As a former member of John Curry's "Theatre of Skating" and "Ice Dancing," I would like to tell you about the way I see skating today.
About Lorna Brown:
I have passed through all the different progressions an ice skater can. I represented Great Britain internationally at senior level then competed professionally, winning the World Professional championships. I performed in all different kinds of ice shows as a principal and studied classical and contemporary dance, and finally went into coaching and choreography. I was National coach for Denmark and have taken skaters to many internationals, Europeans, Worlds and Olympics. I have choreographed for numerous national champions and am now here in Los Angeles. The experiences I had working with John Curry's Company has left an everlasting impression on my ideas about ice skating. I had the opportunity to be choreographed by some of the worlds greatest and most memorable choreographers of all time, including Robert Cohan and Peter Martins.
About Figure Skating of Today:
Here I would like to take this opportunity to share with you some of my ideas about how I think about skating today. Everyone understands how many revolutions are required for a jump or a spin etc. but how do you measure art?
From the beginning of a skater's career a skater should be building up a repertoire of various kinds of steps and movements as well as jumps and spins.
It is so easy for a skater to become predictable and stereotyped. Especially now! We are missing that personal individuality in the performances of today because it is all about counting. Counting is distracting from quality.
When judges and the like are just adding up and counting then how can they grasp much else with so little time to make up their minds to give an accurate mark?
There has to be a certain something extra to single out the performer!
It is easy to be average. You really have to work hard to achieve originality and to be unique. Creative people use who they are and what they have learned and experienced to inspire themselves to create new ideas. These people are individuals who are comfortable with themselves but who also realize their imperfections and thrive on achieving excellence. They continually search for new ideas by attending the ballet, shows, art galleries and anything that will inspire them to develop themselves. It is those who dare to be different who are remembered and who leave an everlasting impression. What is a good program? It is one you will never be able to forget because it was "unique"! Every performance should be like a finely tuned instrument in perfect pitch but ofcourse perfection is always infinite....
A Figure Skating Competition Program is a "Performance":
Skating is one of the greatest disciplines ever, of mind, body and spirit. A competition program is a "performance" and should not only contain an interesting variety of elements but should also be original, well structured and choreographed and should make a statement about the person performing it. There are a great deal of skaters who are naturally creative and who have natural talent around them to inspire them . The majority still have a great deal to learn, and need guidance with music, costume design and choreography. The initial impression is obviously based on presentation and image. Unfortunately these two characteristics are frequently not distinguished. Skaters are often dressed with precision, right down to the last rhinestone but with very little relevance to the subsequent performance. Costumes are sometimes over decorated. One has to be skilled in a wide variety of visual tricks. Instead of trying to draw attention to the dress, one should be complimenting first the skater's body lines and movement and of course the character and mood of the music. The skater should always be striving for what are called the "three components of success." These are, appearance, music and content. All are no good without the other.
Figure Skating is Related to Dance:
Figure skating is more akin to the world of dance, which has to be the most refined form of physical movement ever developed. The meticulous physical details in dance movement far surpass most other forms of physical activity in any other sport or form of exercise. Dancers are athletic and flexible. They jump, lift and rotate, just like skaters do with amazing grace, refinement and control. Dancing, by itself is not recognized as an Olympic event or classified as a sport as we are, because it is not, and neither is skating? I feel skating needs to be learned in a similar kind of structured way as dance!
As figure skating develops it does so both artistically as well as athletically. We have to concentrate on the basic refining of the purity of movement, whatever the element may be. Our aim is to create a more articulate and coordinated skater, with increased awareness and ability to control more aspects of their performance with expression, creativity and style. We still need more seminars to develop the critical understanding of choreography itself. The judges are in a position where they have to give a mark for choreography although this is a very subjective area. A positive decision must be made to arrive at an accurate mark. Human beings will always be influenced by their own their own taste. We all like different music and different appearances, but we must appreciate why the skater chose that music and respect their feelings for it.
