#pattern dances

Compulsory, or pattern, dances are the origins of competitive ice dance. There are dances that were first choreographed more than a century ago still in the playbook! The ISU does not take adding to the pattern dances lightly; the last one included was the Finnstep, first performed in the 2008/2009 season. They announced plans several years ago to create some new ones, but those plans seem to have been put on pause.  @peacfulboo reminded me that in 2019, the ISU finished the Tea Time Foxtrot, a new compulsory for the junior level, and was used for the 2019/2020 season.  (Now we just need to have the Maple Leaf March finished for the seniors.)

Compulsory dances are literally a set dance.  Every step, edge, and turn is planned - not just what to do, or when, but even where it happens on the ice.  Most holds are planned.  Sometimes even the free leg placement is planned. The music is a very particular beat, and they even used to have specific compulsory dance music that was played on repeat for the teams to skate to.  By forcing every team to do the exact same dance, with very little variation, it also (theoretically) forces the judges to compare the same thing between teams - just like, when a skater performs a jump, it is easy to compare the jump to someone else because it is just the same.  Did they do the same number of rotations, how was the height, the distance, the smoothness of the landing?  In pattern dances, it is just different things that they are looking for - how quickly were they skating, were their turns and edges clean, is their hold close together, are they in unison?

And back in the day, they would skate the entire pattern as many times as the big old book would indicate - at least twice, and if the pattern was short, then it was possible that they would have to skate it three or four (or more!) times, with no pause in between.  This was a way to help differentiate the quality of the teams’ skating.  The first time they skated a pattern, they could build up some speed with crossovers; but going into a pattern for a second time means that you have to be relying on your good skating skills to keep up the speed and power - and if the pattern was getting significantly smaller with every round, it was then obvious that the team didn’t have great skating skills.

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Compulsory dances (these days) are separated by how difficult they are; young teams still learn and compete compulsory dances, as they teach the skaters the basics of any ice dance program - holds, edges, turns, lines, unison.  The youngest teams will skate patterns that won’t even be listed in the big old book.  This season, juniors skate the pattern called Blues, and the Seniors are skating the Midnight Blues, as the Midnight Blues is considered to be a more difficult compulsory (and the patterns are indeed very different from each other).  

For many years, teams all the way up including seniors, competed:

~at least one compulsory dance (set pattern steps, set music, everyone exactly the same)

~an original dance (the name of this section and rules varied over the years but the main idea was you could create your own choreography but there was a strict theme)

~and a free dance (and for a long time, that literally meant that there was no real rules or expectations, aside from the usual ice dance rules like not separating too much or lifting over the head).

Compulsory dances were, up through 2010, a staple of the ice dance world, though through the years, they grew less and less prominent at the senior level. Teams used to compete more than one compulsory in a single competition; then it was reduced to one; and then in the 2010/2011 season, the compulsory dance at the junior and senior level was set aside, and the short dance was born.

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Basically, the ISU took the compulsory dance, and put it inside of the original dance, and made it into an element that would be scored like a twizzle or a lift.  

Back in the mid-2000′s when figure skating changed from 6.0 scoring to the current CoP (Code of Points) system, compulsories were scored on GOE (grade of execution) only - there were no technical controllers/specialists, and no levels.  There were only the judges, who would weigh in with their -3 to +3 based on how they felt the skaters performed.  The patterns were supposed to be done correctly, according to the big old book, but there was no way to really enforce that and it was still a very subjective section of ice dance.

So when they turned the compulsory into an element in the short dance, they also had to come up with a way to give it levels, like all the other elements - and so they created the idea of key points.  

They looked at how every dance was planned out - every edge, every turn, most holds, many ways to hold the free leg - and they said, ‘okay, let’s say that these particular moments will be the important ones’.  Now, instead of it just being the idea that the skater needed to be on a back outside edge, it was mandatory that the skater was, or else lose a level.  The exact way that those key points/levels have been marked have changed a little bit over the last two quads, but the general idea has remained the same. 

