I'm a relative beginner, and I'm quickly discovering that while I enjoy spinning and edgework, I'm only half-heartedly into jumping. (Part of this is that I don't think jumps look good until about doubles, and that's probably not happening with a questionable right knee, my finances and starting at 25 anyway.)

I've been considering focusing on dance training; I like the idea of learning patterns and doing them to music.

Now I'm still a pre-bronzied beginner, but I have relatively strong edges & crossovers and I was wondering when people started dance lessons? Would I be nuts to ask my coach about dance now? Can you dance without a partner?

You can start Dance at any time. I started Dance WELL after I took up Free and then only a) to get better basics and b) because the Dance coach was cute

There's no reason that the two (Free and Dance) can't go hand in hand and you will find that the Dance will help your Free skating as you'll have better footwork, better edges, better lines, better grace, better steps, better poise .....

NO, you would not be nuts to ask your coach about starting Dance, some of the 'baby' Dancers are pretty easy anyway so should be WELL within your scope

YES, you can dance without a partner in fact I firmly believe that you should be able to do a dance solo even if you do have a partner. In the UK we have a Solo Dance championships and you see some absolutely awesome skaters out there. There are also solo dance classes (for kids and adults) in most of the comps too

Re: the double jumps. If you don't think that jumps look good until they're doubles then you've never seen a REALLY GOOD single jump A well performed waltz jump is a sight to behold

Oh, and maybe you knee could be a problem but your age most certainly isn't! I started at 32 and was working on axel and doubles (had attempted every double up to and including 2lutz), had flukishly (is that even a word???) landed a 2flip when I was going for a 2toe and out of the whole lot my 2loop was the nearest of all!

I only don't skate at the mo because of circumstances and only stopped skating (still don't say gave up because it's still in my blood) because of other circumstances

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I went straight from group classes to private ice dance lessons; I knew right from the start that was what I wanted to do. So no, your idea is perfectly fine! You sound like you're ready to start--you have foward & bkwd edges & crossovers--you're good to go!

And yes, you definitely can dance without a partner. You will ALWAYS learn new steps & new dances on your own anyway, before ever trying it with someone. If your coach is male, he will probably skate with you for testing, or if your coach is female, she probably has someone she works with who partners her students for tests. For example, my students skate with my (male) coach for testing.

Go for it. I started learning the first dances right out of LTS...........back when I was around 25. After a 25 year break from dance, I'm back at it again.......and finding solo dance very challenging.

As for double jumps, 25 certainly is not too old. See how the knee holds up on the single jumps, if you are at all interesting in jumping and aiming for doubles someday.

Good luck, and have fun!!

FWIW, I started ice dancing in December 2003, and I tested my Prelim (I do Solo) in 3/04. I'm 54 now ....so, no, it's NEVER too late to start.

I love the edges, the upper body quietness, the stroking, the patterns, and even the corny music we had for Prelims. There's a constant flow to ice dance which is quite appealing. And I love the technical nature of the patterns, correct steps, interpretation of each dance via the knees (and I'm certainly not a good example of any of this, trust me.... ), and the neat feet.

Just my opinion, but I think it can certainly augment freestyle, and things from ice dance pop out in the weirdest places, like just for example, stroking within a program. Or something like that. Or transitions. It's really fun to mix the two....good luck to you, and happy skating.

I started dancing in 2001 after years of freestyle. You can definitely do it solo -- I have never had a partner. With only one lesson a week, if any at all (haven't had one in quite a while), all I do is solo them! When you get to the higher-level dances you have to solo them in the test, so it's good to start now.

I agree with TashaKat that if you don't think single jumps can look good, you're not watching the right skaters!

Oh, I think they look fine; it's just like, that's it? Where was the rest of the jump?

Single jumps in combo can be pretty impressive, too, such as lutz-loop-loop...

And ITA about the waltz jump--I recently looked at a video clip of Scott Hamilton that someone had posted somewhere (maybe on the Technical Figure Skating web page?) and he did a HUUUUUUUUUGE waltz jump in one of his programs. (With CoP we can kiss that goodbye, at least in elite skaters' programs....)

