Skating program

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More on that event here. OlympicTalk is on Apple News. Favorite us! Learn more about Adaptive Skating. Whether you're an adult making your first foray into skating or picking up again after previous experience, U. Learn more about Adult Skating. The U. Figure Skating Aspire program is the bridge between learn to skate group classes and U. Figure Skating membership. Through the development of athleticism and artistry, skaters build a solid skill foundation that drives success on and off the ice.

Learn more about the Aspire Program. Landing your very first Axel is an accomplishment that should be celebrated, and joining the Axel Club recognizes your hard work and dedication toward this achievement. Learn more about the Axel Club. Figure Skating provides collegiate members options, resources and more to help promote the growth of figure skating at the collegiate levels. There are currently more than 75 schools with intercollegiate skating programs and more than 45 synchronized skating teams representing universities across the country.

Learn more about Collegiate Skating. I compete in freeskate and interpretive categories, so I have to prepare two different programs. Freeskate programs have more technical requirements, but interpretive programs emphasize demonstrating a theme or idea through movement — so choreographing each kind of program is a different kind of challenge.

And once the program is choreographed, then I have to learn it and memorize it. For me, memorizing comes from doing the program over and over again, which can be tedious — but I really enjoy doing the program once I have the steps and moves down, and then can focus on making everything more seamless and expressive. But beyond how it looks, a skating costume can take a lot of work to get right. But usually the first step in developing a costume is thinking about what would fit with the music and the theme of your program.

This can take a huge amount of time to decide: what colour? Short or long sleeves? What kind of skirt? What kind of embellishments? Some of the rhinestones on one of my competition dresses.

Then you have to think about the specifics of the costume construction. The costume has to be well-made, and it has to stretch where it needs to stretch. Costumes can use soft delicate fabrics, which can look really pretty on the ice, but the body of the costume needs to be sturdy. Any embellishments, like rhinestones or beads, have to be attached firmly enough to not fall off and trip you. And the costume also has to cover everything. After witnessing more than a few, uh, unfortunate incidents at competitions, I always wear my costume to the rink to try it out before a competition.

And if it does, I get it fixed. Elite skaters always get their costumes custom-made.