How is the dance in chapter 7 different
Explain how the ritual dance in chapter 7 of Lord of the Flies is different from the others.
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The ritual dance in chapter 7 of Lord of the Flies is different from the others because it is openly sadistic and could have ended with Robert's murder.
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"Explain how the ritual dance in chapter 7 of Lord of the Flies is different from the others." eNotes Editorial, 13 May 2021, https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/explain-how-the-ritual-dance-in-chapter-7-of-lord-39303. Accessed 6 Nov. 2022.
In chapter 7, the ritual dance takes a dark turn for the worse as the boys experience bloodlust and become lost in their desire to maim and harm Robert. Initially, the boys chanted about killing the pig and spilling its blood when they returned from a successful hunt. Although their original chant is menacing and sinister, the violent outburst in chapter 7 is particularly unsettling and reveals their complete lack of civility.
Shortly after Ralph narrowly misses killing a pig, Robert enters the middle of the circle and begins to squeal in "mock terror." The boys surrounding Robert respond to his squeals by viciously attacking him. Ralph is even caught up in the excitement and begins to stab Robert with the butt of his spear as he screams in pain. Golding writes,
Ralph too was fighting to get near, to get a handful of that brown, vulnerable flesh. The desire to squeeze and hurt was over-mastering.
While the boys struggle to tear at Robert's flesh, Jack brandishes his knife and threatens to slit his throat. During the chaotic ritual, the boys constantly chant, "Kill the pig! Cut his throat! Kill the pig! Bash him in!" Once Jack instructs the boys to end the chant, Robert snivels in pain and complains about his minor injuries.
The frenzied ritual in chapter 7 is significantly more ominous considering the violence and bloodlust involved. The intensity of their aggression and desire to maim Robert emphasize the absence of civility and barbarism among the group. Even Ralph, who is considered a level-headed, sympathetic boy, allows his primitive instincts to consume him. The harmless ritual has changed into a dangerous game, which will rapidly transform into something more sinister. Their violent outburst and untethered rage foreshadow the brutality of Simon and Piggy's murders.
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In chapter 7, the ritual dance is different from the others because it becomes openly sadistic and threatens to go out of control.
Jack and Ralph are still working together at this point and have just missed killing a wild boar. Full of an unfulfilled desire to kill, Jack seizes a younger boy, Robert, and hurts him as he force him into the role of pig:
All at once, Robert was screaming and struggling with the strength of frenzy.
Jack had him by the hair and was brandishing his knife. Behind him was Roger, fighting to get close.
Ralph, as well as Jack, begins to lose control as blood lust takes over. Ralph jabs dangerously at Robert with his spear, though he does not touch him. Nobody is concerned about Robert's pain and fear. In their desire for a kill, the boys seem willing to step over a line and do in one of their own. Even Ralph has a:
desire to squeeze and hurt [that] was over-mastering.
Jack ends the ritual dance without a murder by symbolically killing the "pig," Robert, while the boys in the circle enact the pig's death with dying noises.
Ralph tries to brush this off, as do the others, as merely a "game," but he is uneasily aware that this is more than a game. Robert lies "sniveling" at the end, hurt and humiliated. He could easily have been killed. The dance represents another step in ripping off the veil of civilization that prevents the boys from descending into barbarism.
Their decency struggles against their desires.
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As was mentioned in the previous post, the boys' ritual dance in Chapter 7 is much more violent and disturbing than their earlier chants. In Chapter 4, the hunters painted themselves and successfully killed a pig. When they returned to camp, they were chanting "Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood" (Golding 96). As the novel progresses, the boys descend further into savagery and begin acting like barbarians.
In Chapter 7, the boys narrowly miss an opportunity to kill a pig and Ralph demonstrates how he threw his spear. Robert then begins to act like a pig as the boys make a ring around him. The boys then begin to hit and stab Robert with the butt end of their spears. They then grab Robert while Jack holds his knife up to Robert's neck. The boys begin to chant, and Golding describes their desire to maim Robert.
