Figure Eights: the Life Force of Figure Skating, Book Three

This book (number three in a series) welcomes all to creativity learn and fall in love with Figure Skating.


"Figure Eights: the Life Force of Figure Skating, Book Three" demonstrates the foundation of Figure Skating by exhibiting the Figure Eights from the Fifth through Eighth Figure Tests.  The highest Figure Tests in this book are the same Figure Eights that were judged during the Compulsory Figure Events at National and International Competitions including the Olympic Games.  They were skated before the Free Skating Events.  Today's skaters need the profound symmetry learned from riding the blade over a clean edge and from tracing clean turns on the ice in Figure Eight patterns.  Figure Eights are no longer a requirement to compete but that should not stop skaters and coaches from using them to their benefit.  The scales in music and the barre in ballet are still trained in a precise manner even by concert pianists and prima ballerinas respectively.  The beauty in Figure Skating comes from efficient-body alignment in relation to the mechanics of ice skating.  The most efficient and accurate way to practice this critical alignment is from skating the Figure Eights.  The tracings on the ice in Figures give instant visible feedback for the quality of the movement, as compared to Moves in the Field which don't give visible feedback to the skater.  Practicing Figure Eights is a profound core stability system created before the word core was cool.  Learning to master Figure Tests Five through Eight can significantly enhance a skater's technical proficiency on the ice.  

  

This digital book is a Video and Audio Presentation of the Fifth through Eighth Figure Tests skated in the original test structure of US Figure Skating (ISU Figure numbers are listed).


It is an educational resource that captures never-before audiovisual documentation of the original Figure Eights including the sounds of the edges and turns in Figure Skating. 


It is a specialty book for the discerning coach, adult skater, young enthusiast and historical skating fan.