Ice dance and figure skating have their own significance and adventure, even though they belong to the same “envelope” of skating. The most attractive thing in ice skating is the ball dancing smoothly on the ice. The dancers on the ice should dance with the music beat and sync them into the beat, and it is the only sport where vocals are allowed. There are no leaps or throws allowed in ice dancing, and it is usually done in pairs. The commanding awestruck in figure skating are Jumps, lifts, death spirals, and spins. Single, doubles, and couples can fit into the sport. Figure skaters are rated on how well they link all of those aspects with their footwork, whereas ice dancers are judged on how precise their footwork is.
In all sports, the United States has a strong track record: for men’s skating, the most recent medal won by the United States was gold by Evan Lysacek at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Legends like Kristi Yamaguchi, Tara Lipinski, and Sarah Hughes dazzled the ice and won gold, In the mid-2000s, the United States dominated women’s figure skating, — but the US girls have not received a medal when you consider Sasha Cohen’s silver medal on the 2006 Games in Torino. In Pyeongchang, the US received the bronze medal. In Pyeongchang, the US received the bronze medal.
Meryl Davis and Charlie White earned silver at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, then gold in Sochi in 2014. The United States hasn’t had couples figure skating teams on the podium since 1988, but it did win bronze in the overall team competition at both the 2014 and 2018 sports of the Olympics.
Figure Skating
It is a sport that is generally done single or in pairs, act mesmerizing leaps, spins, lifts, and footwork tricks. The names from the skaters who make different patterns and the names come from that. Including freestyle, couple dance, ice dance, and synchronized team skating, it all comes under ice skating. Each class of skating has its personal fashion of competition, in addition to maneuvers and strategies utilized by the skaters. Through the Olympic sports, it gained its name and popularity.
History
Pioneers of the Sport
Englishman Robert Jones is also known to be the first individual of figure skating in the year 1772. In the mid-1860s, The tactics and the sport became a too rigid and tough bit. Haines’ style (known as the International style), From the US and died at the age of 35.
Americans Irving Brokaw and George H. Browne helped standardize Haines’ technique by exhibiting it to American audiences in the early twentieth century. In 1908 Brokaw was the first American to complete the international events in Olympics and lay sixth in it. Browne, who prepared the inaugural United States championships for men, women, and couples in 1914, additionally posted key skating manuals and changed into engaged withinside the formation of a country-wide skating organization.
By making regulation organizations for sport within US and Canada, he spearheaded the charge to systematize contests and testing. For the Amateur Skating Association of Canada and the National Amateur Skating Association of the United States, he was a key figure in the formation of both. During 1921 only seven skating clubs were there all around, but by the 21st century, it rises to more than 400 groups and 10,000 members all around.
In 1892, Netherland was the place for the establishment of The International Skating Union (ISU) which keep ice skating on a global level. Since 1896, it has sanctioned both speed skating and figure skating, as well as sponsored the yearly world championships. The ISU, which has over 50 member countries, creates standards for the conduct of skating and skating events.
Axel Paulsen, Ulrich Salchow, and Alois Lutz are also noteworthy for their contributions to the sport of figure skating. Each individual invented a leap that is now known by his name. Paulsen, a Norwegian figure and speed skater, debuted his leap in Vienna in 1882, in what is widely considered to be the first international competition. Gillis Grafström, a Swedish figure skater, eventually down the “axel.” In 1909, Salchow of Scandinavian country debuted his signature leap (the “salchow”) in an exceeding competition. He also won the first Olympic gold medal for figure skating in London in 1908.
While English diarists claimed to own danced at the ice at some stage in London’s harsh low temperature of 1662, the last ice diversion is most likely the tip results of the capital of Austria sports Club’ Eighties waltz adaption. From 1930, the sport blasted with fame. In 1914 it was initially performed as a national championship in the US, but it was not recognized as an Olympic sport until 1976.
NEXT-READ: Is Ice Skating Dangerous? Here’s The Answer!
20th-century Champions
In this era the female skaters are crossing the male skater limits but earlier that wasn’t the scenario. Only a men’s event was skated in the first world championships, which were held in St. Petersburg in 1896. In year 1952 ice skating got established, and in the year 1902, the pairs in them got introduced. In 1902, from Great Britain, Madge Syers was the pioneer woman to compete in a world championship event. She battled and got the pole in the world championships in London, and the interesting fact is that regulations did not specify the gender of the competitor. She completed 2nd handiest at the back of Salchow, who presented her his gold medal for the reason that he believed she must have received the event.
