I think I'm generally OK with my posture and arms, but a few times now I've noticed that my hands go all tense and fingers stick out awkwardly. What exactly are you meant to be doing with your hands and how do you remember?

I wish I could tell you. I used to make my hands into fists, especially when I would be concentrating on something that is difficult for me.

In ballet class, we had a few girls with bad cases of jazz hands or "mitten hands". The cure? My teachers forced them to take entire classes while gently holding tissues between their thumb and middle finger... and constantly reminding them to relax the other fingers. Maybe this might work for you.

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When asked what his "secret" to success was, Wayne Gretsky said: "Skate to where the puck is going and not to where it has been."
Is the figure skating version of this: Skate as if you're doing an axel and not just learning how to hop?

I don't know, our ballet teacher just gives us lots and lots of exercises for our hands (we've got ballet from the figure skating club and the ballet teacher only teaches us what you need for figure skating) and sometimes we've got ballet on ice and that stuff he teaches us just gets drilled in so much you do it automatically.

Obviously NOT what my coach wants me to do!!!!

graduated from limp wrists to barbie (i.e. sandwich) hands.....not allowed anything else yet

Yeah, how do I remember? After a zillion times of having coach yell across the rink HANDS!!!! it sort of gets drilled into you....then there are rubber bands....wrap them around my hands as a reminder.

I sometimes do forget.

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

ballet helps immensely with your hands!!! highly recommend ballet for skaters!

I think the latin dancing I did helps some. I just learned to jam my hand into position I used for the jive and chacha and samba, like.. the index finger extended and the rest relaxed, but straightened through (not 100%, with a slight curve in the fingers - except in the thumb, that one's through). But that's just for crossovers anyway. Anyway it needs a lot more practice to keep it even when I'm paying attention to something else. But the coach doesn't complain much about my hands ever since I've started doing it. She did before.

I get shouted at for random hands quite a bit. I should have fingers out straight but relaxed, index finder slightly higher and thumb tucked in. I often forget and do claws or hand puppet hands!

I attended an ISI seminar where a ballet teacher/skater who wrote a book about ballet for skaters spoke about this. She recommended practicing making a circle with the thumb and second finger. When you release the circle, your hands are posed very gracefully. I learned that pose as a roller dancer over 40 years ago, and my hands still automatically do that most of the time, even though my first coach had me hold them stiffly palms down pointing forwards.

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Where can we get the book with ballet for skaters ? I am definitely interested. Also, and dance videos for arm movement/choreography?

The book is Ballet Secrets for Skaters by Barbara Denise Files. I think it's a little on the lightweight side, as there wasn't much in it that hadn't been covered in the seminar. You can order it from the web site, but if you can possibly get it from the library, you could read it in one sitting.

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After many many years of trying to figure out why many adult skaters hands' look funny, or tense, or sometimes contourted, as compared to elite, or most kid skaters, I've come to the conclusion that the problem is not with the hands, but rather with the waist down.

Please elaborate!

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Dianne
(A.O.S.S.? Got it BAD! )

I never thought much about "hands" until this thread came up and my coach has never once mentioned hands (except when connected with movement) so I went back and looked at my photos from Nationals. It seems "hands" are looked after

When I skate for a program (or even, to a lesser degree, just working on a move), I try to be aware of my overall posture and movement - what it looks like - and that leads to a variety of hand positions that suit the movement.

If you think of every skating move as being "a performance" it will help with whole body awareness and improve your skating as well. (Being a "ham" certainly helps )

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Dianne
(A.O.S.S.? Got it BAD! )

I usually throw mine around in disgust because I can't get my body to do what my brain is telling it to!

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AW1
mum to Miss Lil (6yrs old)
mum to be to #2 due in March 08

An old technique in choreography is to think of your arms and legs as a path that movement/energy flows on. For example imagine a ball rolling from your neck down your arm. If you wanted the sense of movement to continue to the audience, you would let the ball roll down your arm, hand and off your fingers. If you wanted it to stop, and have the focus stop, you'd put your hand at a 90 degree angle to your arm.

