{"id":3127,"date":"2014-12-17T03:24:54","date_gmt":"2014-12-17T03:24:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/2014\/12\/17\/pros-bring-ballroom-flavor-to-the-ice-for-detroit-dancers\/"},"modified":"2014-12-17T03:24:54","modified_gmt":"2014-12-17T03:24:54","slug":"pros-bring-ballroom-flavor-to-the-ice-for-detroit-dancers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/pros-bring-ballroom-flavor-to-the-ice-for-detroit-dancers\/","title":{"rendered":"Pros Bring Ballroom Flavor to the Ice for Detroit Dancers"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Jacquelyn Thayer | Photos by Robin Ritoss<\/em><\/p>\n

Whatever stylistic freedoms the discipline has developed in its decades of life, ice dance was born of a ballroom world. <\/p>\n

Though only drawing tangential inspiration from their counterparts, the majority of compulsory patterns are named for Standard and Latin styles like the Foxtrot, Waltz, and Rumba. The original dances of old, and today’s short dance, were and are typically ballroom-oriented, and many teams and rinks have called upon outside instructors for guidance, sometimes forming ongoing relationships like that between Arctic Edge\u2019s Maia & Alex Shibutani and famed ballroom professional Corky Ballas. For the elite dancers at Bloomfield Hills’ Detroit Skating Club, proximity to the community’s Fred Astaire Dance Studio\u2014a mere 0.2 miles away\u2014has proven useful on occasion, especially in preparations for this season’s Paso Doble rhythm. <\/p>\n

Ilya Ifraimov, a multi-time Latin champion with partner Nadia Goulina, took three days of a late July visit to the dance studio to work rinkside with the club’s leading ice dance couples. Though Ifraimov, a co-owner and long-time instructor at the Fred Astaire Dance Studio in Princeton, New Jersey, had made a previous visit to the club, the unusual territory has required some adjustment.   <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cAt first, honestly, I was so confused and out of my element because the mechanics of ballroom technique on skates and on the floor are not the same thing,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd a lot of things you can do on the floor, you will not be able to do it on the ice, particularly because there\u2019s a lot of lateral movement\u2014forward\/back, side-to-side\u2014and they\u2019re constantly moving and moving at high speed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ifraimov did his research, seeking out guidance online regarding the different mechanics.<\/p>\n

\"paul-islam-3053\"\u201cIt\u2019s still ballroom-based\u2014there\u2019s a lot of elements that are similar choreography-wise, but the execution is not always the same,\u201d he continued. \u201cBut after a while, when you get the experience and know more about the style and the mechanics of movement, I think it\u2019s easier to approach them and teach them to be more productive in a different kind of way. This time around was probably one of my most productive times with them because I know the couples and I know the choreography, for the most part. It was \u2018What can we do to make it better in certain things?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

While the ballroom Paso Doble and its folkish flamenco relative are characterized in part by more staccato or otherwise emphatically-stepped footwork, certain recognizable elements\u2014\u201cshaping, a lot of arm styles,\u201d noted Ifraimov\u2014translate more fluently to a radically different movement technique.<\/p>\n

\u201cBasically what you want when you\u2019re working with dancers is you want them to look not like skaters,\u201d he said. \u201cThey have to look according to the characteristics of that particular dance.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Canadians Alexandra Paul & Mitch Islam, who joined the Detroit Skating Club roster in 2012, the lessons marked their first time working with serious ballroom guidance, an education they deemed beneficial. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe really brought out a character in our program,\u201d said Paul. \u201cHe\u2019s very aggressive when you work with him\u2014he\u2019s very hands-on, he positions you exactly how he wants to see you. We worked a lot with mirrors on the ice. He was just standing in the middle of the ice yelling at us to try to project more and get our bodies up, and so it was an amazing experience to get to work with him. I really loved it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe try to infuse them by explaining what is the culture of the dance, the flavor of the dance, the story of the music and dance,\u201d said Ifraimov, who characterized his sessions with the couples as \u201cvery, very productive.\u201d \u201cWhat does help me is they are professional dancers so they understand the dance language. It\u2019s not difficult as long as you can create a connection with the couple and understand where they\u2019re coming from and deliver it in the right way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the Paso Doble, it\u2019s a very extreme kind of performance and so as figure skaters, we like to bring in people that are kind of masters at that kind of stuff,\u201d said Islam. \u201cHe\u2019s obviously incredible\u2014working with him was, like Alex said, special, and it definitely kind of takes our performance to the next level. It gives us something to think about when we\u2019re performing that program every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the club’s younger teams, ballroom instruction has come from a source closer to home. Donald Westphal, instructor and manager at Fred Astaire Dance Studio in Bloomfield Hills, trained as an ice dancer at the Detroit Skating Club under Igor Shpilband and Liz Coates. After retiring from the sport in 1999, he pursued competitive roller skating before shifting primary focus to the ballroom, drawn in initially by a job ad from another dance studio. Westphal’s students have included 2014 World Junior Champions Kaitlin Hawayek & Jean-Luc Baker, now competing in their first season as seniors.<\/p>\n