The next year, the ISU regulations were amended to exclude women from competing, but three years later, a separate women’s division was established, which Syers won for the first two years.
Just twenty-one years later Sonja Henie became the first major female figure skater. From 1927 to 1936, she was the world champion and started her Hollywood career from it too. Henie was the youngest world champion when she won her first world title at the age of 14. Tara Lipinski, who was two months younger than Henie, won the world championship in 1997. Lipinski also dethroned Henie as the youngest female Olympic champion when she won the gold medal at the age of 15 in 1998. After winning an Olympic gold medal in 1948, Canadian Barbara Ann Scott became the first non-European to win a world championship, as did both Henie and Lipinski.
Dick Button was the twentieth century’s first big American male star. He won five world titles (from 1948 to 1952) and two Olympic gold medals (1948 and 1952), as well as seven U.S. national titles. He is now known as the “voice of figure skating” (from 1947 through 1953). Button became additionally the primary skater to land a double axel in opposition withinside the 1948 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland. While Button’s achievement cleared the door for extra multi-revolution leaps in discern skating, different male skaters contributed to the area in different ways. Karl Schäfer, for example, revolutionized spinning by inventing the “blur spin,” or scratch spin, in which the skater spins fast on one foot while standing erect.
An aircraft tragedy in 1961 rocked the US figure-skating community, killing the whole US team. When the jet crashed on approach to Brussels, the team was on its way to Prague for the world championships. The championships were called off. Despite the loss of prospective world champions like Laurence Owen, American skating regained global popularity in 1966, when Peggy Fleming, known for her elegance and grace, won the women’s international identity in Davos, Switzerland, and an Olympic gold medal years later in Grenoble, France. Olympic bronze medal in 1972 was won by Janet Lynn, who also won an in Sapporo, Japan, and Dorothy Hamill, Carlo Fassi, an Italian singles champion in the 1940s and 1950s, was among the new teachers who traveled to the United States.
East Germany’s Katarina Witt won Olympic gold medals at the 1984 (Sarajevo, Yugoslavia) and 1988 (Calgary, Alberta) Winter Games, dominating the women’s singles in a way never before view from the time of Henie. Scott Hamilton of the United States (see Sidebar: Scott Hamilton: Training for Olympic Gold) won four world championships (1981–84) and an Olympic gold medal in 1984. In 1956 and 1960, American brothers Hayes and David Jenkins had won sequential Olympic gold medals. In 1988, Brian Boitano just gold medal and added up in America’s Olympic medal chart.
While the United States continued to produce champions in singles, the Soviet Union dominated in doubles. The French couples skaters Andrée and Pierre Brunet won Olympic gold medals in 1928 and 1932, but the Soviet Union’s supremacy became clear in the 1960s and continued into the twenty-first century. Oleg Protopopov and Lyudmila Belousova won Olympic gold medals in 1964 (Innsbruck) and 1968 (Grenoble). Irina Rodnina won three Olympic gold medals with two different partners, Aleksey Ulanov and Aleksandr Zaytsev, from 1972 to 1980.
This supremacy was maintained throughout the 1980s when Yelena Valova and Oleg Vassilyev won the gold medal in 1984. (Sarajevo). In 1992 and 1998, Artur Dmitriyev gave one of his best and won gold with two different partners, Natalya Mishkutenok and Oksana Kazakova, as did Yekaterina Gordeeva and Sergey Grinkov. As for the judging issues in the 2002 Olympic gold medel, it was split into two: Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze from Russia and Jamie Salé and David Pelletier from Canada.
In 1976, ice dance was added to the Olympic program, and Soviet teams dominated the sport.Teams from this country won Olympic gold medals in 1976 (Lyudmila Pakhomova and Aleksandr Gorshkov), 1980 (Natalia Linichuk and Gennady Karponosov), 1988 (Natalia Bestemianova and Andrey Bukin), 1992 (Marina Klimova and Sergey Ponomarenko), as well as 1994 and 1998 (Marina Klimova and Sergey Ponomarenko) (Oksana Grichuk and Yevgeny Platov). However, Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean of the United Kingdom won gold in 1984, and Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat of France won gold in 2002, giving France its first gold medal in figure skating since 1932.
