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25 chapters
INTRODUCTION.
INTRODUCTION.
Americans ought to be the greatest skaters in the world. They are athletic people, lovers of outdoor sports and their country is situated in the largest tract of the North Temperate zone occupied by any one nation in the world. In this zone is found sufficient cold weather to produce a great deal of natural ice and at the same time such agreeable weather as to render the use of that ice, for sport, attractive and exhilarating. In this respect the United States is more fortunately situated than a
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CHAPTER 1. The Right Equipment, Skates, Shoes, Costumes, &c.
CHAPTER 1. The Right Equipment, Skates, Shoes, Costumes, &c.
Skating on ice is the best sport in the world. It is also the best method in the world for developing grace of carriage, supple muscles and fine health through a fascinating exercise. I have tried all the various sports, including swimming, fencing, dancing, tennis and mountain climbing, and there is none to compare with ice skating. Strange as it may seem, ice skating will both reduce fat and add fat; if mildly followed as a regular exercise it will stimulate appetite, digestion and that zest i
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CHAPTER 2. Correct Form in Skating.
CHAPTER 2. Correct Form in Skating.
The tracing of certain set figures on the ice is by no means all there is to figure skating. The correct carriage of the head and body, the arms and the balance leg are not merely an important part of the sport; they are even the very basis on which good marks are given in all serious competitions. No skater wishes to look like a freak on the ice. To avoid it one must cultivate the right carriage and balance from the start. Certain accepted rules are in vogue among the European skaters which ten
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CHAPTER 3. Outside Circles, Forward.
CHAPTER 3. Outside Circles, Forward.
Start with the idea that good skating is a hard thing to acquire. It is. For the same reason it is interesting. Easy things never hold their interest very long. Graceful skating implies perseverance and determination. It requires close application to right principles from the very start and rigid concentration upon a number of important rules, several of which the skater will have to keep in mind during the moment of execution of any figures. But the fact that it is the chosen sport of most of t
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CHAPTER 4. Plain Circles, Inside Edge Forward.
CHAPTER 4. Plain Circles, Inside Edge Forward.
Next to the outside edges in importance are the inside edges. Indeed, it is more accurate to say that they are of equal importance. For some reasons the inside edge deserves the premier position in skating. Spectacular and exhibition skating probably draws into use more bold inside edges than it does outside edges. There is a certain attraction about the poised body executing the inside edge that the outside edge lacks. CIRCLE. Right inside edge, forward. (RIF) Many of my own big sweeping curves
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CHAPTER 5. Outside Circles, Backward.
CHAPTER 5. Outside Circles, Backward.
Most spectacular and most applauded of all the items on my programme in the ice ballet in “Flirting at St. Moritz,” at the Hippodrome, are the backward outside edges or circles. Probably the very simplicity of them adds to the effect which they create in the mind of the crowds. The series of jumps which I make from a forward outside edge to a backward outside edge, is nowhere near as hard as it appears. And the complete revolution in the air which I make from one outside backward edge to the sam
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CHAPTER 6. Inside Circles, Backward.
CHAPTER 6. Inside Circles, Backward.
All backward skating is difficult to acquire. After it is acquired it is more interesting than forward skating. Some of the very difficult jumps in mid-air which I do are taken backward because it is really easier to do them that way than forward. There is one jump where I am skating backward on the outside edge on the right foot, swing the left foot violently around, spring into the air, make a complete revolution of my body, land on the outside edge of the right foot again and continue on a bi
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CHAPTER 7. Change of Edge; Forward; Outside to Inside.
CHAPTER 7. Change of Edge; Forward; Outside to Inside.
The change of edge is one of the most important school figures and should be carefully practised by every skating pupil. It is not spectacular, although it is very graceful and very easy to acquire. I like the changes of edge and, like all other expert skaters, find them of the greatest importance at certain times. When one has an audience of skaters I find these figures much better appreciated than at other times. At a private party given on the stage of the Hippodrome, I was skating a difficul
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CHAPTER 8. Change of Edge; Forward; Inside to Outside.