Jack finally puts an end to the game but suggests that the next time they should kill a littlun. This ritual scene in Chapter 7 differs greatly in intensity when compared to their previous rituals. The boys have become so savage that they actually contemplate killing a littlun in their next ritual.
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The boys have enjoyed the chanting and dancing. In Chapter 4, the dancing includes the violent chant of "Kill the Pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood." However, it isn't until Chapter 7 that the dance actually includes any violence. In this chapter, after the exciting near miss with the wild boar, the boys dance around in a recreation of the hunt. In their acting, Robert is placed in the role of the pig, and the boys antics take on a scary and inhuman reality to them. The boys actually hit Robert, pull his hair, poke him with their spears, and he is hurt in the "dance".
Even Ralph expresses a desire to "squeeze and hurt" the "brown, vulnerable flesh".
When the dance ends, the boys act like it was nothing strange. Even Robert, beaten and bruised, laughs it off, though his laugh is strained and uncomfortable. However, it is here that the atmosphere on the island begins to change. The beast inside each of the boys is starting to come alive, and it will soon take over - the next "dance" will not be even this safe.
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Lord of the Flies
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In chapter 4 of Lord of the Flies, what is the significance of Jack's mask?
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"We’ve got to have rules and obey them.
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Lord of the Flies Chapter 7 Summary & Analysis
Summary: Chapter 7The boys stop to eat as they travel toward the mountain. Ralph gazes disconsolately at the choppy ocean and muses on the fact that the boys have become slovenly and undisciplined. As he looks out at the vast expanse of water, he feels that the ocean is like an impenetrable wall blocking any hope the boys have of escaping the island. Simon, however, lifts Ralph’s spirits by reassuring him that he will make it home.
That afternoon, the hunters find pig droppings, and Jack suggests they hunt the pig while they continue to search for the beast. The boys agree and quickly track a large boar, which leads them on a wild chase. Ralph, who has never been on a hunt before, quickly gets caught up in the exhilaration of the chase. He excitedly flings his spear at the boar, and though it glances off the animal’s snout, Ralph is thrilled with his marksmanship nonetheless.
Jack holds up his bloodied arm, which he claims the boar grazed with its tusks.
Although the boar escapes, the boys remain in a frenzy in the aftermath of the hunt. Excited, they reenact the chase among themselves with a boy named Robert playing the boar. They dance, chant, and jab Robert with their spears, eventually losing sight of the fact that they are only playing a game. Beaten and in danger, Robert tries to drag himself away. The group nearly kills Robert before they remember themselves. When Robert suggests that they use a real boar in the game next time, Jack replies that they should use a littlun instead. The boys laugh, delighted and stirred up by Jack’s audacity. Ralph tries to remind everyone that they were only playing a game. Simon volunteers to return to the beach to tell Piggy and the littluns that the group will not return until late that night.
Darkness falls, and Ralph proposes that they wait until morning to climb the mountain because it will be difficult to hunt the monster at night.
Jack challenges Ralph to join the hunt, and Ralph finally agrees to go simply to regain his position in the eyes of the group. Ralph, Roger, and Jack start to climb the mountain, and then Ralph and Roger wait somewhere near the top while Jack climbs alone to the summit. He returns, breathlessly claiming to have seen the monster. Ralph and Roger climb up to have a look and see a terrifying specter, a large, shadowy form with the shape of a giant ape, making a strange flapping sound in the wind. Horrified, the boys hurry down the mountain to warn the group.
The boar hunt and the game the boys play afterward provide stark reminders of the power of the human instinct toward savagery. Before this point in the novel, Ralph has been largely baffled about why the other boys were more concerned with hunting, dancing, bullying, and feasting than with building huts, maintaining the signal fire, and trying to be rescued. But when he joins the boar hunt in this chapter, Ralph is unable to avoid the instinctive excitement of the hunt and gets caught up in the other boys’ bloodlust.
