icedancers.com DVD

[Query]

The first DVD from icedancers.com covers the first few compulsory dances. I think it is helpful to study good skaters moving together. Notice how the two partners tend to copy or mirror each other's motions and body lines, at least in the compulsory dances.

But, AFAIK, Mike in that video does not do (forwards) progressives in the way the USFSA requires at rule DG 5.12 in the test book at http://usfsa.org/Content/2010-11%20Tests%20Book.pdf. He touches down in front of the body, crossed over the back foot, more like a Crossover or a Progressive Run. AFAICT, the new foot should touch down along side the other foot, then slide ahead and in front of the other foot, as the old foot pushes underneath. I'm very confused about how a Gold test/International level skater like Mike (and Julie, in the second DVD) can do progressives in a different fashion - especially since Mike is a USFSA judge. Perhaps this means that there is an alternate technique mentioned in some other USFSA or ISU manual? A couple judges have told me that the technique Mike and Julie use would be a problem. But if Mike is a USFSA judge, this must be wrong, as he would know better. I just don't get it.

Mike also adds 3 extra strokes in every Cha Cha pattern, and mistimes his steps, relative to that test book. Perhaps Mike didn't have time to review the Cha Cha pattern before making the video.

You may also need to know that there are extensive variations in the way coaches teach dance holds, and especially in the way they "track" each other. You need to do what your coach tells you to do, which may be subtly different from what is in that DVD.

For example, I think most of the U.S. coaches who haven't been influenced by the Russian immigrants teach that forwards moving skaters generally looks diagonally into the center of the arc, while backwards moving skater looks diagonally outside, exactly opposite the direction that forward skaters look. In that style, the shoulders usually aligns so that the skater on the outside of the skating arc is ahead of the skater on the inside. If you are in closed position, as you begin each arc, the forward skater usually moves beside (to the inside of the arc) of the backwards skater. When you switch lobes, the forwards skater briefly drops back and changes to the other side. The feet do not interleave in position with those of the other dancer, just like ballroom style American Waltz, and each skater's head is opposite the right or left shoulder of the opposite skater, respectively.

Another coach will teach that forwards skaters look diagonally outside the arc, while backwards skaters look diagonally inside the arc. The shoulders align so that the skater on the inside is ahead of the skater on the outside. In closed position, the forwards skater is to the left of the backwards skater when the forwards skater is on a left forwards outside or right forwards inside edge, without interleaved foot positions, but switches somewhat less leftwards position on right forwards outside or left forwards inside edge, so that the feet interleave, as in a ballroom style Viennese Waltz. Each skater's head is opposite the right shoulder of the opposite skater in all cases. I believe this style was common in the USSR and now Russia.

Yet another coach will teach that you always look and align directly forwards or backwards along the line of motion. In closed position, your head is directly opposite that of your partner, and you look directly into each other's faces. That means your bodies cannot be as close as in the previous two styles - e.g., your hips can not touch, else unseemly contact would occur. AFAICT from televised competitions, this style is less common - but some Russian couples have used it.

My best guess is that national styles have become very confused now that so many former Soviet coaches have come to the U.S. Besides, many coaches and couples seem to copy elements of the winner's styles in major international competitions, regardless of nationalities.

There are other styles. I have only listed the styles of my past coaches. My new coach, an American mostly taught by Russians and a Ukrainians, says she mixes different styles of tracking at different times.

Is it any surprise that dance diagrams rarely show the tracks of both skaters at once? There would be too many variations!

It also means that if you get a chance to dance with a partner of another coach, there is a danger your styles are incompatible. I got very confused by this, before I realized there are so many different legitimate ways for partners to interact. I was originally taught the second style by a Russian and by his student, at a time when most local U.S. dancers were using the first style. It just didn't work, even or especially when I tried to dance with a much higher level partner, because I kept trying to move into a position that didn't match where she expected me to be.

By the way, the tracks shown in the dance diagrams of the above USFSA test book during progressives wrong no matter which style is used. They make it look like the old skating foot comes off the ice as soon as the new one touches down. But it is required that the old skating leg and foot push underneath the new skating leg.

I wish there were videos available that showed everything (steps, holds, body positions) clearly and did everything right.


Mod note: Split off from beginning ice dance thread in the On Ice Skaters forum.