Pattern dancing on the side?

[Landing~Lutzes]

I was wondering if anyone here does this. . . I decided to take up pattern dancing on the side of my freestyle skating in hopes of improving my edge control and artistry (plus I get new dresses and new things to compete in )
I love the solo pattern dancing...I love the technique involved in it and I am excited to see how it corresponds with my freestyle skating.
Does anyone else here do both?

[Skittl1321]

I've dabbled unsuccessfull in ice dance before and hope to take it up again very soon.  However, I won't give up freestyle- I like to spin.

[fsk8r]

I think a lot of skaters learn both ice dance and free skating. The different disciplines complement each other. Ice dance teaches the importance of good posture and neat feet, which feeds over into free skating which is often more concerned about the elements and power.

[JHarer]

I've considered taking up ice dancing in addition to freestyle also, but it's not offered at either rink I skate at. I'd have to hire another private coach.

[icicles]

I started in ice dance and added free skating later.  I do both and have for some years.  I actually hate solo pattern dances with a passion (the early ones get very boring after a while and the higher levels are very difficult and not much fun without a partner) although had quite a bit of competitive success for the short time I had a partner to do what was then couples compulsory dance.

Probably my favourite thing now is the solo free dance as you still get to spin - in fact under IJS a good low sit spin can get you a level 2 - and the spins contribute heavily towards the marks yet you dont have the pressure of landing the jumps.  Very difficult to get steps called at bronze level in IJS though which is a bit annoying.

Unfortunately the Adult International in Oberstdorf doesn't include solo dance but the answer to that is to do an artistic as you only need one or max two jumps and one or two spins the  score is entirely on components.

I definitely think they complement each other as my footwork and posture in my free is better thanks to dance and my speed and flow and spins in dance are better thanks to free.

[Landing~Lutzes]

I started in ice dance and added free skating later.  I do both and have for some years.  I actually hate solo pattern dances with a passion (the early ones get very boring after a while and the higher levels are very difficult and not much fun without a partner) although had quite a bit of competitive success for the short time I had a partner to do what was then couples compulsory dance.

Probably my favourite thing now is the solo free dance as you still get to spin - in fact under IJS a good low sit spin can get you a level 2 - and the spins contribute heavily towards the marks yet you dont have the pressure of landing the jumps.  Very difficult to get steps called at bronze level in IJS though which is a bit annoying.

Unfortunately the Adult International in Oberstdorf doesn't include solo dance but the answer to that is to do an artistic as you only need one or max two jumps and one or two spins the  score is entirely on components.

I definitely think they complement each other as my footwork and posture in my free is better thanks to dance and my speed and flow and spins in dance are better thanks to free.

The solo free dance is a goal of mine to get to. I know you have to be through a certain level for USFSA, does anyone know what level you have to be through to compete in solo free dance?

[Clarice]

Looks like the lowest level of solo free dance is Juvenile, for which you need to have either the complete Preliminary pattern dance test, either partnered or solo, or the Juvenile MIF test.  There aren't separate adult solo free dance tests yet, although there are adult and masters partnered free dance tests starting at Pre-Bronze.

[Landing~Lutzes]

Looks like the lowest level of solo free dance is Juvenile, for which you need to have either the complete Preliminary pattern dance test, either partnered or solo, or the Juvenile MIF test.  There aren't separate adult solo free dance tests yet, although there are adult and masters partnered free dance tests starting at Pre-Bronze.

Thank you so much for this information! I've been trying to find the answer to my question for awhile but with no luck. . .all of it is so confusing to me LOL!

[Hanca]

I am doing both. I had been doing freeskating for 5 years when I changed my coaches and decided to do both. It was the best decision I could have made.

The reason why it took my 5 years to start doing the dances was that I hate compulsory dances music. I really, really can't stand it. But my new coach a few times said that my edges are rubbish (she is teaching both, but she used to be ice dancer when she competed), and I didn't know what she meant, because I never had any feeling that there is anything wrong with my edges. So I started the ice dance to see what she would do to improve my edges. Wow, after about a year I now realise how bad it was from a dancer's point of view. 

[jjane45]

For me it went like this:

I like watching figure skating on TV with the exception of ice dance - it's too cheesy with over the top costumes.

I picked up skating lessons and went on the freestyle track. In the first private lesson, Coach commented that my skating skills do not match the jumps and spins.

Read in FSU about criticism of poor basics. Read in skating forums about how dance helps basic skills.

Rink has a late evening ice dance class that always gets canceled because too few signs up, and there were just enough of us interested.

And I am officially addicted to ice dance. The dancers at skatingforums are AWESOME!!

[turnip]

Some coaches actively encourage skaters to learn dance as well (whether with their main coach or a separate dance coach), adults and children alike!

I just do free because I prefer it, because I don't have the patience to perfect the boring lower level dances to test level, and because I can only afford one lesson a week and it's hard enough to pack in everything as it is!

[taka]

I do both! I blame my club dance intervals... 

I started as a free skater as a kid. Fast forwards 24 years off ice I restarted skating. I only wanted to do free and had no particular interest in dance.

The club session I go to has 2x15min dance intervals and after a while it got really boring (and cold!!) just standing around and watching. When the club ran a brief learn to dance session a couple of months later (Riverside Rhumba!) I joined in and really enjoyed it - then mentioned learning to dance to my coach (who rather handily coaches both dance and free) and the rest is history!

Now I absolutely love it and do much, much more dance than free. I still try to jump etc but I've got such a mental block on jumps I'm completely stuck and find it very frustrating as I used to be able to do them as a kid. Doing dance gives me a fresh challenge - it can still be frustrating but I have no expectaions of being able to do it so can deal with frustration more easily!

Unfortunately the Adult International in Oberstdorf doesn't include solo dance but the answer to that is to do an artistic as you only need one or max two jumps and one or two spins the  score is entirely on components.

There are some Adult International comps that include solo dance too eg Dolomiti Adult skating competition in Italy and one in Dunkirk, France too - probably others...