Ballet in the Winter Olympics?

With the Winter Olympics behind us and Tchaikovsky Ballet's production of Sleeping Beauty coming up I thought it would be interesting to blog about the relationship between ballet and figure skating. The topic came to me after watching the mens figure skating competition during the Olympics and turning to a friend to ask him if he thought figure skaters needed training in dance. When thinking about, it seems obvious that figure skaters would need some sort of dance background in order to use choreography successfully in their routines. It seems even more obvious that it would be ballet.

It turns out that figure skating wasn't always the graceful sport we see today , in fact it started out as the strict practice of carving out specific figures onto the ice. That all changed in 1836 when American Ballet Dancer and Championship Ice Skater Jackson Haines set his skating to music and incorporated dance into his routine. The style which is now known as free skating was actually looked down upon in the United States before becoming popular. It became better received after he took his idea overseas to Vienna, Austria, where a more theatrical approach to ice skating, which allowed for dance, was being introduced. It was actually the Russians who became the first to successfully integrate ballet techniques into ice skating in 1964. Some believe that the influence of this style dated back to the 1890s when Russian aristocrats held lavish ice festivals where skaters were choreographed by masters of the Kirov and Bolshoi schools. Several ballet positions can be seen in the choreography of figure skaters. Beginning figure skaters are even encouraged to make ballet a part of their training programs as it is believed that ballet helps the skater with the appropriate posture and helps them become more aware of their bodies. Ballet is also assists skaters with their speed, coordination, balance, flexibility and artistry.

Boucard, Marine, Pistsos, Swallow. Connecting Steps: The Figure Skating/Ballet Relationship. http://www.metroedgefsc.org/pdf/misc/BalletandSkating2.pdf

Skate Canada. Eastern Ontario. History of Skating: History of Figure Skating. http://www.skate-eos.on.ca/about-eossub_HistorySkating.html

Randall, Jon. And it's not Just Because of Tonya Hardins "Little Irish Love Pat". http://sonic.net/~goblin/9ice.html

Absolute Astronomy. Jackson Haines. http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Jackson_Haines