2010 Solo Dances

[RachelSk8er]

Bronze
Initial Round: Cha Cha
Final Round: Hickory Hoedown

Silver
Initial Round: Foxtrot
Final Round: American Waltz

Gold
Initial Round: Kilian
Final Round: Westminster Waltz

Looks like there will be no pre-levels added, at least not for next year.

Anyone know what they're doing yet? I'm officially staying silver since I'm taking time off dance to finish my jr/sr MIF hopefully before the changes go into effect in Sept 2010. I can still pass the one pre-gold I've been working on without being forced to move up.

Funny how last year I wanted to do gold b/c I HATED both dances for silver, now this year I have no desire to do gold but like both silvers. If gold had been different dances I would have moved up, but it's my worst of the 4 pre-golds and the one gold dance I don't even know, versus staying silver and doing to dances where my solos are already very strong and comfortable and I can focus on getting my stupid axel consistent and my MIF.

[Clarice]

I'll stay Bronze, because I was really only just barely qualified for Pre-Bronze this year. I'd tested the Cha Cha, but not the other two Pre-Bronze dances. Heck, I hadn't even learned the Swing yet! Um, and I haven't learned the Hickory yet, either, so it looks like I've got a lot of work to do this year! And I'll still really be just a Pre-Bronze dancer skating up a level if they're not going to separate out the Pre levels next year.

Goals are to pass the Swing and Fiesta so my partner and I can compete as a Pre-Bronze team next year, work on the dances for that level together, and now it looks like I need to polish the Cha Cha and learn the Hickory. I also want to take my First Figure Test.

[RachelSk8er]

I'll stay Bronze, because I was really only just barely qualified for Pre-Bronze this year. I'd tested the Cha Cha, but not the other two Pre-Bronze dances. Heck, I hadn't even learned the Swing yet! Um, and I haven't learned the Hickory yet, either, so it looks like I've got a lot of work to do this year! And I'll still really be just a Pre-Bronze dancer skating up a level if they're not going to separate out the Pre levels next year.

Goals are to pass the Swing and Fiesta so my partner and I can compete as a Pre-Bronze team next year, work on the dances for that level together, and now it looks like I need to polish the Cha Cha and learn the Hickory. I also want to take my First Figure Test.

The Hickory isn't bad, it's the first one I remember actually being kind of fun. You can totally ham it up, too.

[phoenix]

If I go, I'll have to do gold again. Killian was a very tough one for me & I was SOOO glad to be done with it, but I guess it never hurts to keep working on it. I'd been hoping for Starlight but oh well!!

I don't know the Westminster Waltz, so that will be good for me to learn it. If this keeps up, by the time I get to actually test gold dances I'll already know them all & have them half ready to go!

[flying~camel]

Ooooh, the Cha Cha is my best PB dance (ignore what I did on the social dance at ANs - my legs were SO STIFF that day!)! I'd just have to pass my Cha Cha and learn the Hickory and I could do Bronze solo dance in 2010!

[flying~camel]

And I'll still really be just a Pre-Bronze dancer skating up a level if they're not going to separate out the Pre levels next year.

Same here, if I decide to do it next year.

[RachelSk8er]

same here, if i decide to do it next year.

do it! Do it! Do it! Do it!

[sk8er1964]

Right now the plan is for me to move up to silver due to my results this year. I haven't passed any bronze tests yet, and I would need at least one pre-silver solo. Plus my partner and I hope to be able to compete pre-bronze next year, and there's a lot of tests to be done. All together I'm looking 10 dance tests before next January (partnered and solo).

If I can't get through all that (I also need to do a new freestyle program and summer is not a great skating time for me due to work and lack of ice time), I might consider skating bronze again. The cha cha and hickory are totally different dances then we did this year (and the hickory is evil :twisted:), but I really would rather move up.

[TreSk8sAZ]

I'm confused as to how you all came up with these. I looked at the chart on USFSA and didn't see anything specifically for solo dance. So are you just taking the first dance listed from IR and the first dance listed from FR for each level?

