How does ballet improve your figure skating?

How does ballet help your figure skating and what does it help improve? How much does it help?|||Many figure skating elements were originally ballet dance movements. For example, the Spiral is sometimes called an Arabesque in figure skating because that's what the position is called in Ballet.





Ballet training helps figure skaters in one or more ways:





. Posture - so very important for skating, it improves balance and carriage, allowing for changes in position over and over.


. Balance - absolutely necessary for spins, turns and control.


. Flexibility - provides turnout and extension, creating the grace and beautiful positions we see.


. Strength - vital for holding positions while spinning, controlling upper body while vaulting off a toepick, and landing on a piece of metal 1/8" thick.


. Artistic Expression - ballet subtly teaches things as simple as what to do with your hands, how to draw and keep the audience's attention, and how to touch the viewer emotionally through your gestures.





How much does it help?


You can tell which skaters have had ballet training. They carry themselves on the ice in perfect body alignment, almost effortlessly. They can balance on a single toepick and execute fast pirouettes on the ice with grace. They extend a hand and we're riveted, waiting to see what they do next.





Figure skaters should try to find a ballet class for figure skaters specifically. There are some things that skaters do differently than traditional ballerinas. Spotting on spins is the most common example: figure skaters don't spot - it would make us hurl to spot while spinning at such speeds. Ballerinas can't achieve that type of speed on the dance floor.|||it definitely helps improve posture and self-discipline. A lot of the moves in figure skating are derived from ballet, so if you have amazing flexibility and stability it could potentially make you a wonderful skater!|||Enhances and improves your overall artistic technique,i.e. expressing your entire body, including arm work and head movement, not just skating.





Also helps in interpreting and expressing your program, i.e. character interpretation.|||it helps alot it makes you way more flexible and you are able to balance better and teaches you discipline|||And grace. The fluid movement required.