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Ice dancing is a relatively new international competition event. It was first included in the 1976 Olympic Games. Skating itself goes back many thousands of years.The oldest known pair of skates date to approximately 3000BC. They were discovered at the bottom of a lake in Switzerland. Holes had been burned at each end into a bone. They were most probably tied to the feet with leather straps.
In the fourteenth century the Dutch made wooden platforms with flat iron runners at the bottom. People pushed themselves along using poles. This was primarily a means of transportation to allow people to go about their daily business.
In 1848 E.W. Bushill invented the first all iron skate that could be clipped onto a boot. Ice skating only evolved into a sport during the eighteenth century. It is an aid to health in that it is relaxing and good cardio-vascular excercise. Ice skating
originated in Vienna at the end of the nineteenth century. It was popularized by a man called Jackson Haines who defined a style which still continues today. It made the transition from Vienna to Broadway via the Ice Follies of 1915.
One unforgettable star was Sonja Henie who had enormous influence on skating in film. She became the World Champion aged only fifteen and won gold medals in the Olympics of 1928,1932 and 1936. She moved very fast over the ice and originated a step running on the tips of her skates. Sonja had no ballet training and sometimes this was obvious in her performances. Her short skirts gave her freedom of movement but were the cause of considerable controversy. She toured the world with her popular ice shows.Sonja Henie personified the beauty which results when sport and art combine successfully. This star made ice dance popular worldwide.
It was during the ninteenth century that figure skating was introduced with a basis in classical dance This category includes a number of divisions:- freestyle pairs, ice dance
and synchronized team. Athletics and aesthetics come together in ice dance. A person can be a skater of great athleticism but lack dance skills.
Ice dancing
is a type of figure skating which draws its origins from ballroom dancing. The couple always consists of a man and a woman. It is like pairs in that two people skate together. Unlike pairs, though, ice dancers do not perform jumps or spins and can only perform certain kinds of lifts. Instead dancers concentrate on creating choreography that resembles ballroom dance on ice.To maintain the feeling of dance limits are placed on the amount of time partners can be separated from each other and how far apart they can be from one another. Except when changing positions or performing a regulation lift partners should be together in dance position. Spins must be performed together in dance hold. They also should not be separated by more than two arms lengths. Originally partners were supposed to be in dance hold for the entire programme. This restriction was lifted to make performances more interesting.
Another very important distinction between ice dance and other categories of skating is the use of music during the performance. The dancers must always skate to music that has a definite beat or rhythm. Singles and pair skaters more often move to the melody and phrasing of their music, rather than to its beat something which is severely penalized in ice dance. At the moment ice dancing is the only form of figure skating to allow vocal music in official competitions.
Competitions have three parts:- a compulsory dance, an original dance, and a free skate. The compulsories have fixed patterns and steps and have the strongest link to ballroom tradition. All compulsories are performed to standard music that is played to a strict tempo. Each couple performs exacltly the same routine. The emphasis is on the couple showing "togetherness" and technical ability.
The dancers perform using standard dance holds. In the Kilian position partners skate side by side. In the waltz position skaters perform facing each other. In the foxtrot position skaters dance side by side inclining slightly towards each other with their upper bodies. Compulsories include the Rhumba, Polka and Waltz.
The original dance is somewhat different. The International Skating Union decides on a a rhythm or set of rhythms each year which all competitors must perform to. However, unlike the compulsories the competitors choose their own music (from within the specified range and choreography). The choreography must avoid steps that cross the middle of the rink. Certain exceptions to this rule exist that take account of required step sequences such as the diagonal footwork sequence. Closed partnering positions and close contact are also important for the original dance. A requirement is that one skate must be on the ice at all times.
Competitors in the free dance can choose their own rhythms, programme themes and music. Emphasis is on creativity. Since 1998 competitors have had to include certain elements in their free dances. These include step sequences, lifts, dance spins and multi-rotation turns. At senior level dances last four minutes (plus or minus ten seconds). Usually there is a slower section which allows a change of mood and introduces variety. Hand holds and positions are more open and free than in the compsulsory and original. There is skating in different and unusual positions to increase the level of difficulty. There are also more lifts than in the other categories. In the free dance both performers must keep their skates on the ice at all times except during lifts.
Ice dance is characterized by a number of restrictions. Singles elements such as jumps and intricate spins, or such pair moves as overhead lifts and throw jumps are not allowed because these moves are highly athletic and detract from the dance element. In the free dance lifts are legal, but moves that take the woman over the man's shoulder are forbidden. Dancers perform moves low to the ice such as the man pulling the woman between his legs or laying the woman over the man's knee with one skate on the ice. Another common lift is where the man uses his hands to lift his partner.
Many of the compulsory dances which are still performed today were developed by British dancers in the 1930's. Twelve of the first sixteen World Championships in ice dance were won by British couples.
I don't intend to mention all the top exponents of this form.That will be the subject of another web page. However, there are certain skaters that I must mention. The englishman John Curry took ice dance to new heights and in new directions after his Olympic triumph in Innsbruck in 1976. He wanted to establish ice skating as dance but without sacrificing the athletic, sporting aspect. He choreographed pieces for himself but such luminaries as Sir Kenneth MacMillan, Zubovitch and Twlya Tharp also created dances for him. His choice of music included such composers as Albinov, Saint-Saens, Debussy and Philip Glass. John Curry was known as the "Nureyev of the Ice."
Other great representatives of ice dance are Jane Torvill and Christopher Dean also from Great Britain. They incorporated balletic themes into their routines. Their 1984 free dance at the Sarajevo Olympics danced to Ravel's Bolero has become a classic. They won the Gold Medal and gained 9 perfect scores for presentation - a feat which is yet to be equalled. Some in the ice dance community thought that Torvill and Deans's dramatic choreography strayed too far from traditional dance.
In the 1970's the Soviet Union and Russia started to dominate the field. Their style emphasized speed and power over precision. By the 1990's the International Skating Union felt it was time to curb the extreme theatricality that was taking over. Attempts were made to return ice dance to its' ballroom roots by adding more restrictions on choice of music and dance holds. This led to complaints that performances had become boring. As a result restrictions were lifted but replaced with requirements that specified technical elements be included. Also judging was to be on the basis of athleticism and less on theatrical tours de force.
Ice dancing competitions have been controversial because judging is often more subjective than in pairs or singles. The vote swapping at the 2002 Olympics figure skating voting led to the judging system being overhauled. The old six point system has been replaced by one in which a performance is awarded points for a technical score as well as five other elements:- skating skills, transitions, performance/execution, choreography and interpretation. Voting is now annonymous.
The evolution of this form continues and it is interesting to wonder what the future will bring.
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