Am I My Body?

I recently wrote: As kids we take it so personally, whether we can do a particular move. My advice to any dance (or skating) student is to step back and look at your body more objectively. Each session is an opportunity to take out this amazing machine called your body, work with it, and improve … Read more

Bay State Games: To Compete or Not?

I’m skating in a different universe from the rest of my local club, and I wanted to find ways to bridge that gap and participate more like I’m a present member of this club. I had the opportunity to enter events at Bay State Games, which is a big deal for my local club. So … Read more

Training Update: From the Beginning

I began this journey March 15, 2024 but did not begin to blog about it until recently. So here’s a quick re-cap of how my training has gone so far. I skated ice dance as a child because my parents made me. Then I quit at age 19 and pursued a ballet career instead. Professional … Read more

Easy but Dangerous: The Bunnicula Hop

Internally I’m sure many of us think of skating elements on a spectrum of easy to challenging. Pushing on a forward outside edge is easy, landing a triple Axel is challenging. And when we consider our safety, we implicitly assume that easier things are safe, whereas more challenging things are more likely to result in … Read more

Freestyle Ice Skating

Today I learned about a new (since 2010) discipline of skating art, called Freestyle Ice Skating. NOT to be confused with its distant and much more established cousin Freestyle Figure Skating, Freestyle Ice Skating is related to extreme sports, break dancing, snowboarding and skateboarding — in hockey skates and on ice! Skating contests are organized … Read more

On Angular Momentum

I’ve thought a fair amount on how linear momentum is built when skating on one foot. But angular momentum is important too, and there are three axes to consider. Here are some initial thoughts. Vertical Axis At its core, figure skating takes place in a rotating reference frame in which the rate of rotation around … Read more

Introduction

Hi, my name is Elizabeth! This blog is all about this dancer’s journey through the world of figures, and how we train our bodies for it. I will be looking at the technique from the points of view of physics, biomechanics and past understanding of ballet technique. I will be finding relationships where they exist, … Read more