CHAPTER 8. Change of Edge; Forward; Inside to Outside.
I feel convinced no one can be called a skater until he can do the school figures. Every day I practise the simplest of the school figures—outside circles, forward and backward; threes, changes of edge, loops, and the rest of them. I do this because I am sure they are the best practice for keeping the skater in right form and correct balance. You may not see many of them on the ice of the Hippodrome pool, so you must take my word for their importance to me. When one has but a few moments in whic
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CHAPTER 9. Change of Edge; Backward; Outside to Inside and Inside to Outside.
CHAPTER 9. Change of Edge; Backward; Outside to Inside and Inside to Outside.
We have now reached the place in the school figures where they are of sufficient difficulty and interest for their introduction into my programme as premiere of the ice skating ballet in “Flirting at St. Moritz” at the Hippodrome. But of course they may be done so fast that they will be missed by any except the most observing attendants. Theatrical skating, such as I do, has to be fast and sensational. The easy transition strokes from one figure to another furnish about the only example of schoo
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CHAPTER 10. Threes—Forward and Backward.
CHAPTER 10. Threes—Forward and Backward.
Skated in a series, as I do them, backward, threes always interest even those who know nothing about skating. They are necessary to the mastery of the ice waltz and all the other dance steps. In their simplest form, either forward or backward, they are generally graceful. There are two ways of regarding the three. Some of the best skaters make it very deeply indented, as if there were two circles, in the middle of which was placed the threes. Others make the three a quick turn, almost unnoticeab
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CHAPTER 11. Double Threes Forward.
CHAPTER 11. Double Threes Forward.
Double threes make a very pretty tracing on the ice and are especially useful in determining if the skater has learned the correct carriage for the various turns comprising them. Unless that correct balance has been learned, the correct execution of the double threes is impossible. There is an agreeable swing to the double threes which is lacking in some of the other school figures. They form what one might call a finished figure of themselves, both as to the tracing on the ice and the position
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CHAPTER 12. Double Threes Backward.
CHAPTER 12. Double Threes Backward.
The second half of the double threes are skated backward. That is, both parts of the lesson of the day start backward. Double threes have the interesting peculiarity of finishing on the same edge and in the same direction as they are started. They are clover leaf in pattern, and should be skated with great care to have the leaves equal in size and accurately placed as to the axis of the two large circles of which they form a part. The placing of all school figures is most important and is the ba
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CHAPTER 13. Loops, Forward.
CHAPTER 13. Loops, Forward.
The importance of loops cannot be exaggerated. They are in some respects more important than the threes, which precede them. They are an entirely different balance from figures to which they are very similar and for that reason alone are important. If, for instance, one has been practising threes and then goes to loops, the different balance is so great as to disturb the proper execution of either figure. Of course, when one becomes expert they can do any figure they select, in any order. The am
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CHAPTER 14. Loops, Backward.
CHAPTER 14. Loops, Backward.
Loops are so very important a part of the equipment of the finished skater that I have divided them into two chapters. They should have large place in the careful, studious skating of all who are ambitious to make good progress in this most graceful of sports. There are some interesting peculiarities of loops which may be set down as worth remembering. For instance, all loops are skated with the balance foot following the skating foot before the loop and preceding it after the loop. Again, all l
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CHAPTER 15. Brackets.
CHAPTER 15. Brackets.
It is most important, in learning the school figures in the correct continental style, to remember that all the school figures should be done in large size. The matter of size is, in fact, one of the first essentials in the correct performance of the continental school figures. It is told me that the American tendency is to skate all figures much smaller than they are skated in Europe. When the fact is realized that after the figures are learned in large size it is comparatively easy to skate th
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CHAPTER 16. Rockers; Outside Forward and Outside Backward.
CHAPTER 16. Rockers; Outside Forward and Outside Backward.
