Ice Dancing first steps are Forward stroking that I already covered, chasses, progressives and swing rolls, all forward. As with all forward skating you should feel the weight on the blade on the back of your foot arch. Also watch your posture, extension meaning both higher lift and straight leg, bend into the ankle for a strong push, leg should be turn out from the hip, toes pointed, look up, all that described on forward stroking.
Forward Chasses on a circle:
1. stroke on an forward outside edge with the free leg extended 45 degrees back
2. while rising on the skating leg bring the free foot to the ankle of the skating foot and transfer the weigh on the former free foot that will bend at knee, while lifting the former free foot of the ice 2 inches and holding it at the ankle of the other foot, with the blade parallel with ice.
So in Ice Dancing language, this would be abbreviated like this LFO, RFI-Ch and repeat for CCW skating and RFO, LFI-Ch and repeat for CW skating. (Updated Sep 25, 2018)
The circle should be bigger then the hockey circle. When I first learned these I focused on remembering the motion, and it took few sessions. Then the correction I remember I got a lot was to keep the blade parallel (not as here) with the ice when I lift that free foot, and to lift higher, as I was barely lifting. Here is an example of lifting the blade parallel with the ice. He is an Olympic medalist in Ice Dancing, just saying... It didn't come easy to me, as I was used to point the toe not flex it and I felt I needed to awake some muscle.
After that, I was asked to pay attention to all the points I've mentioned for forward stroking. So, I would go twice around the circle focusing on something, then twice around focusing on something else and so on. Here is a video that covers many of this points. The next correction I remember getting a lot was to extend more laterally not back. Being on a circle, when the leg is tangent on the circle it means it is actually back, even if it felt laterally. Having the leg extended more laterally (45 degrees) helps holding the outside edge.
The correction that I work on the most now (after 2 years from when I first learned the chasse) is the body lean towards the inside of the circle. For that, my coach asks me to keep my upper body and arms perpendicular, or square to the circle as in the first two videos, not twisted towards inside as in the third video.
A correction I've got from my coach two weeks ago was that my right leg extension is not straight. It was straight two years ago, where did it go, am I regressing now that badly? I honestly had a little nervous breakdown... inside my mind, because I know I can do this! So I asked my coach why I don't do the things I ca do. He said that when I work on correcting something specific, I let go on everything that is not muscle memory. But not to worry, after a while (is that 1,000 repetitions or 10,000 ) everything becomes muscle memory. I think that's actually good news, even if it doesn't feel like it... at all.
Forward Slide Chasse: is a variation of the Chase. It's coded like this: LFO, RFI-SlCh (CCW) and RFO, LFI-SlCh (CW)
1. stroke on an forward outside edge with the free leg extended 45 degrees back
2. while straightening and rising on the skating leg, bring the free foot to the ankle of the skating foot and continue the movement by letting it go forward (leg turned out from the hip and toe pointed, while transferring the weigh on the former free foot and bending it at the knee.You can see it in the video of the olympian skater where it is the third step in the combination he shows. I think the important thing here is to press into the ice during the second step and to keep a good posture.
3. repeat by straightening and rising on the skating leg and bringing the free foot from forward to the ankle to be ready for a new stroke. (Updated Sept20, 2018)
Chasses on alternating lobes:
are done on each side of an imaginary axis and are another way of training the chasses. There are 3 steps/ edges per lobe an outside edge, inside edge to the top of the lobe and a longer outside edge to the axis. Then the same on the other side of the axis on on the other foot. The transition between lobes is the one I described in Advanced Deep Forward Edges. I'm working very hard at these transitions so I would have lots more to say, but I think this is enough for a beginner. Two lobes look like this: LFO, RFI-Ch, LFO and RFO, LFI-Ch, RFO... Here are mine taken 6 months ago, so after I was working on them for around a year and a half, and I think they have a good beginner quality, maybe advanced beginner...
When I've first learnt them, I thought a Chasse is a combination of 3 edges, like in the lobes. Then, I thought is 2 edges, like done on a circle. Actually the Chasse is just one edge, the inside one. (Updated Sept 25, 2018)
One thing that I would add, is the rhythm. A lobe could be done on 4 counts for foxtrot, blues tango or in a 6 beats for waltz. A 4 beats chasse is 1 beat outside edge, 1 beat inside edge to the top of the lobe and 2 beats outside edge for the second part of the edge. A 6 beats chasse is 2 beats outside edge (first 2/3rds of the first half of the lobe), 1 beat inside edge (the rest 1/3rd of the first half of the lobe) to the top of the lobe and 3 beats the second half of the lobe.
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