Kind of a simple question, but could not find it anywhere. Been watching national level skating. Seems they are taking 2-3 strokes between the spiral positions. Is 3 the limit? Also a few of them seemed to add "interesting" moves (bunny hop, mazurka, 3turns etc.) between the spirals. Is this allowed?

yes..3 crosscuts is the limit. Steps/moves inbetween are allowed

Thanks!!

Is there a limit on steps/moves in between? I'm doing my first spiral sequence in a program at the moment as there's quite a few steps between the first and second spirals and I'm just curious.

There is no limit to how many strokes or steps you can take between spiral positions. However, you can get -GOE for having too much time between spiral positions and you can get +GOE for going from position to position quickly.

You will find this in the 2009-2010 GOE and Levels of Difficulty document, ISU Communication #1557, which is available at www.isu.org. In this document, judges are told to give -2 to -3 GOE if less than half of the pattern is spent in spiral position and to give +GOE for "minimal delay between spiral positions" and "ability to attain positions and variations quickly and effortlessly."

I recommend looking at the spiral sequences of the top ladies in the Grand Prix events to get ideas on transitions between spirals and creating a pattern that utilizes the full ice surface (Mao Asada does a lot of skating between two of her spiral positions so I wouldn't recommend hers).

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I was pretty surprised to see how many strokes were used at some events. In my sequence there were none. I did have a falling leaf from a back outside to a forward inside.

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Wow!! Useful link. Thanks doubletoe. (Knew I'd seen some cool looking small jumps and turns in some of them.) Yes, falling leaf would be very pretty in sequence. .......Also nice big bunny hop or mazurka, possibly twizzle or three turns of some kind......um.....

You're very welcome. Yes, you are allowed to do any jumps that aren't listed jumps (i.e, no toeloops, salchows, loops, flips, lutzes or axels) between spirals. But the most important thing is to get in and out of the spirals quickly and seamlessly without losing speed and flow. That way, you get a good score on the sequence and still have enough time to do everything else in your program!

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"You don't have to put an age limit on your dreams." - Dara Torres, 41, after her 2nd medal at the 2008 Olympics