ballroom dance as off ice training

[kayskate]

I have been reading 3turn's journal and am interested in ballroom dance as off ice training.
http://3turn.livejournal.com/

Does anyone here do ballroom? If so, how does it affect your skating? Is it aerobic? What other benefits in terms of exercise? I'm always looking for new off-ice training to keep me motivated.

I have done ballet and really did not like the class. it was a class for adults and seemed very slow-paced. I have also done latin dance aerobic classes at the gym but found them not to be aerobic. I'm not necessarily looking for aerobics, but conditioning and training that would contribute positively to my ice skating.

Kay

[Sessy]

I have done ballroom (even some competitions and medals) before starting figure skating and frankly for figure skating it is useless for the most part. Various reasons for this. First of all, the body posture in ballroom is towards the woman being bent back, and the upper body strength is towards preserving the "frame" in a couple. Those two are utterly useless for skating. Next, the foot technique is about ball of the foot vs heel use, and again, no use to figure skaters. Counterbodymovement and some various small details are of course useful, and the kneebent position will help you with some muscles for skating, but it's vital to realise that skating is NOT a muscle sport, it's all about refining technique which for the most part is done on ice. Latin does help more with body awareness, especially arms, but the focus there is on flexible hips and a certain type of toe-dragging gait (can't really explain it very well... the "sticky" kinda thing) which again isn't really useful for skating.

Overall physical fitness only comes up at higher levels of dancing. Or, well, you know, lots and lots of jive practice... haha! :) So in terms of an efficient training routine for skating, ballroom is not it (it has its perks of its own though, if you like it, it certainly won't harm your skating that's for sure).

If you want power and cardio for on the ice, buy roller skates. Whether you go for artistic inlines or quad rollers is really not very relevant, but then basically find a nice parking lot of skater park and do crossovers, 5 minutes of back one side, 5 minutes of back other side, 5 minutes forward one side, 5 minutes forward other side, maybe some high waltz jumps and some edges... Repeat twice or thrice a week. Those are skills that work virtually identical out on the ice and on rollers and the thing with rollers is that you have MASSIVE amounts of friction you need to overcome to get any speed at all... You step back on the ice and WHOA you have speed and power... I kept being told I had a lot of power even just skating for a year and I think that's because during the half-year we don't have ice, I was doing first roller skating on very cheap quad rollers and then on inline rollers and that gave me a lot of muscle and stamina and power out on the ice.


You could also look into jazzballet, thats what my figure skating club is organizing these days instead of impopular ballet.

[sk8lady]

I have taken a couple of ballroom dance classes and found it extremely helpful for ice dance. I took several years of belly dance and that was also extremely helpful, and more useful with regard to freestyle and MIF. I dislike ballet and found that yoga has been the most helpful with regard to balance, posture, and body position-- but is only aerobic when I do the Yoga Class of Death!

[CrossedBlades]

Ballroom can be great for musicality and timing, and probably helps with core awareness, as well, but otherwise, I'm with Sessy - the posture and frame aren't terribly conducive to figure skating. That said, it can be a great social activity, especially if you live in an area with frequent dances.

As for ballet, are there any other studios in your area? You might enjoy an open class more than an adults-only group.

[kayskate]

If you want power and cardio for on the ice, buy roller skates. Whether you go for artistic inlines or quad rollers is really not very relevant, but then basically find a nice parking lot of skater park and do crossovers, 5 minutes of back one side, 5 minutes of back other side, 5 minutes forward one side, 5 minutes forward other side, maybe some high waltz jumps and some edges... Repeat twice or thrice a week. Those are skills that work virtually identical out on the ice and on rollers and the thing with rollers is that you have MASSIVE amounts of friction you need to overcome to get any speed at all... You step back on the ice and WHOA you have speed and power...
.

I have posted things like this here myself. i have a roller background, though I have not skated for a while. I have been thinking about getting back into it even just for the training you mention. It certainly does increase speed on ice.

Kay

[Isk8NYC]

Ballroom dancing for singles isn't as beneficial as it is for ice dancers or pairs skaters, imo. Singles freestyle skating is a different beast, as Dancing With The Stars likes to point out to Evan Lysacek.

The partnering and (to some extent) holds of dancing translate to skating with a partner. The head positions and symmetry of feet and turns are more easily picked up off-ice.

Ballroom teaches each dance's emotion that the judges often cite skaters to be lacking on test forms.

At the higher levels, Ballroom dancing effects dramatic flair as well as connections with the partner and the audience.

[iSk8Dance]

Well, last year we started doing some ballroom dance after 30+ years of ice dance, so it's more how does recreational ice dance affect ballroom.

Like, what's the sequence? It's sometimes a problem when you describe ballroom steps in terms of ice dance steps. Sometimes the ballroom dance appears to be the wrong way round - like the waltz. I tend to think of the ballroom version as having inside 3's. I need to think of doing a 'spin' as a sequence of steps rather than a twizzle.

Ice dance has certainly helped with the dance holds, but ballroom does help with the character and timing of the dance.

[Skate@Delaware]

Zumba and bellydance are better for skating. I've taken both and they both work core & legs as well as arms. And they are both aerobic once you get the basic movements down. Ballroom is too slow for aerobics and like Sessy mentioned, not particularly useful for skating.

[Sessy]

I'd respectfully disagree with the statement that ballroom is too slow for aerobics. High competitive level vienna waltz will chase the heart beat to 95% of max even for people in very good physical condition, and much of the other dances will be 80-90% when performed to national top levels standards. However, at that level one needs to train four times a week or more and one would wonder if that wouldn't interfere with skating.

[Skate@Delaware]

I'd respectfully disagree with the statement that ballroom is too slow for aerobics. High competitive level vienna waltz will chase the heart beat to 95% of max even for people in very good physical condition, and much of the other dances will be 80-90% when performed to national top levels standards. However, at that level one needs to train four times a week or more and one would wonder if that wouldn't interfere with skating.
sorry, I should have said for beginners and those in group lessons. As you gain experience (and if you have the luxury of privates) you can proceed faster. I know from my own experience the groups we took were geared to social dancers; and the low-level competitive classes were slooooow (the focus at the low levels was on hand/arm positions, foot placement instead of performing the actual dances). It might have been that certain studio as well.

[kayskate]

Thanks for all the replies. I may try ballroom in the future for its own sake. Since the benefits for ice skating as beginner seem very limited unless I apply them to ice dance and take privates to get better and have a partner, etc. I plan to test my dances solo since I am not interested in partnering on the ice. Otherwise, I'd rather do Irish dance if I have the oppy to take dance lessons.

Kay