We were also taught the different meanings/feelings of palms up, down, etc. It also helps to imagie your fingers about 6 inches longer than they are. This keeps them elongated.

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I was gonna say "Hopefully not clenched into 'fists of death' (Dilbert TM) ready to deck the next hockey skater that buzzes by me! "

Me too! My primary coach jokes about my having M&M's when I skate with him. ("Melts in your mouth, not in your hand...")

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Cheers,
jazzpants

11-04-2006: Shredded "Pre-Bronze FS for Life" Club Membership card!!!
Silver Moves is the next "Mission Impossible"
(Dare I try for Championship Adult Gold someday???)

Thank you for the support, you guys!!!

Here's the thing: skating from the waist down means that you are down into the ice, stable, with a really strong and centered core. Everything from the waist up just goes along for the ride and will be relaxed as a result of skating from the waist down. In other words, the waist down is so stable and strong that you are free to do anything with your head, arms, hands, ect...in a very relaxed manor.

If your core is weak and you are not getting down into the ice, bending at the knees, ect...the entire body feels unstable and you try to "hold on" with your upper body. For example, you see a lot of adults, including myself, flailing their arms in the air when jumping; all this means is that they are trying to muscle the jump with their upper body rather then getting the spring out the ice from with waist down. Or, if you see "jerky looking" three turns...the reason why it looks stiff and weird is, because the skater is trying to muscle the turn with their shoulders and upper body instead of letting the turn come out of the ankle and knee. Or, "noodle arms" are a result of trying to hang on, find your balance with the upper body, instead of finding the balance point at your core...all of this "holding on" eventually finds its way down into the hands.

The reason why I know this is because Pairsman2 and I took ballet together for about two years. In ballet class we both had really beatiful hands, but the minute we got on the ice all that would fall apart, because we were trying to "hold on/save our lives/skate" with our upper bodies. The more we concentrate on skating from the waist down and allowing the upper body to relax, the better are our hands looking...that's all.

For some people, the tension goes into the thumbs. I've heard my coach tell kids (and sometimes the adults, lol) that their hands are kids having a birthday party and the thumbs want to be at the party with everyone else rather than off on their own...

For me, I have one pinky finger that sticks out more than the others. I think it's because on that hand, I have a ring that doesn't quite fit right, so I'm always moving my pinky and my ring finger to get the ring into the right spot, hence that pinky is used to sticking out. It looks funny in pictures!

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INTERESTING!

I am going to make note of that!

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Dianne
(A.O.S.S.? Got it BAD! )

Skate to Buffy the Vampire Slayer or some boxing movie's soundtrack like from Rocky or something. Pretend it's part of the act.

Thank goodness that this is the ONE thing that I manage to get right every time I'm out there. IMO, teaching proper hand position that looks natural is 100x harder than teaching feet. This is my experience after 15 years of ballet lessons. Natural looking arms are HARD for some people, including some dancers that I danced with for many years.

I usually tell people when I'm chorepgraphing that they need to think of energy as electricity and that it flows through the path with the least resistance. A flexed wrist or zombie hands trap the energy instead of letting it flow out of the fingertips. Thinking this way usually improves line and extension in all limbs because it generally leads to straight free legs and pointed toes.

Rusty,

Let me know if it makes a difference for you; I'd be very interested in hearing if my hypothosis might be correct about the "hands."

Oh my hands are fine LP but was interested in the "from the waist down" part.

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Dianne
(A.O.S.S.? Got it BAD! )

I like that analogy. One ballet teacher used to suggest that the mitten-handed/jazz handed girls paint their nails a bright, pretty color as a way to remember that they want to show off their nails and not clump them or hide them. A similar solution was to think of having a huge engagement ring on our finger-- that's something that you'd want to show off in a beautiful way...

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When asked what his "secret" to success was, Wayne Gretsky said: "Skate to where the puck is going and not to where it has been."
Is the figure skating version of this: Skate as if you're doing an axel and not just learning how to hop?