This season my club is offering ice dance classes since we finally got an ice dance coach. I joined immediately especially because I want to improve my basics. The class began Thursday and it was hard but also very rewarding. We're 5-10 in the class at very different levels. We started with the Dutch Waltz. I could do all the steps but since I've got little rythm and no memory for moves in connection I was pretty lost everytime I didn't have coach to look at. So I was wondering if anybody knows where I can find patterns and step-by-step descriptions of dances?

Coach said that the goal for this season is for all of us to pass the first three dances in the Canadian system - and I know I have to do some homework if I don't want to spend the rest of the year strugling to remember what to do next in the Dutch Waltz!

There are the steps printed for the dances by Skate Canada. However they are hard to follow..like LFO (left forward outside edge), RSR (right swing roll). I'd email skate canada and see if you can obtain a copy

Just want to say, don't worry too much about not remembering the steps straight away, especially if you've only just started the classes. When I was learning the first dances, I was totally mixed up and it was hard to remember the steps, especially as some of them have parts that are quite similar. What I found helped was to write down the steps in a notebook. Write them down in a way that makes sense to you - I put things like "LFO swing roll", "right cross" (meaning crossover), "left, right, left" etc. Read the step patterns off-ice, imagining yourself skating them, so you start to memorise the pattern. Also write the rhythm/beats if that helps, e.g. 1-2-3 and which step is on each beat. Go through them in your head. (After a little while, I could skate the steps to about 8 or more dances to music, without really having to think about the steps and what came next, as I had memorised them.)

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"It’s never too late to skate at any age." - Alexei Mishin.

All the USFSA test forms have the dance pattern on them now. So, go to the USFSA website, click on site index, under Judges/Officials click on Online Forms, scroll way down to Test Forms, click on Judges Panel Test Forms. Then click on whichever dance pattern you want and print out.

The Dutch Waltz was my first dance too and the only one I had major problems remembering.... but eventually I did and all the other dances became much easier to remember. I learn visually, and I have to follow someone several times to finally commit the steps to memory.

I tried to post the link but it didn't work....http://www.usfsa.org/

OK, that works!

Go to http://www.ice-dance.com and follow the "Technical" links.

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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!

Thank you very much all of you! I couldn't find the Dutch Waltz on ice-dance.com (does it have another name?) but I found it on the usfsa page. Infortunately my computer has decided it won't show pdf files - only that dreadful red X. Any tips?

It's probably in Adobe Acrobat. Go to http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/main.html and download the free Acrobat reader (there's an icon on the left hand side, about 1/2 way down the page). It doesn't take too long - most pdf's in the States, anyways, are done with Adobe now-a-days.

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"The only place where success comes before work is in a dictionary." -- Vidal Sasson

"Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway." -- Unknown

Yeah you probably need to download Adobe Acrobat. GOod luck with dancing. I dance on Tuesdays every week and I really like it.

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- Ashley

I just saw the note about Acrobat Reader 5.0. Yeah, I'm a bit slow some times Thanks AshBugg

Like everyone else said don't worry too much about the steps but just work on getting the moves correct and the timing, the rest will come. You won't believe how much your skating will improve within months!! And if you can get a male coach to partner you too do so, for me it's made it so much more fun. I get along great with my primary coach and I think we're a good match but she can't partner me and it's been so much fun to FLY around the rink. :-)

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Too many people miss the silver lining because they're expecting gold.
Maurice Setter

Elsy - You are a genius. I was about to order a rule book to get the dance patterns - I didn't realize they were online. Very sneaky - thanks!