In this scene, Golding implies that every individual, however strong his or her instinct toward civilization and order, has an undeniable, innate drive toward savagery as well.
Read more about civilization vs. savagery as a theme.
After the hunt, the boys’ reenactment of the chase provides a further reminder of the inextricable connection between the thrill of the hunt and the desire for power. Robert, the boy who stands in for the boar in the reenactment, is nearly killed as the other boys again get caught up in their excitement and lose sight of the limits of the game in their mad desire to kill. Afterward, when Jack suggests killing a littlun in place of a pig, the group laughs. At this point, probably none of them—except possibly Jack and Roger—would go so far as to actually carry out such a plan. Nonetheless, the fact that the boys find the possibility exciting rather than horrifying is rather unsettling.
By this point, the conflict between Ralph and Jack has escalated to a real struggle for power, as Jack’s brand of violence and savagery almost completely replaces Ralph’s disciplined community in the boys’ conception of their lives on the island.
Ralph’s exhilaration in the hunt and his participation in the ritual that nearly kills Robert is, in a sense, a major victory for Jack, for the experience shakes Ralph’s confidence in his own instinct toward morality and order.
Read important quotes about the dangers of mob mentality.
As befits a power struggle in a savage group, the conflict between Ralph and Jack manifests itself not as a competition to prove who would be the better leader but instead as a competition of sheer strength and courage. Just as Ralph boldly climbed the hill alone to prove his bravery in the previous chapter, Jack goes up the mountain alone now. It is also significant that Ralph discovers nothing, while Jack discovers what he thinks is the beast: while Ralph does not believe in the beast, the beast constitutes a major part of Jack’s picture of life on the island.
Read more about what the beast is.
Jack increases his leverage within the group by goading Ralph into acting rashly and unwisely, against his tendency toward levelheadedness—a manipulation that weakens Ralph’s position in the group.
Although Ralph realizes that it is foolish to hunt the beast at night, he knows that, in a society that values strength, he cannot risk appearing to be a coward. As a result, he assents to going up the mountainside at night. Ultimately, Ralph’s decision to explore the mountain at night costs him the opportunity to prove to the others that Sam and Eric did not see the beast: had the boys climbed the mountain in the daylight as Ralph wished, they would have seen the dead parachutist for what it was. Because they go at night, however, they see the parachutist distorted by shadows and believe it to be the beast.
In a sense, the degree to which each boy is prone to see the beast mirrors the degree to which he gives in to his instinct toward savagery. This connection emphasizes the idea that the beast is a symbolic manifestation of the boys’ primitive inner instincts.
Read more about the symbolism of the beast.
Dance as a Philosophy • Episode Transcript • Arzamas
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Contents of the second lecture from Irina Sirotkina's course "What is modern dance"
It is believed that the goal of education is to get rid of imposed opinions, patterns, stereotypes. There are also many stereotypes about dance. Many people think, for example, that dancing is not an intellectual pursuit: intellectuals are not interested in dancing, and dancers do not read books. And it is also believed that it is better to dance than to talk or read about dance. Let's say right away: it's better - both. Moreover, one thing - dancing - is hardly possible without the other - without thinking, talking, reading about dance.
Stereotypes, alas, are peculiar not only to poorly educated people, but sometimes even to philosophers. Philosophy in the West and in our country has long ignored the body. The body has been the Cinderella of classical philosophy ever since, in the 17th century, René Descartes separated the thinking substance, res cogitans (or, literally, "the thing that knows"), from the material substance, res extensa, endowed only with the property of extension.
Thought was thus incorporeal. But philosophers were only interested in it - thought. Already in the 19th century, Hegel declared that the subject of thought is an incorporeal spirit. This was probably due to the fact that philosophers took very little care of their own bodies and sat a lot.
