Читать книгу Hippodrome Skating Book. Practical Illustrated Lessons in the Art of Figure Skating онлайн

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My own skating as head of the ice ballet at the New York Hippodrome is fast and spectacular, I admit; it has to be so to be theatric, to catch the crowd, to startle the sensation seeker. But it is not quite so fast when I am skating for my own amusement.

Size is the next most important consideration in skating the elementary or school figures. All the plain circles should be made as large as possible without sacrificing correct balance all the way to the end of the curve. The European skaters make the plain circles, in the form of an eight, with a diameter of fifteen to twenty feet. The beginner will find about eight feet as large a circle as can be made without loss of poise, but this depends also upon the question of size and strength of the skater and whether man or woman.

It is essential that the skater learn to use both feet equally well. If one foot is harder than the other to manage, it must be skated with more often until equal skill is attained. It will generally be found that right handed persons are more proficient in skating with the left foot and vice versa. To skate each figure equally well on either foot is not merely the right standard to set; it will be found fundamental to the correct execution of figures implying a reverse direction, and it is the basis of success in pair skating.