The free dance is a part of an ice dancing

Ice dancing

Ice dancing is a form of figure skating which draws from the world of ballroom dancing. It was first competed at the World Figure Skating Championships in 1952, but did not become a Winter Olympic Games medal sport until 1976....

 competition

Figure skating competition

-International:* International competitions sanctioned by the International Skating Union. These competitions are held using ISU rules; skaters are entered by their respective national skating federations....

. It is the second part of the competition to be contested, after the short dance

Short dance

The short dance is a segment of an ice dancing competition. It was approved by the June 2010 International Skating Union congress and instituted beginning in the 2010–2011 figure skating season...

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Structure and content

In the free dance, teams are free to choose their own rhythms, program themes, and therefore music. Creativity is also strongly encouraged. Since 1998, dancers have been required to include certain elements in their free dances, including step sequences, lifts, dance spins, and multi-rotation turns called twizzle

Twizzle

A twizzle is a multirotational one-foot turn in figure skating. The twizzle is most commonly seen in ice dancing, where it appears in a number of compulsory dances and is a required element of step sequences in the short dance, original dance and free dance...

s, but still have greater freedom in choreographing their programs than in the short dance segment. Senior level free dances are four minutes long (plus or minus 10 seconds). The exact number and type of elements required has occasionally changed from season to season.

Records

Because of various format and scoring changes, the International Skating Union separates scoring records from before the 2010-11 season from current top scores. The all-time record free dance score is 117.14, set by Tatiana Navka

Tatiana Navka

Tatyana Aleksandrovna Navka is a Russian ice dancer who has also competed for the Soviet Union and Belarus...

 and Roman Kostomarov

Roman Kostomarov

Roman Sergeyevich Kostomarov is a Russian ice dancer. With partner Tatiana Navka, he is the 2006 Olympic champion, two-time World champion , three-time Grand Prix Final champion , and three-time European champion .- Career :Kostomarov began skating at the age of nine and a coach put him in ice...

 in 2003. The top 2010-11 score is 111.51, achieved by Meryl Davis

Meryl Davis

Meryl Davis is an American ice dancer. With partner Charlie White, she is the 2011 World champion, 2010 Olympic silver medalist, the 2010 World silver medalist, a two-time Grand Prix Final champion, two-time Four Continents champion and three-time U.S...

 and Charlie White

Charlie White

Charlie White is a Los Angeles-based artist.White received his BFA in 1994 from the School of Visual Arts, New York, and received his MFA from Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, California, in 1998...

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