Nevertheless, let's give Hegel his due: he considered sculpture to be the highest and most beautiful of all arts. And the favorite subject of sculptors is the human body. Hegel defined beauty as the conformity of form to an idea, as an expression of the eternal idea of beauty. These were the ancient sculptures of heroes, gods, sages-philosophers, whom everyone then admired. But dance is related to sculpture! Dance, like sculpture, is often classified as a plastic art. And at the beginning of the 20th century, a new dance appeared, which was called plastic. It is quite possible to imagine that dance is a sculpture in motion, plasticity is in dynamics.
Friedrich Nietzsche was the first to notice that in dance the body also becomes a work of art, which means that it also expresses an idea, a thought.
Nietzsche literally turned classical philosophy upside down. And he did it not least with the help of dance. Like Isadora Duncan, Nietzsche loved antiquity and believed that in ancient Greece the highest stage of human development was reached - a golden age, which people then lost. In The Birth of Tragedy from the Spirit of Music, Nietzsche composes a real ode to dance - an ancient and eternally young dance: “... man ... is ready to dance into the airy heights. Witchcraft speaks with his body movements. …He feels like a god.” And in the philosophical poem Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Nietzsche writes: "I would only believe in a God who could dance." His Zarathustra dances with nymphs in green meadows. For Nietzsche, dance becomes an attribute of the highest, divine art and thought. Therefore, dance for Nietzsche is a metaphor for thought. The divine lightness of the dance is opposed to everything "serious, weighty, deep, solemn" - in a word, boring; opposes "the spirit of gravity, by which all things fall to the ground.
" Through the mouth of Zarathustra, the philosopher calls to "learn to fly", "to be light", "to dance not only with your feet, but also with your head" - that is, to be light and free in your thinking, just as a good dancer is free and light in dancing.
At that time, which is called the Silver Age in Russia, very many became Nietzscheans, spoke his language, using the metaphor of dance. The poet Andrei Bely dreamed that his works were "a dance of self-fulfilling thought." The same idea is echoed by today's Nietzscheans like the French philosopher Alain Badiou. For him, too, dance is “a metaphor for unsubdued, light, refined thought”, “a sign of the possibility of art inscribed in the body”. Free, unfettered, non-dogmatic thought is like a dance.
Nietzsche exclaimed: "And let the day be lost for us when we never danced!" The influence of this philosopher-dancer, not only on his colleagues in the workshop, but also on the dancers, can hardly be overestimated. Isadora Duncan loved to read Nietzsche and quoted him in her reflections on dance.
She was not the only one: Nietzsche was also read by the German dancer, one of the creators of Art Nouveau, Mary Wigman. Wigman put one of her compositions on a chapter from Nietzsche's poem "Thus Spoke Zarathustra", which is called "Song-Dance". Maurice Béjart and many other dancers read Nietzsche. These are real intellectuals from dance, artist-thinkers. They created not only choreography, but also artistic manifestos and programs: Duncan wrote "Dance of the Future", Rudolf Laban - "The Dancer's World", Mary Wigman - "Philosophy of Modern Dance".
What was the Nietzschean idea of these outstanding intellectual dancers? First, in the criticism of everything artificial. Isadora passionately criticized ballet for its alleged artificiality, conventionality, and the harm it does to the body. And she herself presented an alternative - a "natural" dance, similar to movement in nature. His examples are not six ballet positions (that is, several positions of arms and legs on which the entire choreography of classical ballet is based), but “wave vibrations and the rush of winds, the growth of living beings and the flight of birds, floating clouds and .
.. human thoughts ... about the Universe ... ". Duncan considered one of the manifestations of the extreme artificiality of the ballet that the movements in it are fractional, isolated, do not follow from each other, are not connected with each other and "are unnatural, because they seek to create the illusion that the laws of gravity do not exist for them." On the contrary, in a free dance, the actions “should carry in themselves a germ from which all subsequent movements could develop” - approximately in the same way as evolution occurs in nature. Dancing, Isadora believed, should be every person, and it will be his own, personal dance, corresponding not to ballet canons, but to the structure of his own body. In other words, she insisted on individuality, freedom, spontaneity in dance - motivating this by the fact that nature itself works this way. “Duncan is not just a name, but a program,” wrote one of her fans in Russia, art critic Alexei Sidorov.
