Ice dancing
Encyclopedia
Figure skating
Figure skating is an Olympic sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform spins, jumps, footwork and other intricate and challenging moves on ice skates. Figure skaters compete at various levels from beginner up to the Olympic level , and at local, national, and international competitions...
which draws from the world of ballroom dancing. It was first competed at the World Figure Skating Championships
World Figure Skating Championships
The World Figure Skating Championships is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union in which elite figure skaters compete for the title of World Champion...
in 1952, but did not become a Winter Olympic Games
Winter Olympic Games
The Winter Olympic Games is a sporting event, which occurs every four years. The first celebration of the Winter Olympics was held in Chamonix, France, in 1924. The original sports were alpine and cross-country skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, Nordic combined, ski jumping and speed skating...
medal sport until 1976.
As in pair skating
Pair skating
Pair skating is a figure skating discipline. International Skating Union regulations describe pair teams as consisting of "one lady and one man." The sport is distinguished from ice dancing and single skating by elements unique to pair skating, including overhead lifts, twist lifts, death spirals,...
, dancers compete as a couple consisting of a man and a woman. Ice dance differs from pair skating by having different requirements for lifts, requiring spins to be performed as a team in a dance hold, and by disallowing throws and jumps. Typically, partners are not supposed to separate by more than two arm lengths; originally, partners were supposed to be in a dance hold the entire program, though this restriction has been lifted somewhat in modern ice dancing.
Another distinction between ice dance and other disciplines of skating is the usage of music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
in the performances; in ice dancing, dancers must always skate to music that has a definite beat
Beat (music)
The beat is the basic unit of time in music, the pulse of the mensural level . In popular use, the beat can refer to a variety of related concepts including: tempo, meter, rhythm and groove...
or rhythm
Rhythm
Rhythm may be generally defined as a "movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions." This general meaning of regular recurrence or pattern in time may be applied to a wide variety of cyclical natural phenomena having a periodicity or...
. Singles and pair skaters more often skate to the melody
Melody
A melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity...
and phrasing
Phrase (music)
In music and music theory, phrase and phrasing are concepts and practices related to grouping consecutive melodic notes, both in their composition and performance...
of their music, rather than its beat; this is severely penalized in ice dance.
In some non-ISU competitions, solo dancers can also compete.
Competition components
There are two components in ice dance competitions: the short dance ("SD"), and the free dance ("FD"). The free dance is the most heavily weighted in the scoring and is used as a tiebreaker. Until the end of the 2009-10 season, competitions included one or more compulsory dances ("CD"), an original dance ("OD"), and the free dance.Compulsory dances
In compulsory dances, all dance teams in a competition perform the same standard steps and holds to music of a specified tempo. One or more compulsory dances were skated as the first phase of competitions in ice dancing, but they are also popular as a form of recreational or social dance among skaters. The patterns for most dances either cover one-half or one full circuit of the rink. The International Skating Union (ISU) would publish the compulsory dances that would be performed prior to each season, and CDs were later drawn for specific events.
The compulsory dance was discontinued in all ISU competitions after the 2010 season. The 2010 World Figure Skating Championships were the last event to include a CD (the Golden Waltz), and Italians Federica Faiella
Federica Faiella
Federica Faiella is an Italian ice dancer. She competes with Massimo Scali. They are the 2010 World bronze medalists, 2009 & 2010 European silver medalists and six-time Italian national champions. They have won eleven Grand Prix medals.-Early career:Faiella began skating at the age of ten...
and Massimo Scali
Massimo Scali
Massimo Scali is an Italian ice dancer. With partner Federica Faiella, he is the 2010 World bronze medalist, the 2009 & 2010 European silver medalist and a six-time Italian national champion. They have won eleven Grand Prix medals.-Career:- Early years :Massimo Scali began skating at the age of ten...
were the last dance team to perform one in competition.
Original dance
The original dance was the second of three parts in ice dancing competitions. For the original dance, the ISU would designate a rhythm or set of rhythms each year that all dancers must perform to, or a specific theme, such as folk dance. The competitors were allowed to choose their own music and choreography. The length of the program was shorter than the free dance, and the skaters had to adhere to more rules. The dance was to be choreographed so that the steps dis not cross the midline of the rink, with certain exceptions for this rule that took into account required step sequences such as the diagonal footwork sequence. Closed partnering positions and close skating were also important for the original dance.The OD and CD were last performed in the 2009-10 season and were replaced by the Short Dance in the 2010-11 season.
