Chocktaws and Mohawks
- Thread starter Mathman
- Start date
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2003
Mathmann- this question has come up on GS some time ago.
According to the book "Figure Skating History:The Evolution of Dance on Ice" these moves were named after American Indians. I will quote from the book:
"In the 1800's the British were fascinated by stories of American Indians. A few American Indians had been brought to England to entertain the British with war dances. Some skater who saw them thought the spread-eagle pose done in Indian ceremonies resembled the turned-out position of a turn they did on the ice. The tracing made by that turn resembled and Indian bow, so they named the turn the "mohawk" after the visiting tribe from New York State. This analogy fits the inside-to-inside mohawk. Skaters practiced mohawks in repetition on a circle 8. Maxwell Witham and H. E. Vandervel compiled the rules of English style in the first study of figure skating in any language in their book, "A System Of Figure Skating". Here is there discription of a outside to outside mohawk: A very pretty combination of the outside forward with the outside backwards skated by turning out his toes sufficiently so as to get in the spread eagle position. This figure was last year introduced int the Club figures on ice and christened by the nameof "Mohawk" According to Earnest Jones writing in "The Elements of Skating" in 1931, the name "mohawk" for this turn was derived from a cut-like step used by the Mohawk Indians in their war dances. Two editions later Max Witham described the "choctaw" named for another Indian tribe: "A variation of the Mohawk has lately been introduced and is called a "Choctaw"...the skater goes from the outside forward of one foot to the inside back of the other.
"Brackets", "rockers, "counters", "mohawks", and "choctaws" are the names of the skating turns.
According to the book "Figure Skating History:The Evolution of Dance on Ice" these moves were named after American Indians. I will quote from the book:
"In the 1800's the British were fascinated by stories of American Indians. A few American Indians had been brought to England to entertain the British with war dances. Some skater who saw them thought the spread-eagle pose done in Indian ceremonies resembled the turned-out position of a turn they did on the ice. The tracing made by that turn resembled and Indian bow, so they named the turn the "mohawk" after the visiting tribe from New York State. This analogy fits the inside-to-inside mohawk. Skaters practiced mohawks in repetition on a circle 8. Maxwell Witham and H. E. Vandervel compiled the rules of English style in the first study of figure skating in any language in their book, "A System Of Figure Skating". Here is there discription of a outside to outside mohawk: A very pretty combination of the outside forward with the outside backwards skated by turning out his toes sufficiently so as to get in the spread eagle position. This figure was last year introduced int the Club figures on ice and christened by the nameof "Mohawk" According to Earnest Jones writing in "The Elements of Skating" in 1931, the name "mohawk" for this turn was derived from a cut-like step used by the Mohawk Indians in their war dances. Two editions later Max Witham described the "choctaw" named for another Indian tribe: "A variation of the Mohawk has lately been introduced and is called a "Choctaw"...the skater goes from the outside forward of one foot to the inside back of the other.
"Brackets", "rockers, "counters", "mohawks", and "choctaws" are the names of the skating turns.
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2003
dlkksk8fan said:
I still have trouble with understanding the definitiion of the 'choctaw'. I learned it as a left forward inside to a right back outside as well as forward outside to a back inside. Am I correct?
Joe
N
nthuz
Guest
Joe,
Both mohawks and choctaws are turns in which the skater changes from one foot to the other, from forward to back or backward to forward. The difference is the choctaw's entry edge is opposite from it's exit edge--outside to inside or inside to outside, and the mohawk's entry edge is the same as its exit edge--inside to inside or outside to outside.
Both mohawks and choctaws are turns in which the skater changes from one foot to the other, from forward to back or backward to forward. The difference is the choctaw's entry edge is opposite from it's exit edge--outside to inside or inside to outside, and the mohawk's entry edge is the same as its exit edge--inside to inside or outside to outside.
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2003
"Is there an extra "K" in your name on this board?"
The two k's are for my two last names (maiden and married)
The two k's are for my two last names (maiden and married)
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2003
thanks nthuz - As I thought.
Joe
Joe
