EDUCATION Carol Rossignol, MD, MS, MG, MPD, MFF
Drawing the Line, Pointing the Toe, and Keeping Your Balance W O R D S A N D I L L U S T R AT I O N S B Y C H R I S T I E A L L A N - P I P E R , R M , C F S , R G
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ou’re riding around the circle with your hip out! When the hip is IN, there should be a hollow in your hip for your fist,” Maribel Vinson Owen exclaimed in my first lesson with her, as I wobbled around a first test figure eight. She pounded her fist into her hip to demonstrate as she skated deep edges in the ice. Maribel, Olympic bronze medalist, nine-time national ladies champion, five-time national pairs champion, had learned skating from Willie Frick, the Boy Wonder of Berlin. She and he were my first teachers. In rinks all over Massachusetts, even on the coldest night on outdoor ice, Maribel, ever moving on fast, deep, ripping edges, with her lambskin jacket flying open, wore a skating skirt to demonstrate line. Back at The Skating Club of Boston, Mr. Frick, in a banker’s suit and tie, slowly led on figure eights, his students following, struggling to match his straight back, neat feet, and extended free leg. They both taught line, straight back, deep skating knee, straight free leg, and neat feet. Extending the free leg and pressing the toe down the moment it left the ice was as obligatory to them as good manners. Slouching shoulders, slack free leg, or sloppy feet were, we learned, like bad manners—needless and inexcusable. Sometimes on Christmas Eve, Maribel took her daughters and some of her students to walk about Beacon Hill, enjoying Christmas festivities. We would return to the Vinson family home, the large old farmhouse in Winchester, for tea and cookies. We gathered in the dining room, where sterling silver trophies filled the shelves, the buffet, and even the floor. Leaning across the dining table to light the candelabra, she balanced on one foot, outstretched arm in front, extended free leg behind. “See how she points her toe, even to light the candles!” Lynn Finnegan, national junior ladies champion, exclaimed. “Of course!” Maribel replied, surprised at Lynn’s surprise. “That’s how you keep your balance.” Clearly the extended free leg added beauty. But only long after passing the gold test did I fully appreciate Maribel’s remark. Beyond beauty, the extended, well-placed free leg is ballast. Though she preferred to call it the “unemployed
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foot”, it’s always working. As Maribel said, it helps you keep your balance. The extended free leg, with the blade parallel to the ice over the line of travel, guides us around circles and turns. It leads the way in front, or steers from behind, the prow or the rudder. Practicing figures was as rigorous as ballet barre practice. While mirrors are dancers’ feedback, ice marks were oursour line detectors. While the free leg presses the air and steers, all the other muscles in the body stretch or contract in counterbalance. Figures helped train the body to achieve stillness and control. Free skating is the beneficiary. A great skater moves only what he needs to move, to do what he needs to do. At high speeds, he may be motionless above the speeding skate. Removing figures was a loss for skating, but ways remain to strengthen skills. Drawing on paper may substitute for drawing on ice, not only the figures, but the figure itself. Kori Ade, at a PSA seminar, remarked “every skater should be able to draw at least a stick figure.” Drawing helps skaters move knowingly, rather than with mere muscle memory. Imagine a long axis running from the sky, through the body, from head to foot, to the center of the earth, head, shoulders, hips, foot, like building blocks, stacked along the line. For Pencil Doll: head, shoulders, hips, and the figure skater, all parts foot along the axis align along the axis. Any part misplaced weakens the skater. Aligned, he is balanced. To draw the skater, one looks for the plumb line. Head, shoulders, hips, feet usually align along it. Any part out of position may make a turn skid, a spin travel, or a jump fail. Illustration 1 shows both balanced and out of balance figures.
