switching from freeskate to dance boots/blades

[fan]

hello all!

i tore my labrum about a year ago, so no more jumping for me. I'm working on my pre-gold/gold dances, and I love footwork. I'm thinking of transitioning to dance boots/blades in the near future, as soon as my current boots/blades crap out. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? I still like to spin - can I do that well on dance blades? Should I change one at a time, or do both in one swoop? What kind of transition should I expect?

I'm currently in coronation aces - I'd probably go for a MK dance blade.

Thanks!

 

[purple skates]

I switched to dance blades a few months ago, keeping my freestyle boots - but they are Edea Chorus (lower level boots) and therefore aren’t stiff and they have good bending capabilities.

I went from Jackson Legacy (similar to Coronation Aces) to the Jackson dance blade. The transition went better than I had hoped.

Turns are so much easier now. Edges are cleaner. Foxtrot mohawk’s way less scary (I’ve traditionally had issues with that in my freestyle blades because I stepped on the back and went down hard). Twizzles were way harder at first because I was very wobbly when trying them, but at least my RFI twizzle is secure now. Spinning was a nightmare at first, but I’m beginning to get the hang of them (I dislike spinning so haven’t practiced them much )

I’m doing Synchro and pattern dances in them, and am able to do small jumps (like waltz and mazurka). I haven’t tried any others.

The one thing to warn about. I thought I didn’t toe push much, and man was I wrong! The first time I wore them I started going through some lower dances, and almost face-planted going into the Willow Waltz RFO three-turn. It’s become quite a joke between me and my coach (who has accused me of being a toe-pusher in the past. )

Hope that helps. I’m adult gold free/intermediate mif/pre-silver dance, to give you my skating perspective. I stopped jumping mainly due to age and IJS not being flattering to my skating style (see the spin comment above).

 

[Yazmeen]

I switched to EDEA boots and dance blades and I'm learning to skate all over again. Don't let that scare you; I was always mediocre at best and my skating has been on and off for 3 years. The boots and blades have exposed every flaw I have. That said, I like them - I finally have good edges. The flexibility at the ankle takes getting used to, though.

ETA: At my best I was barely Adult Pre-Bronze. Took up the sport in my mid-40s, I fight for every skill.

 

[treesprite]

I'm curious.... do all dance blades have a blunted toe pick, or just some of them? Is that why people have some difficulty transitioning?

 

[purple skates]

The bottom toepick on mine is much smaller than what was on my freestyle blade. So when I went to toe push I had nothing much there to push with!

The blades themselves are thinner than my freestyle blades. Shorter too. So less stability from the blade itself, but way better turning capabilities and edges.

ETA: Here’s some good pictures to compare: https://jacksoniceskates.com/shop?olsFocus=false&olsPage=t/ultima-figure-skating-blades

 

[fan]

The bottom toepick on mine is much smaller than what was on my freestyle blade. So when I went to toe push I had nothing much there to push with!

The blades themselves are thinner than my freestyle blades. Shorter too. So less stability from the blade itself, but way better turning capabilities and edges.

ETA: Here’s some good pictures to compare: https://jacksoniceskates.com/shop?olsFocus=false&olsPage=t/ultima-figure-skating-blades

yikes...i don't think i'm a toe pusher, but i'm sure it will be exposed. I definitely skate forward on my blades though - my coach is forever telling me to put my weight back on my heels when i'm going forward.

 

[purple skates]

I managed to figure out how to toe push with the tiny toepick......

If you are usually on the front of the blade, you will definitely feel a difference at first. I suspect you will get used to it fairly quickly.

I definitely don’t regret the change (except for wistfulness about no longer doing huge flip jumps - not that I’ve done those in years anyway).

 

[Yazmeen]

Biggest issues are the combo of the ankle exposure for flexibility and the narrower blade. You can get on an edge more easily but figuring out exactly where you should be on the blade can be a bear.

 

[Clarice]

I use SPTeri dance boots and Ultima dance blades. At first, the lower cut of the boot made me feel like I had no ankle support at all, but I got used to that pretty quickly. I agree with what everybody else has said about having to find where you belong on the blades. I never had any trouble with the blade being shorter, and it didn't take that long to get used to the smaller toe picks. I can still do all my single jumps (never had an axel), but it took quite a while to get my spins back. I like how much faster the turns feel, but that was a bit of a shock at first! I did the bronze figures test on them last summer, but the judge was pretty lenient about the tracings - the edges are closer together, so it's almost impossible to avoid double tracings.

 

[hanca]

@fan , I had labral tear a few years ago. I had a surgery and after that I also switched to ice dance. I tried to switch boots and blades, curious whether dance boots and blades would help me or not. It felt like starting completely from beginning. I couldn’t do anything - no spins, no twizzles, no even the simplest turns... After a few weeks I gave up and went back to my usual boots and blades. It wasn’t worth it for me starting again from zero. I am not sure if it would be easier if I changed first blades and then later on boots too (or the ither way round, first boots and then later on blades) but my reasoning was that if I change one and then later the other, the adjustment period will be longer - dragging on and on. I kept doing ice dance with freeskating boots and blades and did not have any problems. My coach from that time told me that she had always had freeskating boots and blades. She was doing ice dance in seniors, and represented this country at Europeans. So I guess one can do even high level of ice dance in freeskating boots and blades.