\"hawbaker-nhk-rr-6516\"\u201cWe worked a lot on their programs and different styling,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s really cool to work with the skaters because I speak that language, so to be able to apply the ballroom influence and understanding, that\u2019s where I kind of feel like my career went backwards. I almost wish that I had started in ballroom to understand the dancing, because what I do now is not just the dancing side, but the historical side of where the dancing comes from, why your body moves in a particular way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Westphal’s work is broader, developing a stronger base in partnered movement and ballroom styles for his couples.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I work with them for the first time, unless they have something specific in mind, I give them a little bit of ballroom figures so I can see how they move on the floor and they can start to understand the dance language,\u201d he said. \u201cThen I can start to talk to them in skating terms, so that they can understand what my goal is to apply the dancing side of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Hawayek & Baker also worked with Ifraimov in preparing this season’s Paso efforts, Westphal was especially central in honing their quickstep and foxtrot for the 2013-14 season, occasionally working at the rink as well as in the studio.  <\/p>\n

\u201cWorking with him was awesome,\u201d said Baker. \u201cIt’s great because he has quite a bit of background knowledge of skating since he used to skate himself, which makes translation onto the ice significantly easier for the three of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team highlighted the overall value of ballroom work beyond its specific uses in a given genre.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have found a different kind of knowledge and approach we can take while skating our programs,\u201d Baker continued. \u201cIt gives us a different insight of not just \u2018big extensions\u2019 or \u2018sharp arms\u2019 but articulation of the fingers and facial expressions as well, which we think gives much more of an audience appeal and an authentic feeling to our performances.\u201d <\/p>\n

Westphal points to the goal-oriented nature of his sessions, directed towards improving on a given program section or problem as assigned by coach Angelika Krylova. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking at what they\u2019re doing, and I help at getting in that ballroom influence of \u2018This is what this particular dance should look like on the ballroom floor; how do we translate that into what you\u2019re putting on the ice?\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Though responsible for multiple teams, both instructors have worked with couples on an individual rather than group basis. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey all have different music, different choreography, different problems they\u2019re going through, different things I want to develop for different dancers, because some people can relate to some things in a different way, and group lessons are not going to be as productive,\u201d said Ifraimov. \u201cBallroom dancing is different, but for the skaters it\u2019s too individual, and they\u2019re all pretty much at a high level of dance and competing and representing a different country.\u201d <\/p>\n

And as a year-round instructor, Westphal must take into consideration the impact of the skating season’s schedule, with the restrictions of budget and a busy senior season further limiting Hawayek & Baker’s available hours this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s usually beginning of the season, that\u2019s when they start to come in a little bit more heavily because their choreography is new,\u201d said Westphal, while the late summer, with dance camps and early competitions, sees a downturn. \u201cBut once they get back into the competition season, making sure that we\u2019re looking at everything and that they get more feedback on these early competitions from the judges–I remember last year, come late November, December, January, I was seeing Jean-Luc and Kaitlin all the time. They come for that reinforcement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Feedback is fundamental, adding pressure to the off-ice advisor’s job. Ifraimov characterized the situation as one of the greater hurdles.<\/p>\n

\"weapo-rr-7122\"\u201cEvery time they have to adjust, learn something new, something they haven\u2019t done before or haven\u2019t done to a certain level because they\u2019re still growing themselves,\u201d said Ifraimov. \u201cOne of the couples here, Andrew [Poje] and Kaitlyn [Weaver], are currently number two in the world, so everything they do is under a magnifying glass, so we can\u2019t make any errors there. We cannot make too many experiments there, because their schedule is very hectic, they have championship after championship and they\u2019re feeling they\u2019re pretty good to win the world title. But there is some kind of pressure on you as well as a teacher.\u201d<\/p>\n

Westphal deals in response not only from panels, but from the coaches themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m always looking for feedback,\u201d he said. \u201cYou know, \u2018what does your coach say, you went to see some judges this weekend, what do they think of what we\u2019re doing?\u2019 Because obviously this is for their skating, so I think that the challenge is in pleasing everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

It’s an exercise he can readily relate to the ballroom world. \u201cWhen I compete professionally, you\u2019re not going to please all the judges,\u201d he continued. \u201cEvery coach is going to tell you something a little bit different. But I want to make sure they\u2019re getting the most out of it so that they\u2019re getting a broad package and saying, \u2018Is everybody happy with what we\u2019re doing?\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

But before feedback can even shape direction of a program or performance to better-scoring ends, a style itself can foster difficulty for a couple, as Ifraimov acknowledged.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can look at a skater doing the Paso Doble and then in a waltz, and the Paso Doble could look much stronger because they feel the music much better,\u201d he said. \u201cThe body feels the movement, the character of that program. So in that case you\u2019re trying to educate them about the music, about the culture of the dance, [and] then you can build the story of the piece.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s one of the reasons why in figure skating they\u2019re constantly changing the genre, the style of dance, to see how well they can do this dance, how well they can do that dance,\u201d he continued. \u201cCertain dancers, it comes very quick and comes naturally to them, some not. Teachers obviously want to make sure when the dance doesn\u2019t come as easy, you want to work on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