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Is that the one where he's pictured near and ABOVE the boards?

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When I first began skating, some 10-11 years ago now, the prevailing wisdom in the UK was that "adults didn't jump and spin, instead, they danced". So when you had finished the rink's learn-to-skate system (which finished a lot earlier than the current Skate-UK system that most rinks have adopted), you went straight into dance class.

However, an awful lot of adults did do free skating, for all we were told it wasn't available to us! I think that mainly it was klutzes like me who were sent into ice dance - and I never have liked free skating much, although I've done the basics since.

All this to say that yes, do start ice-dance, and yes, solo dance is perfectly allowable if you have no regular partner. The first - well, it's the first six test dances in the UK, but your structure is different - the first few dances are forwards-only, but don't for one second think that means that dance is the easier option! In many ways it's harder. But if you like Moves, you'll love dance!

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Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

You have an online journal, Mrs. R.? I'm very impressed!

I think Robin Cousins had a beautiful delay axel, which I'll watch anyday over a triple.

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I started figure skating just about 2 years ago at the "tender" age of 38... have worked my way up to Freestyle 2 so far and working on FS3 right now.

Completely agree, it's awesome and something that you don't hear about anymore, shame as it's gorgeous done well I'd rather watch him do anything any day of the week, I'd rather see his doubles than any of the quads out there

I think that my 'favourite' jumps are doubles to be honest. Done well you've got the 'wow' of the multi rotations with the grace and purity of the singles and without the 'oh hell, is he/she going to land ....'.

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I think kayskate also has an online journal (and it's about her skating)--I think you can get to it from her sig line in her posts and in her profile, too. It's got some cool pics of her specialty (spinning).

And Annabel, I'll have to check out your journal sometime, too!

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I am going to start dance next month. I'm doing it to improve my edges and my turns so that my coach doesn't make that face when I show him a mohawk or a RFI 3-turn. I also think it will be a nice break from pounding my knees with jumps.

Dance is beneficial at any level, but I think to get the most out of if you have to pretty solid edges to start. I started taking a group class about 2 months ago. Of the beginning dancers in the class, two of us are advanced skaters (both working on Junior moves) and the rest are FS 3-5ish. I know that this is a poor example because it's basically opposite ends of the spectrum, but the badge level skaters really didn't have the control to learn the dances all that well. The other skater and I are testing the 3 prelim dances this week. I think the badge level skateres would have benefited more from a weekly MIF lesson. But it's also a group lesson where no one got a whole lot of private attention, so that changes things as well. On the other hand, they'll learn a lot more from the beginning dances than a more advanced skater would.

Yup, and here's the link: http://oasis.dit.upm.es/~jantonio/pe...jump.htm#Waltz

(sorry, crayonskater, didn't mean to hijack your thread....)

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my skaters were both 5 when they started with the dutch waltz. Helps so much with posture and edges!!!

Im 43 and trying, but not getting very far lol

I started out in ice dance (dance coach was cute, I still take from him) as a way to get past boring stroking. It was fun learning new patterns and there's a real discipline to it, you must have balance and control to hold edges, even for the dutch waltz (that's a darn hard dance done correctly) and because there's music, you get to know pretty quick how long an 8 beat roll is or that chassees have to be thatquick.

When my skating goes all rotten or I'm injured, which is how it is lately, at least I can go to the rink on a public and do a Canasta without getting run over, or in the way of anyone else and I love the feel of the flow and edge. Also, when doing an interpretive competition and your mind goes blank, sections of the Willow Waltz substitute nicely and you look like you know what you're doing.

The hard part is dancing with the man.

But if the lady is always right, what's hard about it? (just kidding)

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Is that "Interpretive" as in artistic, or "Interpretive" as in Improvisation? Either way it would work.

Tell me about it! Although my basic skating skills are so weak that I do actually dance better with one than without.

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