Requirements for doing solo free dance tests

[Elija]

Hi everyone, I’m just wondering if anyone can clarify the requirements for how you ‘qualify’ to do adult solo free dance tests. I read the usfs rules but am now even more confused, because it says at one point that you have to have ONE of the corresponding pattern tests OR the previous free dance test. But then underneath it says the previous free dance test does not entitle you to take the next one??

Also, when I was reading the pattern test rules it says to move onto the next pattern test level you have to pass ALL the patterns in the previous level - so how would one just do one silver pattern for example (to qualify for the free dance test) without having to do all the patterns to have even gotten to silver in the first place? It doesn’t seem like you can just test just one pattern? Perhaps I am misunderstanding this.

Sorry if this is confusing - I have no experience with dance at all, but am interested in moving through the solo free dance tests, I am just confused about how you meet the prerequisites for each test. I have to admit I am not really interested in the pattern dances, but the free dance tests sound really fun and would love to get more into that, ideally by passing one after the other without doing the patterns as well if that makes sense? I am also working on moves tests, but these don’t seem to count as qualification for adult solo free dance unless you have gotten all the way to senior moves (for gold free dance anyway). I think? I know the rules have changed recently for the regular free dance but maybe not adult? I am not in the US right now but planning to take tests there next year when I’m living there, so currently don’t have anyone I can ask. Thanks in advance!

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

@gkelly

 

[gkelly]

As far as I can tell from the 2023-24 US Figure Skating Rulebook...

To compete in solo free dance, per rules 8700-87 the prerequisites are either one or more solo or partnered pattern dance(s) from one level below (the specifics are different for each level) and/or the free dance test for that level or the comparable test on the standard solo dance test track.

Note that the names and requirements of the solo free dance tests have changed a few times over the years, and adults figuring out which competition level they belong in may be relying on tests that were taken quite a few years ago when the test prerequisites -- and test names -- or competition prerequisites were different from what they are now.

To test in solo free dance, per rule 8362, the prerequisites are at least one pattern dance from the previous test level (but pattern dance tests on the 50+ track would not count as prerequisites for 21+ solo free dance tests).

Yes, it's complicated. Adult requirements are always more complicated than standard track because adults may have achieved the prerequisites when they were much younger and the rules were different.

Also, when I was reading the pattern test rules it says to move onto the next pattern test level you have to pass ALL the patterns in the previous level - so how would one just do one silver pattern for example (to qualify for the free dance test) without having to do all the patterns to have even gotten to silver in the first place? It doesn’t seem like you can just test just one pattern? Perhaps I am misunderstanding this.

What this means is:

If you want to take the test that is currently named Adult juvenile solo free dance, you just need to have passed one preliminary pattern dance. So that's simple at that level.

If you want to take the test currently named Adult intermediate solo free dance, you need to have passed at least one bronze pattern dance. If you're starting from scratch in ice dance, that would mean you would have to pass all three Preliminary pattern dances before you would be able to test any Pre-Bronze pattern dances. Then you would need to pass all three Pre-Bronze pattern dances before you would be allowed to test any Bronze pattern dances. But you only need to pass one of the Bronze pattern dances, not all three, to be eligible for the Adult intermediate solo free dance test.

If you want to test the test currently named Adult novice solo free dance, you would need to have passed all of the above-mentioned pattern dances and then the rest of the bronze pattern dances and then at least one pre-silver pattern dance to be eligible for the Adult novice solo free dance.

And so on.

(I say "the test currently named..." because I just bet that the names of those adult free dance tests are going to change in a year or two.)

I have to admit I am not really interested in the pattern dances, but the free dance tests sound really fun and would love to get more into that, ideally by passing one after the other without doing the patterns as well if that makes sense?

That does not appear to be an option.
As far as I can tell from the current rulebook, it is not currently possible to test in solo free dance without having passed pattern dance tests.

I don't know what your skill level is. You could certainly get started on testing Adult juvenile solo free dance easily enough by passing only one Preliminary dance. But if you want to move on to higher free dance tests, you would also need to pass additional whole and then partial levels of pattern dance tests.

 

[Elija]

As far as I can tell from the 2023-24 US Figure Skating Rulebook...

To compete in solo free dance, per rules 8700-87 the prerequisites are either one or more solo or partnered pattern dance(s) from one level below (the specifics are different for each level) and/or the free dance test for that level or the comparable test on the standard solo dance test track.

Note that the names and requirements of the solo free dance tests have changed a few times over the years, and adults figuring out which competition level they belong in may be relying on tests that were taken quite a few years ago when the test prerequisites -- and test names -- or competition prerequisites were different from what they are now.

To test in solo free dance, per rule 8362, the prerequisites are at least one pattern dance from the previous test level (but pattern dance tests on the 50+ track would not count as prerequisites for 21+ solo free dance tests).