It is one of a reason where the supremacy of the Soviet Union differs. According to one school of thought, the country’s political and cultural dynamics favored communal successes over individual accomplishments. The cultural focus on dance and ballet, and the duet productivity with ease, should show a lavish nature of the skaters and will be rewarded under Soviet rule. Furthermore, the top singles trainers were based in Western Europe and the United States rather than Russia. However, with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, many Russian coaches and skaters relocated to the United States to take advantage of the country’s superior training facilities.
Russian coaching aided European and American pairs and dance teams, and the gap between Russia and the rest of the world began to narrow. The single skaters are used to be much stronger than of Russia, as the American training facilities were not as good as Soviet. When Viktor Petrenko won the Olympic gold medal in men’s figure skating in 1992, Russians began to dominate the sport. In 1994 Aleksey Urmanov won the Olympic gold medal, in 1998 Ilya Kulik, and in 2002 Aleksey Yagudin.
Recent Trends And Changes
Judges tended to vote in East-West blocs during the Cold War (1947–89), which impacted the outcomes of some tight events. The Soviet Union, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Austria regularly voted as a bloc, while the United States, Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom, and Italy regularly expressed guide for athletes. However, not all of the purported politically influenced judgments were necessarily so; some preferences were just a matter of taste. The judges from the Soviet Union had a keen taste in classical music and balletic choreography over the music and dance which have more pop-cultural elements. From the early 1990s, the perspective and situation varied a lot, just some political and cultural boundaries remain.
The progressive difficult leaps were one of the major takeovers. For example, triple leaps were crucial for both men and women in the 1980s, and quadruple jumps became increasingly essential for males in the 1990s. The most difficult triple jump, the triple axel, was first landed in competition by Canadian Vern Taylor at the 1978 World Championships in Ottawa. Japan’s first woman, Midori Ito completed the leap a decade later, at the global championships in Paris.
MUST-READ: Is Football Soccer? Here’s The Answer!
Elvis Stojko, every other Canadian, holds quad records: he turned into the primary to land a quad in mixture with a double toe loop (on the 1991 World Championships in Munich) and a triple toe loop (in the final of the Champions Series 1997 Munich). In 1998, Timothy Goebel who is an American by birth performed the first quad salchow in the Junior Grand Prix finals. At the 2001 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Boston, he was also the first to land three quads in one program, two quad salchows, and one quad toe loop.
In the 1990s, figure shaking saw a tough time period. In 1991 some definite blocks vanished from the competition, skaters gained an advantage to show off more skills. After the removal, the figure skater can try different aspects of the individual skating and now can win the competition. In the 1960s, they accounted for 60% of the overall score at national and international championships, but by 1968, they had dropped to 50%.
The short program was launched in 1973, and figures were lowered to 40% of the total score at the time. Figure skaters were claimed to gain exquisite edge control, balance, and footwork, but detractors believed they were dull and commonplace in comparison to the agility and beauty of freestyle skating.
When the differentiation happened between professionals and amateurs plus the regulations got over, another level is started in 1990. Since then, the ISU has permitted amateurs, even at the novice and junior levels, to earn money through endorsements and participation in ISU-sanctioned competitions. The new system is introduced by the ISU, keeping two varying elements between skaters who were “eligible” for ISU-sanctioned competitions, like the worlds and the Olympics, who were not eligible. Ineligible skaters entered professional tournaments with prize money and performed in their own professional ice shows, boosted by strong television ratings.
Skating became quite important as a result of television. Nowhere was this more clear than in 1994, when skater Nancy Kerrigan was smashed on the kneecap by a supporter of Kerrigan’s competition Tonya Harding at the United States Nationals in Detroit. International attention in the crisis turned into excellent television ratings during the Lillehammer Winter Olympics in 1994. Millions of people saw Harding compete against Kerrigan, the eventual Olympic silver-medal winner, in the women’s short program.
As the twenty-first century began, the degree of athleticism in figure skating increased, with more men doing quad leaps in both the short and long programs. For the long programs, with triple and triple-triple jump sets, the Women’s world champions were increasingly awaited to see the women champions. Top skaters, on the other hand, only earned success by combining challenging leaps with creative and exquisite skating.
