What's the difference between figure skating and ice dancing?

To put it simply: figure skating is ice gymnastics-it is spectacular jumping, spinning and lifting.

Ice dance is more like ballroom dancing on the ice, which emphasizes music interpretation, footwork and rhythm.

First of all, the two are similar, both are ice sports (nonsense). The shape of roller skates is similar, and some technical elements of footwork and rotation are the same.

At the beginning, because the basic steps are the same. Cultivate two people together, and look at talents and preferences later. Figure skating is a traditional event in the Winter Olympics (from the first Winter Olympics 1924), while ice dancing became an Olympic event only from 1976.

Now let's discuss the main differences in more detail.

1. ice dancing can only be played by two people.

In traditional figure skating, you can see women's individual skating, men's individual skating and double skating. But ice dancing can only be played by two people, and there is no individual competition.

2. I didn't dance the ice dance.

This second difference is the most obvious.

In figure skating, skaters do many jumps, but ice dancing skaters don't.

Acrobatics in ice dancing is much less. Don't jump, don't throw at each other in the air, and don't lift your head.

So if you see a man and a woman on the ice, the way to distinguish ice dancing from pair skating is to see whether they are spinning or throwing.

3. Different bodies

Figure skating is more like acrobatics. Men are tall and wide, women are petite and can fly in the air.

In contrast, ice dancing and harmony are essential, so the figure is relatively balanced, generally not more than one head high.

China mingsu Shen Hongbo

Ice dancing champion of the last Winter Olympics.

4. Competition and differences in theme use

The figure skating competition begins with a short program of 2 minutes and 40 seconds-the theme and music can be freely chosen.

There is also 4 minutes of free skating-theme and music can be freely chosen.

The prescribed movements are lifting, jumping and rotating.

The ice dance begins with a rhythmic dance, which lasts about 2 minutes and 50 seconds. The International Skating Federation has set a specific theme for each season. The theme of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics is blues and street dance. Each pair must execute the theme.

The free dance lasts about 4 minutes. For this, the choice of theme is free, but there must be a story told by dance.

Mandatory elements are footwork, such as twisting, lifting and some rotation.

wrestling

Because of the acrobatic nature of figure skating, there are many falls in its events.

However, in ice dancing, falling is rare, and if it happens, it will be disastrous for the final score.

Off topic, if your child chooses figure skating, he will often fall on the ice. Ice dancing, once he mastered the basic skills, rarely fell down. If you care about your child, you can refer to it.

6. Figure skating and ice dancing skates

Ice dance, the blade end is very short, not much longer than boots.

And the boot back is cut to have a better line when pointing to the toes.

There are flower skates on the left and skates on the right.

7. Skating clothes have different shapes.

The skirts of ice dancing actors are usually longer than those of figure skaters.

This makes sense, because figure skaters need streamlined clothes to jump and spin. If the clothes are too long, it will limit their activities.

Women skaters' skirts usually only cover their hips.