For reference, here is the relevant chart for Bronze:

Adult Bronze (IR) ANs: Cha Cha, Ten Fox
Adult Bronze (FR) ANs: Hickory Hoedown, Fourteenstep
(Same is true for Sectionals)

Why wouldn't it be one of the other dances listed in the IR or FR since there are two listed for each? I understand the two are for couples dancing, however just not sure I understand why bronze (for example) would be Cha Cha and Hickory rather than, say, Cha Cha and Fourteenstep or Ten Fox and Hickory. I wasn't able to compete last year, so I don't know if that's just what they did last year or if that's just how it is decided.

[daisies]

No "pre-" levels for next year because we are still in the two-year trial of solo dance at AN, and the deal was Bronze, Silver and Gold only -- that's what was voted on at last year's GC. The trial will be evaluated and the permanent addition of the event and any changes to it would have to go through a future GC.

I am definitely not doing Silver again, but I am not yet qualified for Gold since I haven't passed any pre-Golds. I learned the steps to them in 2003 but soon after stopped dancing; I only just picked it up late last year and relearned the two Silver event dances. I don't recall the Kilian being one of my favorites. In fact I recall the Blues and Starlight being my favorites and thinking the Kilian and Paso would battle it out for least-favorite honors! But my goal is to start lessons again and relearn the pre-Golds and hopefully pass one or two in the next year. I guess I will put the Kilian on the front-burner! (And I have no clue what the Westminster Waltz is all about!)

[mr7740]

Not too bad...the only dance I was really rooting against was the Starlight...since I passed it when it was still an International and never worked on the solo. I used to despise the Kilian, but in the years since I have passed it - it has grown on me. It is one of those dances that feels really great when you can just breeze through it. Now that I'll be working on it though I will probably anticipate the choctaw and it will turn into a thing - just like the Blues.

Since I am not a waltz person I was really hoping for the Quickstep or Argentine, but alas, I will have to wait one more year. :D

If they end up doing Pre-levels...would it likely then be 2 Gold Dances, 2 Pre-Gold Dances, etc?...if so that would get pretty repetitive quickly. I like doing one from each level.

[RachelSk8er]

Not too bad...the only dance I was really rooting against was the Starlight...since I passed it when it was still an International and never worked on the solo. I used to despise the Kilian, but in the years since I have passed it - it has grown on me. It is one of those dances that feels really great when you can just breeze through it. Now that I'll be working on it though I will probably anticipate the choctaw and it will turn into a thing - just like the Blues.

Since I am not a waltz person I was really hoping for the Quickstep or Argentine, but alas, I will have to wait one more year. :D

If they end up doing Pre-levels...would it likely then be 2 Gold Dances, 2 Pre-Gold Dances, etc?...if so that would get pretty repetitive quickly. I like doing one from each level.

If pre-levels were added I could see them maybe mixing it up every few years with a dance from the level above or below like they do with compulsories for partner dance (once you hit gold some of the int'ls really aren't solo-able since much of the difficulty is in the partnering and without that they're awkward, but others aren't bad to solo, like the Silver Samba). I really hope that's the case. At least when you're at the lower levels, you can move up and get to new dances over time, but once you hit gold, you're there for good...another reason why I decided I'm not going to be in any sort of hurry to move up. I'm only 28...plenty of time.

Now I can call Del and tell her to go ahead with the waltz dress we planned out when I ordered my new freestyle dress from her. Yessss! It's going to be gorgeous.

[saras]

what to do, what to do -

I can conceivably test the Killian this next year, I have never even looked at the Westminster pattern and doubt I could do well at it ;) Nor do I particularly want to revisit the FoxTrot and the American ...

we'll see!