It is in a debate that with the increase in the leaps of a skater, the decency will be gone. Figure skating gave super preparation in aspect paintings and balance, however, the intricacy of the moves made it tough for skaters to boost hastily thru the degrees of skating. Today, exceptionally few skaters rehearse figures; an ordinary eligible skater may also seem awkward while as compared to the pinnacle ineligible performers whilst having the better jumping ability.
Although there have always been young athletes, the rule modifications aided younger females in moving up the rankings faster, as tiny girls may reach triples rapidly because to their narrow hips and lightweight bodies. Lipinski, the youngest person ever to win an Olympic gold medal, was merely the beginning of this trend, which was maintained by 16-year-old American Sarah Hughes, who won the Olympic gold medal on the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City. Although American Michelle Kwan advanced to the senior level at the age of 12, she did not win her first world title until she was 16 years old, in 1996. “Older” skaters like Kwan and Maria Butyrskaya (who won a gold medal at the 1999 World Championships in Helsinki at the age of 27) now compete against younger skaters since compulsory figures, the great equalizer is no longer available. Wider hips and larger bodies are more difficult to manage in the air, but what older ladies lack in athleticism, they typically make up for in elegance, overall skating, and competitive experience.
Equipment and Technique
Boots and Blades
The boots of the skaters are custom-filled. For the protection and strengthening of their ankle,heavy paddings are filled into the boots, and control and flexibility broad tongues are added too. The figure skate blade is roughly 3/16 inches (4 mm) thick. The hollow ground is seen from the two edges, but the skaters use just one blade at a time. The front of the blade, known as the toe pick, has serrations that dig into the ice and aid the skater in specific leaps. Through the boots, a skater ables to accomplish a total of 360-degree spins. To allow for fast foot movement, ice dancers use skates with shorter blades and looser cushioning.
Figures And Moves In The Field
All the actions by the skaters are done by the inner and outer blades of t (the edge closest to the inside of the foot) or the outer edge of the blade and the actions will also be done moving forward or the backward direction. The majority of motions are based on what is known as school figures, which consist of exact curves and twists that form two or three connected circles. Figures feature varying degrees of difficulty and are performed on a single skate across a limited area of ice known as a patch to develop edge control, balance, and turning abilities. The skaters need to pass nine examinations that are ruled by the USFSA and have to be cleared out before they could learn figures.
The moves were introduced to establish and promote balance, power, stroking, extension, and edge abilities. Skaters increase from easy edges like crossovers, spirals, and 3-turns to extra complex maneuvers like mohawks, pass rolls, and facet pulls. Unlike figures, which are limited to a tiny piece of ice, maneuvers in the field are executed throughout the entire length of the ice. A skater must pass eight test series to reach the top senior level in the United States.
READ MORE: Is Rafael Nadal Good? Know Here!
Ice Skating
Ice skating is the sport of moving forward and gliding through the ice surface while wearing metal-bladed ice skates. Skating is done for a variety of reasons, including recreation (fun), fitness, competitive sports, and transportation. Ice skating may be done both inside and outdoors on naturally frozen bodies of water such as ponds, lakes, canals, and rivers, as well as on man-made ice surfaces along with ice rinks, ice hockey rinks, and arenas.
Since the nineteenth century, a variety of official skating sports has arisen. Ice hockey, Bandy, and Ringette are crew sports activities performed with a flat sliding puck, a ball, and a rubber ring, respectively. Individual sports disciplines include figure skating, speed skating, ice cross downhill, and barrel jumping.
In 1976, Ice dance had its Olympic debut, the Games was in Innsbruck, whereas couples have been on the scheduled in 1908. Initially, companions simply danced on ice, however as time passed, this subject developed right into a more “acrobatic” one.
What are the differences between the sports?
Clothing
The first thing that needs to be remembered is that the two titles and disciplines vary between them. In the couples discipline, competition is held in the short and free program, whereas in ice dancing, the events are rhythm dance and free dance.
In the first glace, the two players cannot be distinguished – couples or ice dancers – as both the contenders look the same. There was a period when the disparity was visible due to an ice dance rule requiring female skaters to wear skirts or dresses, while men skaters may wear pants. However, that restriction has since been amended, and female ice dancers can now wear pants as well.
