Tell me about ice dancing

[momof3chicks]

My dd will probably do a few lessons this summer to help her synchro skating. But also, she trains at a place where there are pretty high level ice dancing skaters and coaches.

How old do ice dancers usually start?

What skating level do they start?

Can a girl get too tall?

[dbny]

Can a girl get too tall?

I can only answer the last question. Tall skaters are often steered into ice dance!

[phoenix]

I've seen them start very young. As long as they can do the basics--edges, stroking, crossovers, they can start learning parts of ice dance.

That being said, ice dance requires a great deal of attention to small details and doing seemingly simple things over and over, so little ones aren't always ready to do that, just on a maturity scale.

But they can definitely learn the beginning dances fairly young. It will make them much stronger!

And it's true, dancers tend to be taller than singles skaters. Longer legs=better lines. Though, the taller a girl is, the harder it may be to find a partner who is a good height match. Not that partners are easy to find anyway!

[RachelSk8er]

Dance will really help with synchro, and if she's already doing synchro she may find a lot of the beginning basics that a lot of people struggle with easy--skatinig to music, skating in close proximity to someone, basic swing rolls, progressives, etc.

There really is no such thing as "too young." I've seen very young kids (as young as 6 or 7) doing dance. At what age a skater will most appreciate or enjoy it can vary. And there is no such thing as too tall unless you're worried about her trying out to compete with a partner at some point, but if she's just doing it to augment other skating, that's not a concern. As a female, I did find it awkward to skate with a coach or partner who was shorter than me so I personally prefer a coach who is tall.

[Mrs Redboots]

Dance will help with all her skating. If she can follow the rhythm of music (clapping along in time, for instance) and can pay attention to detail (it's a seriously picky discipline!), then she is ready to start dance. In many ways, at first, it seems easier than free skating - the first six dances (in the UK - there are slight differences between countries) all involve only forwards skating. However, you learn about edge quality, about always, always, extending your free leg and pointing your toe, always, always, bringing your feet back together, focussing on where every body part is at every given moment. All this in time to the music!

[sk8lady]

A lot of folks who do ice dance do "social dance," i.e., they learn the patterns and skate them without working extensively on specifics. Kids rarely seem to have trouble learning the pattern--as others have said, it's everything else that makes it hard for kids to do--the concentration on detail and, at upper levels, expression. We also had one girl who was pretty young who just refused to skate with a boy because she had to touch him so if your skater is in the "cooties" stage she may have difficulty partnering!
Height is an issue only at the point where there's partnering--I am extremely short and had a very hard time with partners who were too tall. However, I had lunch one day with a very tall ice dancer who was Nationals level who told me she met her ice-dancer husband when a friend introduced them because they were both so "freakishly tall"! (Her words, not mine!) :D

[momof3chicks]

I can only answer the last question. Tall skaters are often steered into ice dance!

That is good to know, with her young start at synchro, I'd think she'd be good at it

[CoachPA]

Dance will really help with synchro, and if she's already doing synchro she may find a lot of the beginning basics that a lot of people struggle with easy--skatinig to music, skating in close proximity to someone, basic swing rolls, progressives, etc.

I agree. For our Pre-Juvenile synchro team, skaters must have passed at least their Preliminary dances in order for them to be considered for the team (most have passed higher dances though).

There really is no such thing as "too young." I've seen very young kids (as young as 6 or 7) doing dance. At what age a skater will most appreciate or enjoy it can vary.

I've started kids as young as seven, so I don't believe there's such a thing as "too young" as long as the skater wants to dance. In the U.S., those few beginning dances are all forward skating that cover the basic dance moves (progressives, swing rolls, chasses, etc.) and introduce timing, extension, rhythm, etc. Most young skaters can handle that, granted they're interested.

[slusher]

Most Canadian kids will pass the first three dances or more, before they ever get serious about passing anything else. Dance lessons are used as a foundation for edges, posture, balance, lean, flow, all of the basic stroking that is needed for freeskate and skills. This is what they start with when they come out of Canskate, so even at age 6-7, the first thing they learn that is "real skating" is the Dutch Waltz. Really, they're learning to hold a lobe for 6 counts, and that progressives do *not* have toepicks, but it is "dancing".

Ice dancing training for competition is a different thing. Imagine 45 minutes of basic edge stroking in hold. It's probably more boring than a 15 minute ice dance lesson where a dance might be skated three or four times, but if a skater has the desire to get better at basic skating, dance is a great place. I take dance lessons occasionally, to be reminded of what I've forgotten....

[BuggieMom]

I have a question to add...

Can you do both singles and dance at the same time? Will one take away from the other?

My dd is a singles skater, and wants to continue with that. She also takes dance, mostly as a supplement to her freeskating. Dance coach is interested in starting her with an actual partner, and dd is interested, mostly because she likes the boy :roll:. I would like her to try it, but have heard that it is hard to do singles and dance at the same time because they are different diciplines entirely, unlike singles and pairs which are similar.

[cazzie]

My daughter is doing both (well - started with a partner this week so I guess not really). I think for us it will be tough to fit in the solo ice dance, couples plus free skating but she's keen to do all 3.