Sara

[vesperholly]

I'm of the same mind as you, Sara! I haaaate the Foxtrot (aka the only dance I ever failed) and though I like the American, I'm so over that dance. I will likely be moving up to gold. I like Kilian fine, but I don't know the Westminster at all. I like waltzes, though, and I'd much rather work on new dances for eventual testing than rehash old dances that I passed years ago.

[saras]

I'm of the same mind as you, Sara! I haaaate the Foxtrot (aka the only dance I ever failed) and though I like the American, I'm so over that dance. I will likely be moving up to gold. I like Kilian fine, but I don't know the Westminster at all. I like waltzes, though, and I'd much rather work on new dances for eventual testing than rehash old dances that I passed years ago.

The Rocker Foxtrot is the only one I ever failed! The American I learned and tested easily enough, though it was on the heels of the European and aside from drastically different three turns they're similar enough.

Wonder what the Westminster is like...I've never even learned the full pattern of the Starlight!

wehaveayear, wehaveayear, wehaveayear, wehaveayear...

[flying~camel]

wehaveayear, wehaveayear, wehaveayear, wehaveayear...

Technically, we only have 9 months since the registration deadline is 1/15 ;)

[daisies]

LOL! I keep telling myself "wehaveayear" too!

Technically, we only have 9 months since the registration deadline is 1/15 ;)
Buzz kill!

[CoachPA]

Wonder what the Westminster is like...I've never even learned the full pattern of the Starlight!

The Westminster (http://www.usfsa.org/content/JP_DN-Westminster%20Waltz.pdf) is one of the faster waltzes and supposedly the hardest of all the Golds, but I personally loved this dance. Don't let the speed and steps (there's a RFI rocker tossed in there) intimidate you. This is a beautiful dance, especially when partnered.

[phoenix]

Westminster waltz:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rX4KSgSH3LM

[RachelSk8er]

HOLY CRAP is that an awesome West in that video...wow.

The thing I like about the American (as boring as 3 turns over and over can be) is the control it takes to do that dance well. It's easy, especially on the solo, to whip the 3s, pop up in the knee, and swing the free leg through wildly, but to do a controlled turn with the right rise in the knee and placing the free foot and holding it there for a split second really is a challenge. I think the shoulder/hip alignment and body position on this dance (which I passed last year) is part of why my MIF got better by not working on them, I developed better habits. And I *think* because solo dance is a non-qual event, I can go old skool and start the pattern in the center the way I learned it, rather than at the end of the rink...I noticed couples doing that in Centennial.

Now to fit the dance into an NHL rink...I dance on an Olympic rink and have no issues filling that out on some dances, and the American is one of them (as is the Tango, as evidenced by the way I was in the boards on the end pattern when I competed at AN). I was totally running out of room when I worked on it on an NHL rink yesterday.

[saras]

Technically, we only have 9 months since the registration deadline is 1/15 ;)

I meant wehaveayear to work on the dances! not to decide ;)

[saras]

HOLY CRAP is that an awesome West in that video...wow.

The thing I like about the American (as boring as 3 turns over and over can be) is the control it takes to do that dance well. It's easy, especially on the solo, to whip the 3s, pop up in the knee, and swing the free leg through wildly, but to do a controlled turn with the right rise in the knee and placing the free foot and holding it there for a split second really is a challenge.

Yup - I keep saying, I had no clue there were so many different kinds of three-turns - until I started tackling dance. And when I started learning the American? I had just passed the European - and I tell you, a part of me was truly miffed. You mean I worked for so long on getting 3s to work with my free foot right next to my skating foot, and now you want me to do the complete opposite?

[saras]

The Westminster (http://www.usfsa.org/content/JP_DN-Westminster%20Waltz.pdf) is one of the faster waltzes and supposedly the hardest of all the Golds, but I personally loved this dance. Don't let the speed and steps (there's a RFI rocker tossed in there) intimidate you. This is a beautiful dance, especially when partnered.

What really intimidates me is how stunning the dancers were in the Gold event! I am not worthy....not yet anyway.

