What to look for in Ice Dance Compulsories

[Roma]

I will be going to Worlds this year. I would like to know what to look for when watching the compulsories. Last year during the Olympics, they showed 1 of the dances, and the announcer (I think it was Tracy) pointed out 1 or 2 key moves, and what the judges were looking for. Even my untrained eyes could see a little difference between the dancers, due to Tracy's suggestions. (IIRC one dance had a choctaw, and she pointed out where people were likely to make a mistake, etc.) Any hints for this year's CD's? I'd appreciate hints on all (4?) of them, because I don't know what will be selected for Worlds. Thanks to anyone who can help!

[CanAmSk8ter]

As of this year, only two compulsories are being drawn per season because now only one will be skated at each event. This year they are the Tango Romantica and the Quickstep. I haven't learned the Romantica yet, but I can do the Quick. The Quickstep starts with a choctaw, but not quite the same as in the Blues. The Quickstep choctaw is actually a called a swing choctaw in the rulebooks; the skaters do a LFO edge, swing the free leg through while changing to a LFI edge, and then do the choctaw. After the choctaw is another change of edge, this time backwards, and then several short, fast steps followed by a four-beat back outside edge of the right foot. The skaters then step forward for two two-beat inside edges, followed by a progressive-cross forward-step under-change edge-cross forward. That's how my coach describes it, anyway, other coaches probably have other terms for those steps. Because the Quickstep isn't a particularly difficult dance, especially for Senior level, I think the main difference would be in the depth of the lobes. Watch to see which skaters are able to get the furthest toward the center and then the furthest back to the wall- that's indicative of deep lobes. The back pull after the choctaw- you'll know what I'm talking about when you see it- should be a deep, sharp curve rather than a wide, shallow wiggle. (I'm exaggerating; I've never seen a senior team do it that badly). I won't get into the boring technical stuff about partnering errors because frankly, I wouldn't expect to see them from an international senior team. That's the kind of stuff you see more from skaters taking tests than from teams competing nationally/internationally as seniors.

If 've screwed anything up, feel free to correct me. I have learned the Quick, but I'm only on my Silver dances so I haven't worked on it much and I'm used to being able to demonstrate these things when I'm describing them.

[Roma]

Great Info, CanAmSk8ter!

[Aussie Willy]

I thought there were four dances drawn but they only skate one at each event.

Has anyone seen the Midnight Blues yet? I would love to get a copy of it on tape.

Having been to the Worlds before and sat through all the compulsories (I was a glutton for punishment, particularly seeing one of them was the golden waltz), a few things I could suggest to look out for are (just general things):

The speed with which the dance is done. The better couples should do it faster (logically).

The pattern on the ice. Each dance generally does two circuits of the rink. See if the couples maintain the same pattern (eg it doesn't get smaller on the second time around). Also depth of edges (how far they get into the middle of the ice and how far out the edge of the rink).

Smoothness of skating - good knee bend, smooth skating, no jerkiness, quietness of blades on ice (there should be no noise)

Posture and space between the couples. Are the dancers too far apart from each other? Are they close? Do they stick their butts out?

I think you will find that when you watch the event it will become quite obvious who are the better skaters.

Another thing to do is attend the practice sessions. Because the skaters follow the same pattern or sometimes cross patterns you might see some really good crashes (sorry my sadistic tendencies coming through there). When I attended worlds in 98 it was fun to see the dancers collide in the compulsory practices (no one got hurt though).

[skaternum]

Originally posted by Aussie Willy
I thought there were four dances drawn but they only skate one at each event.

Nope, two at each event.

[Roma]

I thought that this year there was going to be only 1 dance drawn for Worlds, a change from past procedure? Does anyone know for sure? And are there still 4 possible CD's this year from which the 1 (or 2 still?) will be drawn? It's hard to figure this one out--I heard the rules were changing, but I have not seen any CD's this year on TV(which is not unusual.)

[Imo]

There are three CDs for the year, only one of which will be skated. There should be four, but they took out the Midnight Blues.

This year's dances (according to Skate Canada):
Tango Romantica
Quickstep
Austrian Waltz

Either the Romantica or the Austrian will be skated at worlds. (Quickstep or Romantica at 4Continents).

[jp1andOnly]

have fun sitting thru all the compulsories. Ugh. Watching 10 or even 15 teams is great, but upwards of 30..it makes for a very long day. I watched them allllllll day at Worlds one year, and I still can't hear or skate the silver samba without having flashbacks.

I'm not saying don't go because they can be very interesting to watch and see what seperates the top teams from the bottom. But i'm sure those who have watched compulsories at World's will agree with me that by the end you never want to see that dance again.

[CanAmSk8ter]

Originally posted by jp1andOnly
But i'm sure those who have watched compulsories at World's will agree with me that by the end you never want to see that dance again.

LOL, yeah, probably. Makes for an interesting discussion with my coach though, because I'll still have to get out there and do them! Maybe I can suggest a three-week moratorium on music...