Yes, it's complicated. Adult requirements are always more complicated than standard track because adults may have achieved the prerequisites when they were much younger and the rules were different.



What this means is:

If you want to take the test that is currently named Adult juvenile solo free dance, you just need to have passed one preliminary pattern dance. So that's simple at that level.

If you want to take the test currently named Adult intermediate solo free dance, you need to have passed at least one bronze pattern dance. If you're starting from scratch in ice dance, that would mean you would have to pass all three Preliminary pattern dances before you would be able to test any Pre-Bronze pattern dances. Then you would need to pass all three Pre-Bronze pattern dances before you would be allowed to test any Bronze pattern dances. But you only need to pass one of the Bronze pattern dances, not all three, to be eligible for the Adult intermediate solo free dance test.

If you want to test the test currently named Adult novice solo free dance, you would need to have passed all of the above-mentioned pattern dances and then the rest of the bronze pattern dances and then at least one pre-silver pattern dance to be eligible for the Adult novice solo free dance.

And so on.

(I say "the test currently named..." because I just bet that the names of those adult free dance tests are going to change in a year or two.)



That does not appear to be an option.
As far as I can tell from the current rulebook, it is not currently possible to test in solo free dance without having passed pattern dance tests.

I don't know what your skill level is. You could certainly get started on testing Adult juvenile solo free dance easily enough by passing only one Preliminary dance. But if you want to move on to higher free dance tests, you would also need to pass additional whole and then partial levels of pattern dance tests.

Thank you so much! That is super helpful. This was definitely the impression I got from reading the rules but was quite thrown by the fact it kept saying you have to have passed one pattern, which was odd when this doesn’t seem to be an option. I guess maybe if you do the full tests but only pass one? Although then you wouldn’t be able to sit the text pattern test I assume, so that doesn’t really make sense either…

Also under rule 8362, for adult intermediate solo free dance for example, it says prerequisite “one bronze pattern dance or intermediate moves or juvenile free dance test.” So doesn’t that imply you can take one free dance test after another, as it says one bronze pattern OR juvenile free dance)?

But then there is the bit in paragraph A. below the table in rule 8362 about passing the lower test does not qualify you take the next test - so passing adult juvenile solo free dance 21+ does not allow you to take intermediate?? This seems to completely contradict what is written in the table in rule 8362.

I know a lot of people who passed senior moves were using that to get senior free dance without doing any pattern tests or even lower level free dance tests, so that’s another reason it seems a bit confusing that adult free dance tests would require pattern dance tests.

I would be starting from zero with dance, as I have never had the opportunity to learn it before. Testing is also really hard where I live right now so I have been learning the tests with my coach here so that when I’m in the US next year I can just go through the MITF tests - I should be able to currently test up to adult gold according to my coach (which is my goal). I just thought the free dance tests look really fun and something a bit different, but I don’t think I have time to learn all the patterns and free dance and do the moves test and hopefully also freeskate tests lol! I also hope to do up to adult gold freeskate next year. That’s a lot of tests! Thanks again for your help, I definitely find this all a bit confusing.

 

[gkelly]

Thank you so much! That is super helpful. This was definitely the impression I got from reading the rules but was quite thrown by the fact it kept saying you have to have passed one pattern, which was odd when this doesn’t seem to be an option. I guess maybe if you do the full tests but only pass one? Although then you wouldn’t be able to sit the text pattern test I assume, so that doesn’t really make sense either…

The way the pattern dance tests work is this:
There are three dances in each level of pattern dance test (four each in the Pre-Gold and Gold dance tests).

Unlike Moves in the Field/Skating Skills, you don't have to pass all the dances in that level at the same time. Each dance is it's own test, but it's also part of a whole level.

You can test only one or two of the dances at a level on the same day, or you can try them all at the same time. You might pass some and not pass the other(s). In which case you could try the other one(s) again at some later date.

In my case, back in the 1990s I passed all the Preliminary pattern dances, all the Pre-Bronze pattern dances, and two of the Bronze pattern dances on the standard track. After three tries I gave up on the Ten-Fox and concentrated on free skating and later Moves.

The Adult Solo Free Dance tests didn't exist in the 1990s and 2000s, but if they had existed during that years and if the requirement for the Intermediate solo free dance was "one Bronze pattern dance" I would have been eligible, because I had passed two.

As I got older and couldn't really jump any more, I came back to working on pattern dances and finally passed the Ten-Fox at the adult (now called 21+) standard in 2016, at which point I was considered to have passed the whole Bronze pattern dance test on the adult track.

I wasn't able to test any Pre-Silver dances until I had completed the whole Bronze pattern dance test. And because I passed the adult version of the Bronze test as a whole, I wasn't permitted to test Pre-Silver dances on the standard track. Not that I wanted to.

