Ice dancing

Ice dancing is a form of figure skating related to ballroom dancing. Its first competition was at the World Figure Skating Championships in 1952, but it did not become a Winter Olympic Games medal sport until 1976. As in pair skating, dancers compete as a couple, a man and a woman.

Paso doble on ice: Luca Lanotte & Anna Cappellini. Notice the style

A lift in ice dancing (Free Dance section). Notice the body shaping

Ice dancing is different from pair skating because it limits the figures to those which are imitative of dance. Skaters must stay close together, and may not perform jumps. There are set dances, in which the style must be appropriate for the type of dance, and there is a Free Dance section which allows lifts up to shoulder level.

Ice dancing is the only form of figure skating to allow vocal music in official competitions.

Other websites

• Ice-dance.com
• Care to Ice Dance? Archived 2007-09-02 at the Wayback Machine
• Ice Dancers Online^{[permanent dead link]}
• ISU Home - International Skating Union website

References