This was started by a difference of opinion at our rink this morning. One of the dancers has a fairly new partner, who we don't know very well yet. Another young woman said, "Hey, D...., is it true you actually like compulsory dances?" D said that yes, he did. And the young woman in question was jumped at from all sides by almost every other dancer within earshot (4 or 5, including me), who all said that there was nothing wrong with compulsory dances, they were very good for you, and anyway, you weren't weird for liking them.

"Do I look as if I care?" she said, and skated off with her own partner, who, probably wisely, hadn't joined in.

But it got me wondering what the dancers here think. Do you like compulsory dances, put up with them, think they are good training, or wish they could be abolished?

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

Well you probably know my view Mrs Redboots. I was going to put loathe them since I do but I also believe they are good for me. I consider them a bit like medicine - loathsome but makes you better.

I think the more advanced ones are OK as they are a bit more interesting and I actually quite like doing any dances with a partner but those are a rare commodity round here. My coach - a former Olympic competitior did dance the British Waltz with me recently (and he makes no allowance for the fact you're not Olympic standard so it was a bit like flying) and that was fantastic. Solo compulsory dance to me just seems a bit daft. Take a perfectly good partnered dance and then do it without the partner - DOH!

They are just not my cup of tea but I know plenty of people who do love them.

Unfortunately my dislike of them shows through in my execution of them and this might explain how I managed to come last in the compulsories but first in the Original Dance (which I LOVE) in a recent competition!
I just can't abide the restrictiveness - the endless striving for a tiny improvement in pattern, edges etc. Plus it's SO boring to watch and the music is incredibly tedious.

OK I think you get the picture!

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'skating is not just a sport - it is an obsession'

Hate the baby dances but saw them as a necessary evil but LOVE the higher ones! This is from someone who detests field moves

I don't even mind the music anymore (the proper ISU stuff .... Dance Club music IMO stinks!).

I'd hate to see Compulsories abolished, apart from the fact that it gives something (almost ) definitive to compare the couples with it also is nice to see something that I've scratched my way through (Arg & Viennese to name but two!) done properly.

Lx

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The best whisper is a click

You guys in the UK are so lucky... here we have tests for compulsories and free dance, and for the FD tests you have to have a partner or coach who can skate it with you- in other words, someone who can lift you after the Juvenile level. I've never gotten to do a FD or an OD.

That said, I like doing compulsories ok, but that's all I've gotten to do in dance. I do know one dancer- a world champion, in fact- who says he "didn't mind" compulsories when he was competing. I defintiely think they have their place in skating, but I wish there were a way to integrate the FD and OD at the lower levels, maybe with solo tests like you have in the UK. I think in the long run that might attract more young kids to dance. A lot of them, I think, are put off by the deceptively boring beginning dances, as well as the rather lame music.

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Shae-Lynn and Victor: We knew you were champions, and on 3/28/03 the whole WORLD found out! Thank you for twelve wonderful years!

i have to say i like the compulsery dances so far even thoughi am known to tell my caoches that i hate this dance or that dance...it is never really true i just hate how I do them. anyway as for the lame music...i must be odd b/c i think it is fun...it is so goofy it's easy for me to get into i guess...

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Waffles & Vodka

Breakfast of Champions

i looooooove the paso!!! It's the BEST EVER and I like the tango too but I beat it with a stick so now its just annoying and I also dont mind the starlight!

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LOL so true!

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Shae-Lynn and Victor: We knew you were champions, and on 3/28/03 the whole WORLD found out! Thank you for twelve wonderful years!

Here, you can only solo your OD and FD up to a certain level; we do have a solo dance championships, it's true, but if you really want to do elite, you have to have a partner.

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!