Compulsory dances

Compulsory dances are a part of ice dancing in which all the couples perform the same standardized steps and holds to music of a specified tempo. One or more compulsory dances are usually skated as the first phase of competitions in ice dancing, but they are also popular as a form of recreational or social dance among skaters.

The patterns for most dances either cover one-half or one full circuit of the rink. The International Skating Union publishes the step diagrams and descriptions of the dances that are competed internationally, and also provides a set of standard music recordings for each dance with uniform tempo and introductory phrasing for use in competition.

List of compulsory dances

The dances that are currently performed in junior and senior international competition include:

* American Waltz
* Argentine Tango
* Austrian Waltz
* Blues
* Cha Cha Congelado
* European Waltz
* Finnstep
* Fourteenstep
* Foxtrot
* Golden Waltz
* Kilian
* Midnight Blues
* Paso Doble
* Quickstep
* Ravensburger Waltz
* Rhumba
* Rocker Foxtrot
* Silver Samba
* Starlight Waltz
* Tango
* Tango Romantica
* Viennese Waltz
* Westminster Waltz
* Yankee Polka

The American Waltz, European Waltz, Fourteenstep, and Kilian (a march) date back to the early days of figure skating. Several of the compulsory dances were first performed by dancers in the United Kingdom in the 1930's. Others were adapted from original dances performed after that segment was added to dance competitions in the 1960s. For example, the Golden Waltz -- considered the most complex and challenging of the compulsory dances -- was adapted from the original dance performed by Marina Klimova and Sergei Ponomarenko in the 1987 season.

In addition to the international dances, there are also several simpler dances that are taught to beginning skaters. For example, in the United States, the first dance learned by most skaters is the Dutch Waltz, which features only forward skating in a side-by-side hold, skated to music with a very slow waltz tempo.

Compulsory dances by season

Each season, the ISU publishes a number of compulsory dances that will be competed that season on both the international senior level and junior level. Which compulsory dance is competed depends on the event, and some events, such as the Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final, do not have a compulsory dance segment to the competition.

References

* [http://www.ice-dance.com/techreference/compulsories/ Ice-dance.com technical reference]