/Grinkov come to mind. I can't imagine such outstanding posture, lines, turnout and overall grace and form without a sound training at the barre. Jmo.

@mskater93 I posted before I saw your response to Joesitz. Well put.

to me that is fixating on one art form. Figure Skating is not a natural dance form. It requires some mechanical feet which wont bend while performing. It also borrows from all the dance forms. It has only its glide as unique because of the mechanical feet and no friction. Very unnatural in Ballet. Yet I understand what pleases you for the carriage in figure skating. It approximates ballet for the arms,and good skaters can show knees turned out with boots pointing almost like ballet. Of course if you get carried away with the emotional faces on the skaters, and the body contortions (not at all balletic) then why not just say that?

As a sport, figure skating has developed over the years incorporating more and more styles from other sources which I appreciate.

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

I have also read in the past of the Eastern European athletes in artistic sports taking drama classes! Makes sense, especially for interpretation, etc.

Jmo.

a story you may enjoy. Some few years back an American Football Player married a ballerina. The ballerina insisted that she give the team a ballet barre every morning. After several months, the Team moved out of last place and became a contender for winning in their league.

btw, Have you studied ballet, or actually danced in a company?

 

[Sasha'sSpins]

a story you may enjoy. Some few years back an American Football Player married a ballerina. The ballerina insisted that she give the team a ballet barre every morning. After several months, the Team moved out of last place and became a contender for winning in their league.

btw, Have you studied ballet, or actually danced in a company?

I remember many years ago seeing photos of football players at the barre-it may have been in Seventeen magazine. Perhaps it's from the same story? This was years ago though.

I took gymnastics and figure skating as a child though I had to give up figure skating. As teenager we had a 45 minute ballet class alternating with modern dance in my high school gymnastics team. I did not 'study' it full time. I wasn't trying to become a ballerina. I was much too short anyway. It was always supplemental training to assist in giving me nice lines, keep my muscles elongated and so on. I also ran track and played on the tennis team. I believe in some ways that ballet training helped in those sports as well.

In college I majored in Liberal Arts and one of my courses was an adult ballet class-for credit! It was by far my favorite class.

 

[mskater93]

to me that is fixating on one art form.

I just put together the list of classes that was offered through the dance studio I am going to now that I put in front of my coach/choreography and let him choose what he wanted me to take. I am well aware there are other styles of dance beyond the classes I put on the list that was my example. There is also another studio that teaches competitive ballroom style dance here where you can learn tango styles, swing, etc. That was lower on the list for now since I skate neither pairs nor ice dance so partnering skills aren't quite as urgent.

Not fixated, just looking for the one that is a best crossover (pun intended) for the sport chosen. What I think you are missing is that most competitive skaters have a hectic schedule that includes 3-5 hours/day on the ice, some sort of aerobic off ice to build stamina, weight training to build strength, yoga and/or Pilates for stretching, and a dance class to build body awareness, elegance, and core strength. With so much going on + food, school/work, and sleep, skaters typically only get in one or two dance classes a week and for most coaches that needs to be ballet because the back, core, and shoulder awareness stressed in ballet carries over onto the ice to that effortless and elegant looking stroking. Also, balletic carriage can be carried over into different types and styles of choreography once a skater has awareness of what their body "should look and feel like" and once something specific is chosen, the skater can take a dance class/sessions targeted for a specific style (for example, D/W's Bollywood program began with private traditional Indian-style dance sessions at a studio). If you had ever seen me skate, you would know that I definitely don't skate in just one style or to one type of music. Is there a style or type I am most comfortable adapting to? Absolutely, but it's not what you'd think either after the discussion of ballet.

 

[blue dog]

mskater, if there is a Pure Barre studio near you, I suggest you try it. It combines ballet stretching, pilates and some yoga moves. They don't do across the floors like they would in ballet, but this will help with stretching. Not to mention, it's very high energy. It won't take the place of your dance class, but it'll combine three of the stretch classes in one. My spiral has improved tremendously with this class.

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

mskater, if there is a Pure Barre studio near you, I suggest you try it. It combines ballet stretching, pilates and some yoga moves. They don't do across the floors like they would in ballet, but this will help with stretching. Not to mention, it's very high energy. It won't take the place of your dance class, but it'll combine three of the stretch classes in one. My spiral has improved tremendously with this class.

Thank you, blue dog. All that ballet can give a skater is the pleasant line that figure skaters need. There is no need to practice les briset volets if the skater is looking to have good line. A ballet barre will do it. They will never have to dance a ballet on ice except to mimic it.

Nice to read mskater will also study other dance forms for rhythm and character. Much better than all those waltzes in ballet.

 

[mskater93]

Blue dog - I doubt there is in my area. That's too bad because I HATE going to yoga (I am so BORED at Yoga and it bothers my wrists since she likes to do a lot downward facing dog and the vinyasa). My ballet class has a lot of stretching since it's a ballet class for adults. I think she's worried about injury since everyone seems to be 25+ in the class.

I never said I would study other forms of dance at this time. I said that even though I am taking a ballet class, my skating style doesn't really go along with classical ballet but by taking ballet, I feel I am taking to improve my line. Balletic style doesn't have to include waltzes and pas de deux only. We were doing a double time tendue exercise to a fast Cirque du Soleil piece last class. Really trying to be a "better than awful dancer" in ballet provides an elegance and body awareness that can be applied to any style of music which is what the idea was in getting me to take it in the first place. It also helps grow musical timing and working each arm independently. Now that I have started it, I understand the reason my chroeographer asked for ballet over any other style of dance. His reminders for timing and upper back/shoulder/arm position while working on stroking or program choreography has been greatly reduced because I am more aware when it's awkward looking. I think the last lesson on Saturday had only one or two comments on shoulders out of an entire hour, one comment about upper back position, and three or four comments on arms and most of those were while working out some transitions in a program. There was a lot less comments about not rushing.

 

[MoonlightSkater]

mskater, have you ever tried doing your hand-supported poses on fists instead of with open hands? It's a common variation that some yoga schools teach instructors to use when they or a student are experiencing wrist pain. Mind you, downward dog may require the support of an open "starfish" hand to keep you from sliding, but other poses such as cat/cow, crocodile and cobra, upward dog, etc... can be done on closed fists. Also, talk with your instructor about your difficulties, and she/he will probably be happy to help and suggest a few modifications. You could try doing your downward dog series through child's pose instead, as well, and it might help.

 

[mskater93]

Moonlight - thanks for the ideas! That might help. I will ask her! I just end up leaving class shaking them out a lot as is.