Figure skating

Figure skating is an ice skating sporting event where individuals, mixed couples, or groups perform spins, jumps, and other "moves" on the ice, often to music. There are international competitions for figure skating, such as the World Championships, and figure skating is also an official event in the Winter Olympics. In languages other than English, figure skating is usually referred to by a name that translates as "artistic skating".

Steps and turns

Step sequences are a required element in competition programs. They involve a combination of turns, steps, hops and edge changes, performed in a straight line down the ice, in a circle, or in an S shape (serpentine step sequence).

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The various turns which skaters can incorporate into step sequences include:

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• Three turns, so called because the blade turns into the curve of the edge or lobe to leave a tracing resembling the numeral "3".
• Bracket turns, in which the blade is turned counter to the curve of the lobe, making a tracing resembling a bracket ("}").
• Rockers and counters, one-foot turns that involve a change of lobe as well as of direction.
• Mohawks, the two-foot equivalents of three turns and brackets.
• Choctaws, the two-foot equivalents of rockers and counters.

Spiral sequences are also required (in women's skating only), and involve lifting the free leg above the hip to a position equivalent of the arabesque in ballet, or the scale in gymnastics. Spirals can be performed while skating forwards or backwards, and are distinguished by the edge of the blade used and the foot they are skated on.

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Other freeskating movements which can be incorporated into step sequences or used as connecting elements include lunges and spread eagles. An Ina Bauer is similar to a spread eagle performed with one knee bent and typically an arched back. Hydroblading refers to a deep edge performed with the body as low as possible to the ice in a near-horizontal position.

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