partners or nott

[chiclet]

i was just reading some dance we site and do you have to have a partner for dance or can you do it on your on like the kilian ???

[backspin]

Until you get to the international dances, you can do them all solo. In fact, once you start testing at the silver level, you HAVE to do them solo as well as with a partner. When learning new dances, you will always learn to do them alone first, before trying to partner them.

[jp1andOnly]

in Canada you always do your dances with a partner. There are some dances that when you take a test you have to solo, which means to demonstrate them yourself. I believe up to the 14 step you can have a female partner. If you live in a remote area where there are no male dance coaches than you can test with a female coach or solo.

But of course you learn and practice the dances by yourself

[Mrs Redboots]

In the UK you can not only dance solo, but there is a solo dance championships! And most dance competitions include solo dance classes as well as couples, especially at adult levels. The Adult Championships has a solo class that Batikat is doing, and a couples class that Robert and I are doing. And at Oxford in three weeks (help!), there are solo compulsory dance classes at 4 levels and solo free dance at 2 levels, as well as the various couples compulsory, free and variation classes.

[96.23??]

I think you can dance with a partner or without, it's up to you, but many people think it's easier with a partner. There use to be dances you HAD to solo, tenfox I think, but I'm not sure you have to do that anymore.

[CanAmSk8ter]

In the US, we have two separate tracks for dance tests: solo and standard. For solo tests, you skate the dance by yourself only. For standard, you skate with a coach, and from Silver level on up you then have to solo as well.

It's worth noting that, if you take the dances solo, they don't "count" if you later find a partner or male coach- ie, you could pass your Solo Gold Dance Test, but if you then find a partner and want to compete senior, you'd have to take them all over standard. You can start standard and then switch to solo at the point you've passed up to, but you can't switch from solo to standard, you have to go back to the beginning.

[luna_skater]

Originally posted by jp1andOnly
in Canada you always do your dances with a partner. There are some dances that when you take a test you have to solo, which means to demonstrate them yourself. I believe up to the 14 step you can have a female partner. If you live in a remote area where there are no male dance coaches than you can test with a female coach or solo.

But of course you learn and practice the dances by yourself

In Canada, there are actually no longer any mandatory solos, and there are some dances that the skater has the option to partner or solo. Here is the link: Skate Canada - Dance (http://www.skatecanada.ca/english/info/figure/canskate/cantestdance.html). I was told by my coach that evaluators are no longer allowed to request solos, although I can't find that in writing anywhere. The link indicates that if you are over 25, you are not required to do a solo if asked.