The first season that the SD was skated (2010/2011), they put the entire Golden Waltz pattern into the SD.  The Golden Waltz, one of the hardest compulsories to skate, takes about a minute to skate.  The SD was only intended to be a 2.5 minute program, and one minute of it was used to skate the Golden Waltz.  That left one and a half minutes to do a midline step sequence, twizzles, a lift, and to inject as much personality as possible.

(in this video, the midline step sequence starts at about 0:38; the Golden Waltz begins at about 1:05 and ends at about 2:20; they immediately go into their twizzles; and of course, then their lift shortly afterwards.)

This was also the first time that the ISU was melding a compulsory dance with another rhythm that might or might not particularly fit together.  Teams were allowed to either do this Golden Waltz with more waltz, or they could do the Golden Waltz with a foxtrot or a quickstep or with a tango.  The latter was more difficult to marry, in terms of both musical feeling and tempo and most teams chose to do an all-waltz, or at least a quickstep/foxtrot program.  VM were one of the few to choose a tango, and out of those who did, also one of the few to make the two very similar in theme so that the program felt cohesive. 

The second season (2011/2012), the chosen pattern was the Rhumba, one of the shortest patterns, at a whopping 15 seconds and half way around the rink.  They required the skaters to skate it twice, either in a row, or separated, which still only took up 30 seconds of the program.  Teams were required to choose one or more other “Latin” rhythms to compliment it - for example, samba, merengue, cha cha, mambo, or more rhumba - but not allowed a tango.

In 2012/2013 (Yankee Polka, with more polka, a march, or a waltz) and 2013/2014 (Finnstep with foxtrot, Charleston, or swing), skaters still had to do one full pattern of the chosen compulsory; but after the Sochi Olympics and the new rules came out, the compulsory dance was reduced, again.  How?  By now not requiring the skaters to do the entire pattern.  

Now, the ISU not only chooses which pattern will be skated, they choose a particular step on which the skaters must start, and the step on which they must finish, as a set pattern.  Then, the skaters are allowed to follow the general layout of what the rest of the pattern would have looked like, but do their own choreography to get there.  So, everyone does the same section of the pattern, and then even though the rest is technically different, it can still feel the same as they are all skating in the same general directions.  

(The exception was the Rhumba of 2017/2018, only because the pattern is so short they did the entire thing rather than only part of it, because the full pattern was still only half the rink, before getting to do their own choreo to complete the full circle of the rink.)

What next season will bring is still unknown as the ISU has surprisingly not made public what any of the new rules could be, or a pattern, or a theme.

But you can find all the patterns, the descriptions, and the history of what was skated for juniors/seniors in which season, at the wonderful resource of ice-dance.com.

I’ve used a lot of Midnight Blues references this year, so I’m going to do that again as an example here.

The above is a picture of the midnight blues pattern, one for what the woman is doing, and one for what the man is doing at the same time.  If you look closely, each part is listed as steps, because the dance tells the skaters what to do at each step, and this picture shows where they should be on the ice when they’re doing it.

The part of the pattern that the ISU required in 2016/2017, and this season, was steps 5 to 14. Now, it’s a little backwards, because the start point here (the flag) is by the judges, and yet the dance rules for 2016/2017 and for this season, they said the skaters should begin on the opposite side of the judges, so the dance was “flipped”.  In general, those steps 5-14 make up about half the rink; then the skaters continue to skate in hold, with their own choreography, for the other half of the rink in the same basic shape.

(in this video, the mid-line step sequence starts at about 1:00, the Midnight Blues pattern starts about 1:48 and ends about 2:10, at which time the partial step sequence starts immediately and then ends at about 2:45; the twizzles follow and then the lift.  Coincidentally, it follows the same set of elements as the other video I broke down, but there is no rule to specify in which order the elements must be performed.)

And this is the description of what is happening in just the steps 5-12, LOL, not even half the pattern.  There is also a chart, which just literally lists off exactly what is happening without quite as much commentary.  But can see, clearly, that it is very, very detailed and every team is supposed to do all these things.  (There are other discussions about variations that are being performed by teams this year in free leg and hold choices, and a little speculation about why it is being obviously allowed, but I’m not going to get into that here.)