But it does, as ever, return to that most essential of impediments in grappling with a traditional dance style on the ice\u2014the physics of dance floor versus ice.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing stationary on the floor is one thing; creating speed and constantly changing directions, different shapes of the body, is different. And it\u2019s something that takes adjustment\u2014understanding what the mechanics are,\u201d said Ifraimov. \u201cNot everything that can be done on the floor can be done on the ice, and vice versa, because of the speed, because of the momentum of the movement\u2014ballroom dancers can stop and start; skaters, especially when two people skate in any direction, there\u2019s a lot of momentum going one way, and for me that\u2019s a big difference.\u201d <\/p>\n

Westphal has found his ambitions occasionally thwarted by the matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are times where I really will push them and say, \u2018What if we did this shape with the choreography or what if you stretched it this much bigger?\u2019 They\u2019re not hesitant to say \u2018Um, Donald, you\u2019re a little crazy, I don\u2019t know if we can do that,\u2019\u201d he said with a laugh. \u201c\u2019I can see you doing it on the floor right now, but we\u2019re going 60 miles an hour with our skates on.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The skaters agree. \u201cA lot of the transitional steps, which really require on the floor the stability of stopping and not sliding, are not easily translated onto the ice step-for-step,\u201d said Baker. \u201cHowever, we find interpreting the style of the dances and the nuances in interpreting the character from on the ballroom floor seamless between the two and very easy to translate back into our work on the ice.\u201d<\/p>\n

It’s from that harmony in the midst of handicap that Ifraimov believes magic can arise.<\/p>\n

\u201cI spoke to the high-ranked couples, saying \u2018Can you imagine you can come as close as possible to ballroom-style of Paso Doble while being on skates to push the envelope a little bit, to come up with something very fresh that hasn\u2019t been done before? I think that will set you apart as a couple,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to come as close as we could.\u201d<\/p>\n

And while that tribute to the discipline’s heritage can enhance dance character and style on the ice, the greater part of ballroom’s role goes to the heart of any partner dance.<\/p>\n

\u201cLooking back, I really wish that a lot of the ice dancers would do ballroom sooner,\u201d said Westphal. \u201cWhat I work on a lot, and what I know a lot of those skaters appreciate, is the physical connection. Not just the emotional-expressive connection, but how you move together and how your bodies should be connecting and how you feel each other when you\u2019re moving, especially at that speed. She\u2019s turning and we\u2019re twizzling and we\u2019re doing this, and we need to reconnect. I think that that\u2019s something that you can\u2019t learn on a ballet barre. As great as ballet is going to help you with poise and posture and flexibility and turnout, it doesn\u2019t connect you with your partner, and looking back, I wish that ballroom was something that I had done more heavily for that purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Jacquelyn Thayer | Photos by Robin Ritoss Whatever stylistic freedoms the discipline has developed in its decades of life, ice dance was born of a ballroom world. Though only […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6039,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_gspb_post_css":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-interviews"],"blocksy_meta":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Articles.jpg?fit=957%2C566&ssl=1","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Articles.jpg?fit=957%2C566&ssl=1",957,566,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Articles.jpg?fit=150%2C150&ssl=1",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Articles.jpg?fit=300%2C177&ssl=1",300,177,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Articles.jpg?fit=768%2C454&ssl=1",768,454,true],"large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Articles.jpg?fit=957%2C566&ssl=1",957,566,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Articles.jpg?fit=957%2C566&ssl=1",957,566,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Articles.jpg?fit=957%2C566&ssl=1",957,566,true],"et-pb-post-main-image":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Articles.jpg?resize=400%2C250&ssl=1",400,250,true],"et-pb-post-main-image-fullwidth":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Articles.jpg?resize=957%2C566&ssl=1",957,566,true],"et-pb-portfolio-image":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Articles.jpg?resize=400%2C284&ssl=1",400,284,true],"et-pb-portfolio-module-image":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Articles.jpg?resize=510%2C382&ssl=1",510,382,true],"et-pb-portfolio-image-single":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Articles.jpg?fit=957%2C566&ssl=1",957,566,true],"et-pb-gallery-module-image-portrait":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Articles.jpg?resize=400%2C516&ssl=1",400,516,true],"rpwe-thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Articles.jpg?resize=45%2C45&ssl=1",45,45,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Team IDC","author_link":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/author\/idcadmin\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"by Jacquelyn Thayer | Photos by Robin Ritoss Whatever stylistic freedoms the discipline has developed in its decades of life, ice dance was born of a ballroom world. Though only […]","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7GOSM-Or","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3127\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}