So what if it was a tie for 3rd. place in a styling? It still means that I placed in a styling event!
Yesterday's Styling was all about skating- whether it's roller skating or roller derby, skateboarding or ice skating. There were only 4 entrants for this styling including myself- and I figured one would have to lose to the other 3. Who would have thought that a skateboarder and an Ice Dancer would wind up in a tie for 3rd?
The winner was Erin for her portrayal as a figure skater. LiL took second for her figure skater, and it was me and Bell in a tie for 3rd- Bell was the skateboarder and I was the Ice Dancer. My styling notecard went something like this...
Greetings, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Janet Gartner, and this styling is all about skating... and the most elegant form of them all is Ice Dancing.
Ice Dancing is a figure skating discipline generated from Ballroom Dancing and was first performed at the World Figure Skating Championships in 1952, but didn't become an Olympic Medal Sport until 1976. Like Figure Skating, Ice Dancing is governed by the International Skating Union.
Ice Dancing is a pairs competition, and differentiates from Pairs Skating in the requirements for lifts, spins have to be done in a dance hold, and by disallowing throws and multi-revolutionary jumps- but half jumps are now allowed. Typically, partners are not supposed to separate by more than two arm lengths and originally, partners were supposed to be in a dance hold the entire program- though this restriction has been lifted somewhat in modern ice dancing.
Another difference with Ice Dancing is the music- the music has to have a beat or rhythm to it. In normal skating, skaters can skate to the melody or phrasing of the music- this is severely penalized in ice dancing. In some non-ISU Competions, solo dancers can also compete.
There are two parts of an Ice Dancing Competition- the Short Dance and the Free Dance. Up until 2009-2010, Compulsory Dances were required in Ice Dancing- that was done away after that year. The Free Dance is heavily weighted on, and serves as a tiebreaker.
The Short Dance combines elements of both the Compulsory and Original Dances, and was introduced in the 2010-2011 Season to make the competition similar to Figure Skating. For half of the Short Dance, pairs were to do a segment of a Compulsory Dance and then could do a segment of an Original Dance. Skaters are free to choose their own music for the Short Dance, so long as the tempo is appropriate.
For the Free Dance, Ice Dance pairs are allowed to be creative in it. Since 1998, dancers have been required to include certain elements in their sequences- including step sequences, lifts, dance spins and twizzles (Multi-Rotational turns). Senior Level Free Dances are four minutes long and usually include multiple music cuts and tempos that bring variety to the routine. The hand holds and positions are much more open and free than in compulsory and original dance categories- and often teams strive to skate in difficult or unusual positions to gain difficulty points. Plus there are more lifts in the free dance than in the original dance.
Just like in figure skating, ice dancers wear spandex outfits- my costume, Bliss Couture's 'Tata', is a spandex bodice outfit with gold trim around the neck. Normally I would use my pose machine for posing- but since I'm ice dancing, I had to substitute a different AO for the occasion. My skates are the SKha V.3 ice skates in black uppers by V STYLE. Paired along side my normal accoutrements, and that completes the look for this ice dancer.
Thank you for coming out and sharing your time with us. Special Thanks go to Anrol Anthony and Steve101 McCullough for building this massive complex for us to be featured in, and to all in attendance. Have a wonderful day, and see you all soon.
Now tell me if that didn't deserve a better placement than a tie for 3rd.
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