Short dance
Following the 2009-10 season, the ISU congress voted to change the format of ice dance events and make them more similar to pairs and singles skating. Thus, the new short dance was introduced at the start of the 2010-11 season. This segment of the competition combines features of the discontinued CDs and ODs; each team performs a required pattern from one of the compulsory dances for about one half of the dance, then performs its own choreography, with some required elements, to a theme or rhythm specified by the ISU. Skaters are free to choose their own music, so long as the tempo is appropriate.Free dance
The free dance is a part of an ice dancing competition. It is usually the third and final part of the competition to be contested, after the compulsory dances and the original dance.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 twizzles. Senior level free dances are four minutes long (plus or minus 10 seconds) and usually include multiple music cuts and tempos that help bring variety to the routine. The hand holds and positions are much more open and free than in the compulsory and original dance categories. Often teams strive to skate in difficult or unusual positions to gain difficulty points. There are more lifts in the free dance than in the original dance.
Lifts
Lifts in ice dancing differ from those in pair skatingPair skating
Pair skating is a figure skating discipline. International Skating Union regulations describe pair teams as consisting of "one lady and one man." The sport is distinguished from ice dancing and single skating by elements unique to pair skating, including overhead lifts, twist lifts, death spirals,...
in prohibiting the man from extending his hands above his head, but allowing a wider variety of holds. The more change of direction, flexibility, and height in the lift, the greater number of points a team can earn from the judges under the Code of Points scale
ISU Judging System
The ISU Judging System , is the scoring system on the event and on the level of competition. At the senior international level, single and pairs short programs contain eight technical elements. The actual eight elements are detailed for single skaters in ISU rule 310...
.
Jumps and spins
Multi-revolution jumps are not permitted. "Half" jumps are now allowed. Spins must be performed by both skaters revolving around the same axis, the same as in pair spins.Ice dance history
Ice dance has a strong tradition in the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. Many of the compulsory dances which are still competed today were developed by British dancers in the 1930s, and 12 of the first 16 World Championships in ice dance were won by British couples. The British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
team of Jayne Torvill
Jayne Torvill
Jayne Torvill, OBE is a British ice dancer. With Christopher Dean, she won a gold medal at the 1984 Winter Olympics and a bronze medal at the 1994 Winter Olympics.-Early life:...
and Christopher Dean
Christopher Dean
Christopher Colin Dean, OBE is a famous British ice dancer who won a gold medal at the 1984 Winter Olympics with his skating partner Jayne Torvill...
famously won the Olympic gold medal in Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
in 1984 with a dramatic free skate to Ravel
Maurice Ravel
Joseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...
's Bolero which earned unanimous 6.0s for presentation.
The British style of ice dance originally emphasized upright carriage and strong edges achieved by deep knee bend. Beginning in the 1960s, Eastern European skaters started a trend to dance in more open positions, which allowed for greater speed over the ice, more upper-body involvement, and greater projection towards the audience. In the 1970s, top Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
dancers began to develop a more theatrical style of ice dancing incorporating elements of ballet and often based on narrative program themes. The Russian style of dance emphasized extended line and speed, rather than difficult rhythmic footwork. In some cases, elaborate choreography for the upper body was used to camouflage fundamental deficiencies of skating technique. By the early 1990s, however, all the top dance teams were performing routines in the theatrical, rather than ballroom, style.
At this point, the International Skating Union
International Skating Union
The International Skating Union is the international governing body for competitive ice skating disciplines, including figure skating, synchronized skating, speed skating, and short track speed skating. It was founded in Scheveningen, Netherlands in 1892, making it one of the oldest international...
began to try to restrain the excessive theatricality in ice dancing, first by attempting to return it to its ballroom roots by adding more restrictions on music and dance holds. Later, amid complaints that ice dance had become too boring, these restrictions were removed and replaced with requirements that dancers include specified technical elements in the original dance and free dance. The effect is that there is now more emphasis on technique and athleticism in the judging, and less on dramatics. While the requirement that dancers skate to music with a definite beat remains, ice dancing is currently the only discipline of figure skating which allows vocal music with lyrics in competition.
Historical results
See:- Figure skating at the Olympics
- World Figure Skating ChampionshipsWorld Figure Skating ChampionshipsThe World Figure Skating Championships is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union in which elite figure skaters compete for the title of World Champion...
- European Figure Skating ChampionshipsEuropean Figure Skating ChampionshipsThe European Figure Skating Championships is an annual figure skating competition in which figure skaters compete for the title of European Champion...
- Four Continents Championships
- United States Figure Skating ChampionshipsUnited States Figure Skating ChampionshipsThe United States Figure Skating Championships is figure skating competition held annually to crown the national champions of the United States. The competition is sanctioned by U.S. Figure Skating. In the U.S. skating community, the event is often referred to informally as "Nationals".Skaters...
External links
- Ice-dance.com
- ISU Home - International Skating Union website