I enjoy watching skating. I enjoy watching dancing on ice, and have enjoyed watching people's progress on their journeys.

What I have been wondering for quite a while -

there is skating, and there is dancing; but what do such things as head banging and being swung around a lot have to do with skating and dancing?

This has come up a few times on here though you may not have seen it - the throws, high lifts and jumps belong more in pairs figure skating, which is more athletic. What they've done is combine some of this with ice dance where high lifts, throws and big jumps are not allowed. I think this is what they mean by adagio skating which a couple of the DOI pros specialise in. Hope that helps.

In the days when T&D were competing there were a LOT of rules in Ice Dance which set it apart from Pairs which as sallyforth says above is more athletic and faster.

The main rules were that they had to spend a big proportion of time in contact with each other (very different to pairs where the couple do a lot of shadow/ mirroring work completely away from each other), and they weren't allowed to do any big lifts or big jumps.

In pairs the couple do essentially a solo routine together and they get higher marks with the complexity of the moves they do - the main difference being that in pairs the jumps tend to be one rotation less than in singles as it is very difficult to do them synchronised..... The big lifts are very much part of the routine although moves like the "headbanger" are not allowed in competition. In T&D's day the lifts were allowed but the man couldn't raise his hands above shoulder height (or something like that), and the couples had to move rhythmically dance) in time to the music.

Ice dancing rules have changed since then though - as has the marking system, and the couples are allowed to do more moves - but ironically the original Bolero would not be allowed in competition today.....

I think anything on ice is more like it!

But I like to watch the more difficult moves and fast skating but on the other hand also love the slow romantic routines as well.

I just love to watch ice skating - dancing or skating competitions.

I didn't really know there was a difference until Torvill & Dean started.

But in pairs skating they do enormous lifts and flinging their partner across the ice (in a controlled fashion of course).

Incidentally - in T&D's return to the Olympic arena 10 years after their gold in Sarajevo -they had won the British and European Championships and they were leading after the Compulsory and OSP dances - but finished 3rd owing to lost marks in their Free Dance where they did what the purists considered an illegal lift in their Face the Music routine.

Thank you for the explanations.

And, having thought about the explanations, I find it amusing that Bolero would not be allowed in competition today, even though, presumably, it will be used in the final of this particular programme.

And, having read the explanations again, I still don't think that head banging and being swung around a lot should be part of dancing on ice - just my opinion

but being swung around a lot is part of ice-dancing, have you ever watched it?

Yes, I have, thank you and still I don't think that head banging and being swung around a lot should be part of dancing on ice - just my opinion

Yes, but I didn't mention head-banging did I but they are definitely swung about in ice-dancing as they are in dancing.

I agree a lift or two maybe but a programme full of lifts is not good for showing skating skills imo.

Thank you