A question about Ice-Dancing

[FSWer]

Say this question just dawned on me when I went Skating the other day. But does anyone know if you nessacerally (sorry,I know that's wrong) have to be a great skater to be an Ice-Dancer with a Partner? Or is it just BETTER to be and because anyone can at least Dance..can you become an Ice-Dancer right off of leaving Learn to Skate or just being able to skate in general (not having any moves,etc.)?

[Skittl1321]

I find low level ice dancing to be more difficult than low level freestyle skating, but that doesn't mean that anyone can't try it. Anyone who has completed the Basic Skills course has the building blocks for the first dances. If you are interested in ice dancing, you should give it a try.

I think that it's easy to attempt, but very difficult to do well.

[Clarice]

I agree with Skittl - ice dance is quite difficult to do well. But it's true you don't have to be able to jump or spin to try it. For the Dutch Waltz, the first dance we usually learn in the US, you have to be able to do outside swing rolls (which requires being able to hold an outside edge on one foot) and forward progressives (kind of like forward crossovers). You also have to be able to skate in time to the music. You don't need to be able to skate backwards for the three Preliminary dances, but at the Pre-Bronze level you need to be able to do a mohawk turn and skate backwards. At the Bronze level, three turns will be required.

If you're thinking about trying dance, FSWer, keep working on your one-foot glides. You'll need to be able to do those well before you'll be able to do them on edges. Keep in mind that you can learn to do the dances by yourself first (that's called Solo Dance) before getting a partner. People who know different dances can go to social dance sessions and have fun dancing with different partners even if they don't have a regular partner of their own.

[Mrs Redboots]

Our dance club reckons you need to be about Skate UK level 5 before you can start to enjoy dance - this means you can glide confidently on one foot, know what edges are and how to skate on them, and can do chassés and swing rolls (even if badly).

So yes, you can dance straight out of Learn-to-skate, but if you can afford to do both dance and free skating, I'd go for both! If you can only afford one, go for dance!

[Skate@Delaware]

The skills you learn from a basic ice dance class are invaluable! They will teach you what you need and you don't usually start with a partner at the beginning. We started with the basics (it was a USFS LTS program) and worked up from there.

Dance (or figures) gives you a great skating foundation to build on.

[SkatEn]

Yes, ice dance gives you a lot of knee bend which looks great. I just saw for the first time ever an ice dance lesson. Wow, the speed. Wow, the knees. Wow, the point!

I think partnering is fun too.

If you have the chance, why not? It'll improve your over all presentation anyway. :)

[Query]

The beginning compulsary dances only use the steps of the first few Learn To Skate lesson series, though progessives are marginally harder than crossovers, but it also takes a lot of time to for a couple to figure out how to move together, and to follow patterns to the higher precision than is expected in freestyle.

To some extant an experienced coach/partner can overcome your lack of partnering and precision skill - but if you try to dance with someone who isn't a coach, it's harder, and different coaches will have taught their students to move with each other in incompatible ways.

Ice Dance is expensive, if you pay your coach to be your partner.

Some (most, in my geographic area) coaches tell people to only dance with a partner the coach selects, because of the incompatible styles, and because they fear other coaches will steal their students. In many locations, most skaters skate purely as a competitive activity, so they are very picky about partners as well. Not only may you have to be good to find a partner, it helps to have the right look, to be chosen or to win.

There have to be local sessions where they let you dance, without too much interference from other skaters. ("Dance" sessions are not easy or safe for novices to dance on. If you don't have uncrowded public or freestyle sessions where you are able and allowed to dance, it is nearly hopeless.) Both partners have to have constant reliable and predictable time to skate during those sessions.

As far as I can tell, it often works well for non-competitive married or romantic couples who dance with each other. For competitive couples, problems abound. Did one partner show up late? Who's fault is a given problem? What if one partner moves, or their work/study schedule changes? And coaches often tell one partner to abandon the other partner, as they develop in skill, height or weight.

Nor is it easy to socially recruit a partner. Ice dance holds need to be tighter and closer than most land dance, which makes some people (or their partners or spouses) uncomfortable. It's an expensive and demanding activity, much more so than most social activities. For guys, skating is often viewed as gay. And many current skaters look down on ice dance.

If you are a very good athlete, and if you are very attractive and sociable, especially if you are male (almost none of even the really good women find partners that meet their requirements), and you have the a good predictable schedule, maybe these things aren't as much a problem. But for most, it is.

Most of the ice dancers in my area (DC metro, admitedly home to very competitive people) do not find partners, other than their coaches. There are exceptions, but that's what they are. As a less than stellar (male) skater, I've pretty much given up.

Synchro skating is now much more popular ice dancing. I'm not sure what time of year their audition schedules start, but it might be worth trying out. (But expensive.)

If you just want to dance for fun, off-ice dance is a lot better situation, most places. You can go to almost any dance hall and find people to dance with there, and it's way cheaper, both to go and for lessons, and fewer lessons are needed.

(Some of the same problems as for ice dance occur for land dancers who test and compete, but far fewer land dancers do.)

[Mrs Redboots]

You don't necessarily need a partner - solo dance is big, and growing fast.

As for the men - if you want to be well and truly run after, take up ice dance! There are always more men than women, which means at socials the women stand around getting cold while the men dance every dance going! One reason I don't go to socials much - it would mean my husband has to dance with me, and that's such a waste of him!

[aussieskater]

You don't necessarily need a partner - solo dance is big, and growing fast.

As for the men - if you want to be well and truly run after, take up ice dance! There are always more men than women, which means at socials the women stand around getting cold while the men dance every dance going! One reason I don't go to socials much - it would mean my husband has to dance with me, and that's such a waste of him!



More men than women? Do you mean fewer?? ;)

Back OT - I wish we had social dancing here - it would be great to dance with different people and improve my partnering skills for dancing with DH.

[Mrs Redboots]

More men than women? Do you mean fewer?? ;)

Back OT - I wish we had social dancing here - it would be great to dance with different people and improve my partnering skills for dancing with DH.

Alas, yes, I do mean fewer. Sigh..... You have some great adult skaters, though (it was good to meet some of them at the Mountain Cup); maybe there would be some interest in starting a dance club? Worth enquiring, and perhaps among the older younger skaters (if that makes sense).