And this is the chart for the chosen key points for the Midnight Blues.  There are four key points, each with multiple requirements to be able to achieve that one point, and very strict.  Get all four points, get a level four.  Miss a point (by missing even one clear edge or clean turn), get a level 3.  Pretty straightforward, but not at all easy to achieve.

Did you make it through all this?  Congratulations!  Watch some baby VM doing a compulsory to clear your head.

Section 1, Key Point 1: Lady & Man Steps 1 & 4 (XB-RF, XB-LF) and Lady Step 12 (LFO Tw1½)

Here are slow motion videos of Lady Step 12 (LFO Tw1½) from the BBC and NBC angles. I didn't bother showing steps 1 & 4, since they don't have an entry or exit edge, so pretty much every team should easily execute those steps, but you can see them in the first video of the entire Finnstep section. 

Here are gifs from the NBC angle. 

Meryl, Tessa, Elena, and Nathalie all met the key point feature: “Tw1½: correct Turn” because the LFO entry edge was correct and they completed 1½ rotations on their left foot without jumping or scrapping it, so they all received yes for this key point. However, Meryl did not clearly exit the twizzle on one foot like Tessa, Elena, and Nathalie. This falls under mistakes not listed under key point features, so while she still got credit for this key point the judges should have taken this into account for GOE. 

Section 1, Key Points 2 & 3-

Section 1, Key Point 2- Lady Steps 20-21: XB-LBO, XF-RBI/RBI Tw1½/RFO

Section 1, Key Point 3- Man Steps 20-21: XB-LFI, RFO-Sw3/RBI Tw1/RBI

The key point features for section 1, key point 2 are:

1. Tw1½: correct Turn 

2. XB-LBO: free leg crossed behind the skating leg below the knee 

3. XF-RBI: free leg crossed in front of the skating leg below the knee 

4. Correct Edge (RFO) after Tw1½

Meryl, Tessa, Elena, and Nathalie all met features #1-3. Tessa, Elena, and Nathalie all met feature #4 correct edge (RFO) after Tw1½, as well. Meryl is on a flat, so she didn’t meet feature 4. In the team event, she had this same error and got no on section 1, key point 2, which dropped D/W’s section 1 to level 3. However, the technical panel still gave her yes for this key point in the individual event and D/W got level 4 on section 1.

Team Event BBC angle (I can’t find NBC)

Individual Event BBC angle

The key point features for section 1, key point 3 are: 

1. Sw3, Tw1: correct Turns 

2. Sw3: correct swing movement of the free leg 

3. XB-LFI: free leg crossed behind the skating leg below the knee 

4. Correct Edge (RBI) after Tw1

When I first made this twitter thread with the videos and screenshots, I thought there was 1/6 key points that D/W executed well and it was section 1, key point 3. But after making and look at these gifs... rip this key point might have been questionable as well. Charlie’s RFO-Sw3 had a correct right forward outside entry edge and right back inside exit edge, but he may not have met feature #1 of correct turn on it because it may have been hopped. He doesn’t keep his blade on the ice the whole time like Scott, Nikita, or Fabian who did meet feature #1. This could have led to the technical panel giving Charlie no on this key point, but they gave him yes. I made a gif with just the RFO-Sw3 from both the NBC and BBC angle and took screenshots to verify and it does look like he hopped it.

Charlie, Scott, Nikita, and Fabian all met features #2-4. Nikita and Fabian got yes on this key point for meeting all 4 features. Though even though Fabian’s RBI was on an inside edge and enough to get credit, I think it could have been a little deeper/clearer. Scott got no on this key point despite meeting all 4 features, which led to section 1 of V/M’s finnstep dropping to a level 3. I really am not sure why he was given no when imo he actually executed this key point the best. He crossed his free leg below the knee on his XB-LFI; his right forward outside edge entry edge, right back inside exit edge, and swing movement of the free leg was correct on his right forward outside swing three turn and it wasn’t hopped; and he did a full rotation, had the best right back inside edge exit of all the men, and didn’t hop his single twizzle. 

