Are You Tempted To Learn To Ice Dance?

Dancing techniques using ice skates are once again in vogue, partly due to the impressive skills some celebrities have demonstrated they can pick up seemingly incredibly quickly and easily on popular television shows.

Behind the scenes of course these celebrities are benefitting from intense tuition by the very best figure skating professionals; and there is no getting away from the fact that they do have to dedicate an enormous amount of time, effort and mental concentration into the task in hand.

The fact that ice dancing is incredibly hard and requires so much effort should not however put people off; it should instead be regarded as a more long-term, interesting challenge, with many rewarding achievements along the way.

The first priorities for the complete beginner are: to buy a decent pair of ice skates (although recreational ice skates are more comfortable, it will in the long run be easier to learn using proper figure skates); to book some figure skating lessons at a local ice rink; and to begin a program of regular exercise to boost both cardiovascular levels and physical strength (ice skating is one of the most physically demanding and stamina-reliant sports).

Once the basics of stopping and recovering from falls are mastered, the skater will then usually move on to learn various techniques for moving forward, such as the swizzle (or scissor) technique whereby the skates are pushed out and in again in a forward-moving, circular motion.

The next phase is to learn standard dance techniques such as the Dutch Waltz. Once the skater has the satisfaction of being able to perform these standard steps then he or she will be ready to begin learning free dance techniques such as spins, partner lifts and twizzles (turns on one foot).

At Skates.co.uk we can supply the best value ice skates for budding ice dancers everywhere.