German dancer Mary Wiegmann (real name - Marie Wiegmann) lived 86 years (1886-1973).
By the way, this is far from the only case of longevity among dancers - it seems to me that these people, who were burning with their work, simply could not die and leave this work on earth. So, Wigman began to create her dances in a unique place - on the mountain of Truth, Monte Verita. This was the name of the community of artists, philosophers, anarchists, theosophists, vegetarians, nudists who set up a colony in Italian Switzerland, on the shores of Lake Maggiore. There at 19In the year 13, Rudolf Laban, the son of a field marshal from Austria-Hungary, arrived, who at that time was studying architecture in Paris. And here he began - like Zarathustra dancing in "round dances" - to lead his "moving choirs". It was like a pantomime performed by a group of people. Wigman, Suzanne Perrotte, and many other future dancers, creators of new styles - expressionism and modernity, participated in these "choirs" (where there was no music and songs, only movement and gestures). In the warm Swiss climate, they danced on the banks of Lago Maggiore, naked or half-clothed, celebrated mass to the sun, and thought up other rituals for the new, liberated humanity.
What the colonists on Monte Verita offered - given that at that very time a fratricidal world war was going on in Europe, in which Christians destroyed Christians - was not the worst offer to mankind.
Almost all modern dance came from a small commune in the Swiss Alps. We have already mentioned Wigman - here she created her ingenious dance-rituals: she came up with her "Dance of the Witch", then she created the "Dance Song" to the words of Nietzsche, and later, with her students, staged "Monument to the Dead" ("Totenmal") . In her article "The Philosophy of Modern Dance" (1933), she wondered if classical ballet was possible after the World War. Wigman believed that dance should be updated - not only in terms of new movements, steps or steps, but also in terms of the seriousness of the questions that choreographers ask.
The Witch's Dance by Mary Wigman.
1920s In addition to Wigman, other modern choreographers also began to address current political and existential questions, questions about life. Kurt Joss staged the contemporary ballet "Green Table" - about those negotiations that European diplomats failed, which led to the world war. Pina Bausch began to study with Joss - she later created her own dance theater in the German city of Wuppertal, one of the most famous in the world. In the 20th century, along with dance-entertainment, a dance-reflection, dance-satire appeared. This is the result of real intellectual dancers appearing—or, as in the case of Laban, intellectuals began to dance, to become dance artists.
They opposed themselves to the light entertainment genre that ballet was traditionally considered to be. It must be said that in the 18th and 19th centuries ballet served as light entertainment, divertissement: ballets in the theater were given in intermissions between two short operas or between two acts of an opera, and often it was called that - ballet divertissement (divertissement in French "entertainment") .
To distance themselves from this tradition, the new choreographers called their style not ballet, but modern dance. Modern included Mary Wigman, Kurt Joss and other students of Laban in Europe, and in the USA Martha Graham and other dancers. In our country, modern dance began to develop successfully in 1920s, but was banned for ideological reasons. After that, academic ballet reigned for a long time, and other genres (except, perhaps, folk stage dance) became marginal.
At first, classical ballet remained aloof from the processes that took place in modern dance. However, here, too, choreographers-philosophers appeared who staged meaningful performances. Maurice Bejart also belonged to the dancing philosophers, or philosophizing dancers (he left us relatively recently, in 2007). His real name is Berger; he is the son of the philosopher Gaston Berger, who, in particular, wrote a treatise on Husserl's phenomenology. Maurice graduated from the Lyceum with honors in philosophy, and then he took and went to study classical dance.
As in philosophy, he was also successful in ballet - despite his small stature and short legs, he performed the title role of Siegfried in Swan Lake.
