Ok I have a question regarding a few skills. I know I have learned stuff that I have no idea what is actually called and some stuff I keep hearing named but dont know what it is. If anyone could describe these skills to me that be great!

What is a mohwak? Is it similar to a 3 turn??
What is a ballet jump? Is it like the waltz jump?
What are power 3s? Is it a bunch of 3 turns in a row?

Thanks!

a Mohawk is a 2-footed change of direction, with same edge character on both feet. For example (very simplistically...), you start skating on a Right Forward Inside edge and after the turn you are skating on a Left Back Inside turn.

Power 3's are specific exercises on various USFSA Moves in the Fields tests that several of the posters are training to take. Basically, for Forwards Power 3's, you do a forward outside 3-turn, then stroke onto the other foot back inside edge, then do a backwards crossover ending on the other foot back inside edge. Then step forward on the forward outside edge of the first foot and repeat. When done with good power and control, a skater will be able to cover the length of a standard rink with about 3 or 4 repeats of the pattern.

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American Waltz... Once, Twice, ???? ...

Q: How many coaches does it take to fix Jen's Dance Intro-3 Problems
A: 5 and counting...

Awesome - so I have been doing Mohawks! Why are they called that? hehe

The power 3s sound complex - for some reason the only thing I cant understand yet are the back crossovers - I just cant understand how to do them even when I watch over and over again.

Because of the tracing you leave on the ice when the turn is done correctly, which was thought to look a little like some kind of tomahawk, or something! So the choctaw turn, which is where you change feet, direction and edge (from LFI to RBO, for instance) was called that to maintain the theme....

Incidentally, in the UK, stepping from backwards edge to a forwards one is not considered a mohawk if there is a push involved - there is such a thing as a backwards to forwards Mohawk, but just stepping to forwards, as in, say, the Swing Dance, isn't it.

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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!

Ballet Jump
Similar to the Mazurka, this jump is initiated from a toe loop entrance on a RBO edge. Reaching back with the left toe pick, the skater springs into the air. The left leg remains straight and perpendicular to the ice with the toe pointed downward. The right leg lifts off the ice and turns out, resembling the trailing leg of a split or stag leap. The jump lands on the left foot, facing forward. The skater pushes to a right forward inside or outside edge.

Mohawk
Mohawks are basic turns involving a change of feet and are performed on one circle traveling either forward or backward. The tracing resulting from an inside Mohawk resembles the pattern created by a three turn, except a change of foot occurs at the apex of the turn. For example, a counterclockwise inside Mohawk is initiated from a RFI edge, a counterclockwise turn involving a change of feet and a LBI exit edge. Similarly, an outside Mohawk resembles a bracket turn performed on two feet. The rotation involving the change of feet is executed in counter to the natural direction of travel. Note that Mohawks do not involve a change of edge. Mohawks initiated on the forward inside edge are completed on the backward inside edge of the opposite foot.

Received opinion is that they are named after native American indian tribes. There is a good description here: http://www.ajaxskatingclub.ca/GLOSSARY.html

Quote:
In the book "Figure Skating History: The Evolution of Dance on Ice" by Lynn Copley-Graves, she says:

"In the 1800's the British were fascinated by stories of American Indians. A few American Indians had been brought to England to entertain the British with war dances. Some skaters who saw them thought that the spread-eagle pose done in Indian ceremonies resembled the turned-out position of a turn they did on ice. the tracing made by that turn resembled and Indian bow, so they named the turn the "mohawk" after the visiting tribe from New York state. This analogy fits the inside-to-inside mohawk. Skater practiced mohawks in repetition on a circle 8. Maxwell Witham and H.E. Vandervell compiled the rules of English style in the first comprehensive study of figure skating in any language in their book, "A System of Figure Skating", first published in 1869n and revised in 1880. In the 1880 version they illustrated and described the outside-to-outside mohawk as done in the Foxtrot today: "A very pretty combination of the outside forward with the outside backwards has lately come into vogue and it can be skated by every one who is capable of turning out his toes sufficiently so as to get into the 'Spread-eagle' position. This figure was last year introduced into the Club figures on ice and christened by the name of Mohawk." According to Earnest Jones, writing in, "The elements of Skating", in 1931, the name "mohawk" for this turn was derived from a cut-like step used by the Mohawk Indians in there war dances. Two editions later, Max Witham described the choctaw, named for another Indian tribe: "A variation of the Mohawk has lately been introduced and is called a "Choctaw"....the skater goes from the outside forward of one foot to the inside back of the other".

Check out www.Sk8Stuff.com

It's a great reference site for figure skating.

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It's called a Mohawk because the tracing it leave looks like the "chop" of the Mohawk tribe