[vesperholly]

Yowza, that West IS amazing. Fantastic lean and speed.

And I *think* because solo dance is a non-qual event, I can go old skool and start the pattern in the center the way I learned it, rather than at the end of the rink...I noticed couples doing that in Centennial.
I've always started the American (and the European) in the middle of the rink, too. Wonder if that's a regional thing.

I've never even learned the full pattern of the Starlight!
If you like the American, you'll probably like the Starlight. It's basically a bunch of steps stolen from previous dances (Willow chasses, European 3s, Foxtrot mohawk), with some awesome mohawky things on the second half. Deceptively tough, though. I wish the Starlight was the pre-gold!

[daisies]

I wish the Starlight was the pre-gold!

Me too!

Yikes, that Westminster Waltz looks like it will be really hard to solo! (And to partner!!!)

[flying~camel]

I meant wehaveayear to work on the dances! not to decide ;)

Not if you have to test (like me!), LOL!

[RachelSk8er]

Yup - I keep saying, I had no clue there were so many different kinds of three-turns - until I started tackling dance. And when I started learning the American? I had just passed the European - and I tell you, a part of me was truly miffed. You mean I worked for so long on getting 3s to work with my free foot right next to my skating foot, and now you want me to do the complete opposite?

The best part is when you get someone who has been skating for a really long time in freestyle, synchro, or whatever, has high moves/free tests, and then picks up dance, flies through the first few levels thinking dance is a piece of cake, and then hits the European and discovers that they don't know how to do a 3 turn and have to go back to square 1 (you can fake your way through all the other dances up to European if you're already a strong skater). Especially back when the European still required a solo on a standard test...that happened to just about everyone on my synchro team.

I've always started the American (and the European) in the middle of the rink, too. Wonder if that's a regional thing.

That's the way it was done back when I started dance around 1997-1998 (and when I tested the European in 1999). I quit dance when I went off to college/grad school other than just skating through patterns for fun (and actually competed the American at intercollegiate nationals way back in '01), started dance again in 2007, and they both started at the end...so they must have changed during that time. I had to start the American at the end when I tested it last year. I'm pretty sure competing non-quals though, either way goes, because Lauren Zell and her partner did it the old way (and they did the old Tango pattern, as did the Urbans last year, which was awesome).

[saras]

Not if you have to test (like me!), LOL!

well then, youhaveninemonths!

[phoenix]

They changed both the European & American start places about 3 years ago to be at the end. Same time they changed around some of the other dances.

I *think* you can do it either way, but make good and sure before you do it in a competition! I've only seen it started at the end since the change, even for tests around here.

Personally, I like the end start better, for some reason they feel easier to me.

[LilJen]

I'm confused as to how you all came up with these. I looked at the chart on USFSA and didn't see anything specifically for solo dance. So are you just taking the first dance listed from IR and the first dance listed from FR for each level?

For reference, here is the relevant chart for Bronze:

Adult Bronze (IR) ANs: Cha Cha, Ten Fox
Adult Bronze (FR) ANs: Hickory Hoedown, Fourteenstep
(Same is true for Sectionals)

Why wouldn't it be one of the other dances listed in the IR or FR since there are two listed for each? I understand the two are for couples dancing, however just not sure I understand why bronze (for example) would be Cha Cha and Hickory rather than, say, Cha Cha and Fourteenstep or Ten Fox and Hickory. I wasn't able to compete last year, so I don't know if that's just what they did last year or if that's just how it is decided.


That's what I don't get. Someone please explain??

Yup - I keep saying, I had no clue there were so many different kinds of three-turns - until I started tackling dance. And when I started learning the American? I had just passed the European - and I tell you, a part of me was truly miffed. You mean I worked for so long on getting 3s to work with my free foot right next to my skating foot, and now you want me to do the complete opposite?
Heh, our "dance buddy" (he teaches everyone their CDs and tests with everyone) couldn't pass his silver moves because he was so USED to doing all the funky dance 3s that the 3s in the field just weren't happening. . .