The rockers are very hard figures to learn, but they are very beautiful and very delightful. Perhaps the big soaring rockers are the most fascinating of all skating figures. Many of the champions of Europe use them as opening figures in their competitions where judges of skating are marking points. I select figures less technical for the purpose of interesting a general audience. The rocker is a comparatively new turn which has only within recent years been introduced into school skating. Northe
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CHAPTER 17. Rockers; Inside Forward and Inside Backward.
CHAPTER 17. Rockers; Inside Forward and Inside Backward.
Although the rockers, or rocking turns, as they are sometimes called, are very difficult and very beautiful, they are not especially adapted to a place in theatrical skating. If I were giving an exhibition before skaters only I would probably introduce several of these spectacular turns. I find other numbers a little more suited to the dashing performance expected in a programme offered a general audience. In the last lesson, which was on rockers, we learned how to execute the forward outside ro
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CHAPTER 18. Counters.
CHAPTER 18. Counters.
Counters are very similar in appearance to rockers but the turn is made away from the centre instead of toward it. A rocker is a form of three out of which one comes onto the same edge in a different direction. A counter somewhat resembles a bracket in appearance but the continuing stroke is on the same edge as that employed in the first half of the figure. As in the rockers, the direction is reversed at the turn; forward, counter, backward or backward, counter, forward. The change is always to
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CHAPTER 19. The Advanced School Figures.
CHAPTER 19. The Advanced School Figures.
The advanced school figures, as will be seen from a glance at the diagrams, consist of developments and combinations of the elementary school figures. There are no really new figures among them unless the continuation of the change of edge into the form of an eight can be so regarded. Some of them are of the greatest importance since in one figure are combined all the changes of edge and all the threes or loops. They should be very carefully practised and fully mastered. When they have been incl
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CHAPTER 20. Other Important Figures.
CHAPTER 20. Other Important Figures.
While the school figures, both elementary and advanced, have been described or illustrated, there are other important figures which the skater should learn. These will be useful for introduction into any free skating programme and some of them are exceedingly interesting. In my theatrical skating I make up a programme which contains very few of the school figures. Spectacular jumps and spins, pirouettes and acrobatic development of skating strokes are the most taking features of any skating prog
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CHAPTER 21. Free Skating.
CHAPTER 21. Free Skating.
The term free skating is applied to that portion of the programme not included in the school figures. In all championship contests certain selections are made from the school figures and then the competitor is allowed a few minutes in which to illustrate his ability to skate special figures or elements not before shown by him. While the skating of school figures is always to place, and the marking of that skating is dependent upon the ability of the skater to make his tracings upon the ice confo
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CHAPTER 22. Pair Skating.
CHAPTER 22. Pair Skating.
Pair skating implies adaptability. One must not only be an independent skater but must also watch his partner and meet that partner’s stroke or change of stroke. Evenness and accuracy in individual skating are more necessary in pair skating than in solo skating for on that accuracy depends the manner in which the partner is met after separating strokes. In many figures the difficulty is enhanced by not only having to execute the figure but meet the partner at the right spot and the right moment
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CHAPTER 23. Competitions and Judging.
CHAPTER 23. Competitions and Judging.
There is no greater stimulus to skating interest than a competition in which numbers of the best skaters enter and in which the judging is satisfactory. In Europe these competitions are held every winter and call out entries from many localities. After a series of elimination contests by which the local champions are determined, there are then held the national and international championships. These latter are not held in the same place every year, but are taken about so that different localitie
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CHAPTER 24. Skating Ponds and Rinks.
CHAPTER 24. Skating Ponds and Rinks.
There should be encouragement of skating on the part of every community by the maintenance of skating ponds and rinks. No better exercise can be provided for by any city or town. It is almost a universal pastime in all northern climes and would be even more popular than it is if facilities for its enjoyment were increased. Deep lakes and ponds require from three to five inches of ice to be safe for any considerable crowds. It is better to flood tennis courts or parade grounds than to wait for co
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