I have a 12 yr old student with all her singles who is a great improv skater. She really invents beautiful (though somewhat limited) choreography as she goes. We have a show coming up, and at this point, I know she will not have enough time to learn a program. I'm seriously thinking about just giving her a list of elements and letting her go. I think if she does this in her lessons from now until the show (about 3 wks), she can really pull off a nice performance. I suggested it to her and her mother this week, and they seemed to like it. Is this totally nuts?

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Might be a good point to try it. Why not? If she has fun.....

We have an adult skater here who does that---just puts on some music and skates. You'd swear it was all choreographed out, but she's totally winging it.

Depends on whether she does well under pressure. My youngest DD totally forgot her program at a competition and she just made up a new one on the ice. I don't think her twin could have done that - she would have left the ice in tears.

She's old enough to give some good input as to what she wants to do during different parts of the music. Let her have a copy of the music to play with, write down what you come up with and just focus on the highlights.

"Start with this...some kind of footwork...now a spin would be perfect at this point in the music." A quick list will help.

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It does sound fun. Is it ISI or USFS. ISI has a event called suprise which i believe is just that. You make up your routine to the music they provide you. And if she doesnt have enough time for a routine. Why dont you just make a base routine for her to help her feel a little more comfortable. Then she can play with it. Even if she only does it once she will have an idea of what she needs to do and may help her remember.

But she also knows if she misses footwork or something--oh well i can make it up myself.

But nevertheless if the girl doesnt care GO FOR IT!

I improvised an interpretive this year for which I got great compliments, no one knew it was an improv. I didn't have choreography yet and had a competition to go to. It was a whole lot of fun and my fellow skaters were horrified because they'd never done competition without choreography and considerable practice. Some coaches are okay with this, the majority aren't. If you're okay with it, and the skater is, I would say go for it.

The most important thing to teach or to think about is the proper ice coverage. Maybe laying out a pattern on the ice would be a good idea. If you've got a skater who can respond to the music that's a great talent. My last piece of advice would be to remember to hold positions, sometimes in improv skaters come out and do everything they possibly can in the first thirty seconds and then look blank for the rest of it.

I enjoyed the ISI Interpretive (which is improv) event way more than doing my program. And it would have been even easier I think if I was familiar with the program.

Not skating, but dance- my sister had an "officer" solo during a spring show. She just made it up every night, doing a completly different solo at each of the 4 shows. A few parents who saw it every night noticed- because some things were drastically different, but for the most part because she enjoyed improvising and connected to the music it didn't look like she was unprepared.

Just make sure your skater knows to fill the ice, suggest a variety of elements to include- and I think its a fine idea.

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Thank you all for your responses.

It's USFS, but it's a show, not a comp. There is a comp later that I think I will make her learn a program for if she does it.

Congratulations! It was my idea, so yes, I'm OK with it. Last year ice coverage was a problem, but she seems to have figured it out and in three sktaes to her music, she did cover the ice fairly well, but it's a good point that I must make with her. She has a really good feel for the music and that helps her hold positions appropriately.

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Well now that we know its a show! Then even more i would say go for it.