In the mid-1950s, Béjart founded his first company and staged his first ballet, La Symphonie for a Solo Man (La Symphonie pour un homme seul) to "concrete music" by contemporary composer Pierre Henry. Specific music was an electronic compilation of musical fragments, sounds of nature and household noises - for example, factory horns. The music alone provoked the audience - there really was a scandal at the premiere. Moreover, the theme is not typical for ballet: existentialism, loneliness, anxiety. These sentiments, however, were very typical of those years when Jean-Paul Sartre was the most popular philosopher. Bejart, thus, immediately declared himself as a choreographer-philosopher. And five years later he finally read Nietzsche, and this reconciled his two strongest passions - philosophy and dance. And his dance changed, became more powerful, passionate and vital.
Having created a new company - "Ballet of the 20th century", Bejart turns to ancient myths, in which movement, dance have a sacred meaning, and puts on the ballets "Orpheus", "The Rite of Spring", "Sacrifice".
In 1961 Béjart staged perhaps his most popular ballet, Boléro. Bejart's favorite dancer Argentine Jorge Donn, Maya Plisetskaya, Sylvie Guillem shone in it ... Bejart was not the first to turn to Ravel's music. In fact, this composition was composed by Ravel at the request of the dancer Ida Rubinstein. The ballet "Bolero" was staged for her by the sister of the famous Vaslav Nijinsky, the wonderful performer and choreographer Bronislava Nijinsky herself. The ballet takes place in a tavern, and in the finale, Ida jumped on the table and danced on it, surrounded by enthusiastic male patrons. If you have seen Béjart's "Bolero" (or you can watch it right now), then you know that this dance is also performed on a raised platform. But due to a completely different choreography, idea, mood, this dance is more like not drunken fun in a pub, but a very serious and passionate sacrificial ritual.
Even Bejart's table is not a table, but an altar on which sacrifice is made.
Such was the increased seriousness and even sacredness of modern dance in comparison with its predecessor, classical ballet of the 19th century. It should be added that Bejart himself converted to Islam in the late 1960s, but Buddhism was also close to him. And he called his last dance schools "Mudra" (which means "gesture" in Hindi) - in Brussels, and "Rudra" (after the name of the deity) - in Lausanne. Over the past twenty years, Béjart has staged almost a hundred ballets, including, a year before his death, Zarathustra: Song and Dance. Zarathustra for him is a philosopher, a prophet, a legislator, a dancing god who dances with his feet and head.
More to read:
Badiou A.
A small guide to inaesthetics. St. Petersburg, 2014.
Bezhar M. A moment in the life of another. Memoirs. M., 1989.
Valerie P. On Art. Soul and dance. M., 1993.
Duncan A. Dance of the future.
Nietzsche F. Thus spoke Zarathustra.
