Different kinds of Skating Styles

[birchtim]

Can anybody plz tell me what are the different kinds of skating styles?

[icedancer]

Maybe you can be more specific?

In ice dance there is American Style, British Style and Russian style or some combination thereof (at this point).

[littlerain]

Or were you asking more along the lines of freestyle, dance, pairs etc?

[jbruced]

In ice dance there is American Style, British Style and Russian style or some combination thereof (at this point).

I would like to know more about these different styles within the field of ice dance.

[sk8time]

I'd also be interested in a summary of the 4 styles (American, British, Russian, combo  ).

[nicklaszlo]

Historically speaking, at first there was only "British style" which was replaced by "international style" which was invented by Jackson Haines ~1860.  British style was skated with a stiff body, while international style is more like dancing.  All figure skating you see today is descended from the international style.

There are lots of ways to answer your question.  Perhaps you were asking about disciplines?

[sk8time]

Presumably the stiff body is intended to accompany the stiff upper lip.   

I myself am just curious about what earlier commentators implied by different styles to learn more about the discipline;  I was guessing that there was some general thought about schools or "styles" of ice dance that people use to describe historical or current skaters.  Just curious!

[lutefisk]

I thought that the "British" style, at least in relation to ice dance, was a direct adaptation of various ballroom dance styles, i.e. waltz, tango, cha-cha etc., whereas the "Russian"  style of dance was more thematic and story-telling based.  That's probably an over simplification.