Section 2, Key Points 1 & 2-

Section 2, Key Point 1- Lady Steps 32-33: LFO Sw-ClCho, RBI/RBO/RBO Tw1½/RFI slide into stop

Section 2, Key Point 2-  Man Steps 32-33c: LFO Sw-ClCho, RBI OpMo, LFI, RFI/RFI Tw1/RFI slide into stop

The key point features for section 2, key point 1 are:

1. Correct Edges 

2. Sw-ClCho, Tw1½: correct Turns 

3. Sw-ClCho: correct placement of the free foot 

4. Sw-ClCho: correct swing movement of the free leg 

5. Correct Change of Edge (Inside to Outside)

Tessa, Elena, and Nathalie all met features #1-5 and got yes on this key point. Meryl met features #3-5, but did not meet features #1-2, which were correct edges and Sw-ClCho, Tw1½: correct turns because her right back inside edge exit of the left forward outside swing closed choctaw was not correct. Her initial blade placement was flat, she leaned into an inside edge, leaned back into a flat edge, and then leaned into the inside edge once again. This should have led to no on the key point, but the technical panel gave her yes. 

They key point features for section 2, key point 2 are:

1. Correct Edges 

2. Sw-ClCho, Tw1: correct Turns 

3. Sw-ClCho: correct placement of the free foot 

4. Sw-ClCho: correct swing movement of the free leg

You can see in both the video and gif that Charlie’s execution of his right back inside open mohawk is very messy. He hops it and there is a lot of snow flying from his blades. This is specifically addressed in the technical handbook though and says that the technical panel will ignore this mistake when considering credit for the key point because “OpMo: correct turn” is not a key point feature. He did meet key point features #1-4, so he got yes for this key point. It should affect the GOE though. 

Fabian, Nikita, Scott met all 4 key point features and got yes on this key point. Nikita was on an inside edge for the right back inside edge exit of the left forward outside swing closed choctaw, which was enough to get credit for feature #1 correct edges and feature #2 Sw-ClCho, Tw1: correct turns, but I think it could have been deeper/clearer.

Scott’s RFI was on an inside edge and enough to get credit for feature #1 correct edges, but I think his RFI could have been deeper/clearer. 

All the teams met the correct swing movement of the free leg key point feature since the requirement is continuous movement and the distance of the free foot being more than one blade distance away from the skating foot. So this will not affect credit for the key point, but this is more aesthetic and has to do with the GOE.

Meryl and Charlie’s free leg unison could be better and both need to point their toes. Tessa and Scott’s free leg unison and toe point is excellent. Elena and Nikita’s free leg unison on the back swing is very messy and Elena’s free leg could be higher. I think both Elena and Nikita’s free legs could be higher on the swing forward. Nathalie and Fabian’s free leg unison could be better on the swing back and Nathalie’s free leg could be higher. Their free leg unison on the swing forward is excellent though. 

Another thing that wouldn’t affect credit for the key point, but is more GOE related since Tessa still had the correct right back outside entry edge to the 1½ twizzle, got all the rotations around without hopping them or turning them into checked three turns or pirouettes, and had the correct right forward inside slide to stop exit was that I think Tessa’s exit to the twizzle could have been a little smoother, especially if you compare the exit here to the exit at GPF for example.

Section 2, Key Point 3: Lady & Man Steps 64-65 (LFI XB-ClCho, RBO3/RFI Tw1½)

The key point features for section 2, key point 3 are:

1. Correct Edges 

2. ClCho, 3, Tw1½: correct Turns 

3. XB-ClCho: correct placement of the free foot 

Every team met feature #3 with correct placement of the free foot. Every team also had clean left forward inside edges, right back outside three turns, and right forward inside 1½  twizzle. The close call on whether this key point should get credit or not is if both partners are on right back outside edges on the exit of the left forward inside cross back closed choctaw. Scott is on a very deep outside edge even upon initial blade placement. Charlie, Nikita, and Fabian look to be on outside edges on initial blade placement and then lean into a deeper outside edge. Nathalie and Tessa look to be on shallow outside edges on initial blade placement and then lean into a deeper outside edge. Elena looks to be veering between flat and shallow outside on initial blade placement and then leans into a deeper outside edge. Meryl looks to be on a flat edge on initial blade placement and then leans into a shallow outside edge. It could have been a close call for all 4 teams, especially D/W, but the technical panel gave all 4 teams yes on this key point.