Before the 2021/22 season, women were only allowed to wear pants between the rhythmic dance. From Russia, Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin were one of the skaters to feature in the Canadian Cover photo.
Competition Elements
Ice dancers seldom leap is the major differentiation between two sports. Figure skating is the only sport that doesn’t allow more than one leap with added single jumps. Throw leaps, twist lifts, overhead lifts, and other maneuvers resembling acrobatics are also forbidden in ice dance. Aside from that, couples in this discipline should not skate independently for an extended period of time, and ice dancers should be no more than two arms’ lengths away, and the pairs can perform their arts from distance.
Twizzle (a moving turn on one foot with one or more revolutions that is swiftly rotated with a continuous movement), pattern dance, lift, spin, step sequence, and choreographic components are fundamental features in ice dancing.
The crucial elements in pairs skating are hard to perform; the ones embody twist lifts (the male athlete lifts his companion over his head and tosses her into the air; the lady skater completes up to three rotations in advance than being caught at the waist), pair lifts, throw jumps (companion assisted jumps in which the girl is thrown into the air with the aid of using the person at the take-off and lands without help from her associate), jumps, loss of life spirals and spins.
What is the main difference between them!!!
Both the faces are much different from each other.
The differences are as follows:
- If jumps, spins, and dramatic lifts are thought of, ice skating is the best.
- While ice dance could be a dance on ice – it is about musical interpretation, footwork, and rhythm.
What you may note the maximum is that there aren’t any jumps in ice dancing.
What they have in common
- Both disciplines are on ice
- The aesthetical forms are similar.
- Some technical factors with the footwork and spins are common
- Both are Olympic sports – in spite of the truth that determines skating has been part of it due to the fact the primary valid Winter Games in 1924, on the equal time as ice dancing commenced handiest in 1976. Learn extra approximate parent skating at the Olympics.
More than 4,000 years ago in southern Finland, the first ice skating took place. This was done to save electricity on winter trips. When a sharp-edged steel blade was used, true skating evolved. It just doesn’t slide on ice rather it cuts it. In the 13th or 14th century, the Dutch introduced edges to ice skates. The skate boots are made with hard steel and sharpened bottom edges at the end to help with movement on ice.
At excessive level, ice dancers compete handiest as pairs
At International competitions, classic figure skating happens for single women, single men, and couples.
Whereas the ice dancers don’t compete solo or individually.
At the National level, one can get trained and go for the solo dancer. Like the World Championships or the Olympic Games, no other international competition can compete to it.
Ice Dancing vs Figure Skating – No Jumps
The second distinction is the most noticeable.
Figure skaters in single-women, single-men, and pairs occasions maintain to do jumps (axel, lutz, etc.), even though ice dancers do not.
The ice dance is less acrobatic than the other. Partners do not leap or lift each other above their heads.
Jumps aren’t even permitted.
So, if you observe a pair on the ice, look to see if they are jumping or being tossed to identify ice dancing.
Partners have to balance between themselves
The figure skating couples don’t resemble as ice dancing couples and both are different notably.
The balance in figure skating is tough because they are more acrobatic: and most of the time the guy is huge and the lady is small enough to fly in the air.
In ice dance (like in ballroom dancing), harmony is crucial, and the size is much more balanced (normally not more than one head of height difference).
Distinctions in opposition occasions and using themes
With prescribed dances, ice skating was once even toward ballroom dancing. However, it has changed in order to appeal to newcomers.
The difference between the two skating competitions are as follows:
Figure skating events
It starts at 2 minutes and 40 seconds where there is no theme or music.
With the free theme and a rhythmic track, the program is 4 minutes long.
Lifts, leaps, and spins are all required aspects.
Ice dancing events
The dance lasted roughly three minutes. Every year, there’s an compulsory theme, together with foxtrot, tango, or cha-cha. The theme must be interpreted by each partnership.
The free dance lasts around 4 minutes. The concept for this one can be whatever you want, but the dance must tell a narrative.
Twizzles, lifts, and now even a few spins are all required by the footwork.
Skating dresses come in a variety of styles.
Finally, ice dance gowns are often longer than figure skating gowns.
The figure skaters always need aerodynamic clothing for their jumps and revolution. If the dress is too long, the movements will be restricted.
ALSO READ: Is Ice Skating Like Roller Skating?