I.e., you have to pass all of a previous level of pattern dance tests in order to take any of the pattern dance tests at the next level.

But the requirements for the solo free dance tests are different in that the requirements (above bronze solo free) are to have passed at least one pattern dance from the level below the free dance test you want to take, not necessarily the whole dance test from that level. But in order to take at least that one dance test at the specified level, you'd need to have passed all the full lower level pattern dance tests before that.

It gets even more complicated when you consider solo vs. partnered, standard vs. adult 21+ vs. 50+, and now lead and follow steps. (We won't even talk about the "pandemic partner" tests from 2020-21 only, or the fact that there was no Pre-Bronze pattern dance test in the 1980s and earlier so people who were testing dances back then moved straight from Preliminary to Bronze.)

Also under rule 8362, for adult intermediate solo free dance for example, it says prerequisite “one bronze pattern dance or intermediate moves or juvenile free dance test.” So doesn’t that imply you can take one free dance test after another, as it says one bronze pattern OR juvenile free dance)?

Are you looking at the 2023-24 Rulebook? I see the wording you're talking about regarding the juvenile free dance test in the 2022-23 rulebook, but not in the 2023-24 rules. The rules have changed since last year.

As I said, it's complicated.

 

[Elija]

The way the pattern dance tests work is this:
There are three dances in each level of pattern dance test (four each in the Pre-Gold and Gold dance tests).

Unlike Moves in the Field/Skating Skills, you don't have to pass all the dances in that level at the same time. Each dance is it's own test, but it's also part of a whole level.

You can test only one or two of the dances at a level on the same day, or you can try them all at the same time. You might pass some and not pass the other(s). In which case you

In my case, back in the 1990s I passed all the Preliminary pattern dances, all the Pre-Bronze pattern dances, and two of the Bronze pattern dances on the standard track. After three tries I gave up on the Ten-Fox and concentrated on free skating and later Moves.

The Adult Solo Free Dance tests didn't exist in the 1990s and 2000s, but if they had existed during that years and if the requirement for the Intermediate solo free dance was "one Bronze pattern dance" I would have been eligible, because I had passed two.

As I got older and couldn't really jump any more, I came back to working on pattern dances and finally passed the Ten-Fox at the adult (now called 21+) standard in 2016, at which point I was considered to have passed the whole Bronze pattern dance test on the adult track.

I wasn't able to test any Pre-Silver dances until I had completed the whole Bronze pattern dance test. And because I passed the adult version of the Bronze test as a whole, I wasn't permitted to test Pre-Silver dances on the standard track. Not that I wanted to.

I.e., you have to pass all of a previous level of pattern dance tests in order to take any of the pattern dance tests at the next level.

But the requirements for the solo free dance tests are different in that the requirements (above bronze solo free) are to have passed at least one pattern dance from the level below the free dance test you want to take, not necessarily the whole dance test from that level. But in order to take at least that one dance test

It gets even more complicated when you consider solo vs. partnered, standard vs. adult 21+ vs. 50+, and now lead and follow steps. (We won't even talk about the "pandemic partner" tests from 2020-21 only, or the fact that there was no Pre-Bronze pattern dance test in the 1980s and earlier so people who were testing dances back then moved straight from Preliminary to Bronze.)


Are you looking at the 2023-24 Rulebook? I see the wording you're talking about regarding the juvenile free dance test in the 2022-23 rulebook, but not in the 2023-24 rules. The rules have changed since last year.

As I said, it's complicated.

Ahh yes, I think I might have been looking at last year’s rule book. I’ll have another look at this year’s (although it will actually be the 24-25 season when I’m taking the tests, so they’ll probably have changed again by then ) it’s definitely complicated! We don’t even have solo dance where I live, so I just got really excited when I saw it after watching someone do a solo free dance test on YouTube and thought it looked really beautiful.

 

[gkelly]

You can take one Preliminary pattern dance test and then take the Adult Juvenile/Bronze solo free dance test, whatever it's called by next year. If you're just looking for the fun of preparing a solo free dance and putting it out in front of judges, that might satisfy the desire.

If you want to compete, or if you want to test higher level/more complex free dances, that will get more complicated.

 

[Elija]

You can take one Preliminary pattern dance test and then take the Adult Juvenile/Bronze solo free dance test, whatever it's called by next year. If you're just looking for the fun of preparing a solo free dance and putting it out in front of judges, that might satisfy the desire.

If you want to compete, or if you want to test higher level/more complex free dances, that will get more complicated.

Thanks! Yeah I think that will be my plan. I don’t have any desire to compete (I hate competing), so just looking to work through tests as a challenge for myself and something to work towards. I do like learning a programme, just not competing it haha. Hopefully once I find a coach in the US they will be able to help me make more of a plan