[Clarice]

This was posted on the icedancers forum. We're still in the trial period for Solo Dance an ANs. Once it becomes a permanent event, then a rotation chart will go into the Rule Book.


2010 U.S. Adult Championships Solo Dance Selections


Bronze
Initial Round: Cha Cha
Final Round: Hickory Hoedown
Silver
Initial Round: Foxtrot
Final Round: American Waltz
Gold
Initial Round: Kilian
Final Round: Westminster Waltz
General Entry Rules
• Competitors may only enter ONE skill level (i.e. they cannot enter bronze and silver).
• Two patterns for each dance are required, except the Killian and the Fourteenstep, where three (3) are required.
• Genders will be combined in these events (i.e. Men and ladies will compete against one another). Respective gender specific steps will be skated by each gender (i.e. Men will skate the male dance pattern and women will skate the female dance pattern).
• All initial and final round dances drawn will be printed in the announcement for the U.S. Adult Championships.
• ALL adult solo dance events/levels will be judged under the 6.0 system.
Adult Gold
Test requirements: At least one pre-gold dance (standard, adult or masters)
Initial Round: One gold or pre-gold dance
Final Round: One gold dance
Adult Silver
Test requirements: At least one pre-silver dance (standard, adult or masters); no more than one pre-gold dance (standard, adult or masters).
Initial Round: One silver or pre-silver dance
Final Round: one silver dance
Adult Bronze
Test requirements: At least one pre-bronze dance, standard, adult or masters; no more than one pre-silver dance (standard, adult or masters).
Initial Round: One bronze or pre-bronze dance
Final Round: One bronze dance

[herniated]

Yeah, I'm confused too. I saw the usfsa web site posting also.

[daisies]

That's what I don't get. Someone please explain??

The solo dances for both 2009 *and* 2010 were selected when the proposal to add solo dance to AN as a trial event was passed at GC. So the info is not new, but it wasn't widely distributed because we were focused on 2009. Now that 2009's AN is over, the 2010 dances are posted in the adult section of the USFS site:

http://www.usfigureskating.org/Story.asp?id=42986

[RachelSk8er]

They changed both the European & American start places about 3 years ago to be at the end. Same time they changed around some of the other dances.




And around then they dropped the solo on standard pre-silver tests so suffering through the European solo and failing it 83,483 times because of that is no longer needed.

[vesperholly]

They changed both the European & American start places about 3 years ago to be at the end. Same time they changed around some of the other dances.
Oops ... I passed the American in December 2007, starting in the middle of the rink. :halo: And I still see it taught that way.

[sk8er1964]

Ummm, the American looks HARD! Can I stay Bronze after all?

[flying~camel]

Ummm, the American looks HARD! Can I stay Bronze after all?

Sure, we can be Hickory Ho's together ;)

[herniated]

Hickory Ho's... that's hysterical!!!:lol:

[sk8er1964]

Sure, we can be Hickory Ho's together ;)

:lol:

...................

[jazzpants]

Sure, we can be Hickory Ho's together ;)
http://www.cosgan.de/images/kao/frech/d015.gif (Score +1 for f~c...)

[RachelSk8er]

I got my foxtrot dress today! Was not planning on a new dress for this dance (I have a black one that is perfectly fine that I wear for interp now) but then I stumbled upon a $200 dress marked down to $40 at Macy's, it fit perfectly and was stunning but I have nowhere whatsoever to wear it to...then it dawned on me. The entire dress is brown, mesh over lycra with a very well fitted, constructed bodice (that has nice wide straps and isn't too low cut), and the skirt is flowy. I'll just cut the skirt down and make it into an ice dance dress.

My mother was horrified when I tried it on for her and then told her of my plans because it fits perfectly and is just really stunning. But when you think of it, as a formal dress, I'd wear this maybe once every 3 years? Maybe? As a skating dress, I'll wear it probably 4 times next season alone.