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| Sports dancing has much in common with pair skating, but both types are clearly different from each other. Sports dancing on ice is primarily a joint performance of dance steps in standard and non-standard dance positions. Sports dancing is a triathlon. Its first type - obligatory dances - has a clear description of steps, positions, patterns and is performed to certain music in a given character and musical rhythm. Each pair composes the original dance by itself, striving to perform it in the prescribed rhythm in the style of the obligatory dance (twice repeating pattern of steps, maintaining the direction of movement, etc.). The third type of dance triathlon is a free dance, which allows a couple to most clearly reveal their individual technical and artistic skills to the music chosen by the athletes. The formation of a dance duet usually begins among figure skaters of about 12-13 years old, who are confident in the technique of gliding and basic dance elements. But this does not mean that the couple is already ready to compete. Only after a year of joint work, combined with the improvement of individual technique, can one begin to prepare for competitions. When forming a duet, the following indicators are taken into account: external data - attractive appearance, elongated muscles of the arms and legs, beautiful, straight posture. Height should not be below average, and the difference in height between partners should be no more than 15-25 cm. It is desirable that by the time the pair is created, the level of technical training of the partners would be the same. The optimal age difference between skaters is 1-3 years. Children with artistic inclinations, sociable, emotional, musical, who love to improvise to music on ice and in the hall, and also have good choreographic data: “eversion”, “step”, a sense of posture, “aplomb” are most suitable for sports ice dancing. MAIN PARTS AND POSITIONSBasic dance elements can be divided into two groups: Elements without changing front of movement: basic step forward, backward, running steps forward, backward, simple and crossed chasses, cross rolls. Elements with a change in the front of movement, which include the most complex dance elements: troika, mohawk, chok-tau, hooks, counters, twizzles. When studying the 1st group of elements, special attention should be paid to the posture of athletes: the shoulders are deployed, the back is fixed, the arms are extended at the elbows and hands, the head is raised. Double bending of the knee of the supporting leg during one step is a characteristic sign of the correct mastery of dance elements. The essence of this step is that each push step is performed not with a leg straightened at the knee, but only after a second squat on it, which makes it possible to move plastically and softly and at the same time powerfully, since the push is performed with an edge, not a prong skate. Running steps - a series of consecutive steps on the outer and inner edge. With each new step, the jogging leg sweeps next to the supporting one. It is useful to learn running steps in a circle in both directions. Moving in a circle to the left, pay attention to the fact that the right hand is extended forward, and the left is behind, keep your head so that it is directed to the left-up. Moving to the right, reverse the position of the hands and head. Running steps are performed not only in a circle, but also in a big eight, a paragraph at a variable pace. The most difficult element of the 1st group is the backward running steps, since the latter, like the forward running steps, are a series of successive steps in which the free leg sweeps next to the supporting one. Unequal pushing with both legs, loss of balance due to loose back muscles and abdominals, and throwing the free leg high above the ice are the most common mistakes when learning running back steps. An element consisting of three steps (for example, left front-out, right front-in, left front-out) is called a chassé. The main thing in the cross-roll is the almost perpendicular intersection of the free and supporting legs during their change. When learning cross-rolls, the shoulders should be fixed. Three is the most common turn in ice dancing. The triple is performed by slightly turning the shoulders and hips in the direction of movement. The purity of the execution of this element depends on the sliding before and after turning on one edge of the skate. Correct posture, a free leg fixed behind, as well as a slight lifting of the heel of the supporting leg at the top of the turn will help to facilitate this task. Mohawk is an element in which the change of the front of movement occurs without changing the edges of the skate, and the Choctaw is a turn with a change in the edges of the skate when the front of movement changes. Twizzles - turns in 1 turn on one leg. This is a combined combination of bringing the free leg close to the supporting leg and rotating on it. In this case, the trunk occupies a strictly vertical position. Dance positions. Dance positions can be as simple as "hand in hand" when the partner is to the right of the partner and looks in the same direction as him. In all positions described, the partners must be mindful of their posture and keep as close to each other as possible. COMPULSORY DANCESThe ISU has established three groups of compulsory dances for adult dancers: 1. Westminster waltz, paso doble, rumba. 2. Star waltz, kilian, romantic tango. 3. Ravensburg waltz, quickstep, Argentine tango. There are four compulsory dance groups for juniors: 1. European Waltz, Quickstep, Argentinian Tango. 2. American waltz, rumba, blues. 3. Viennese waltz, kilian, tango. 4. Star waltz, paso doble, rocker foxtrot. According to the rules, in all official competitions during one season, one group of dances for adults and one group for juniors is performed. At each competition, a draw is held, which determines one of the two groups named at the beginning of the year. However, from the point of view of the method of teaching the obligatory dance, another, unofficial, classification has been adopted, consisting of waltzes, fast and slow dances. Let's consider the most important details of the performance technique and teaching methods for individual compulsory dances. Westminster waltz. Music 3/4, dance consisting of 22 steps with a preferred pattern. In the first 10 steps, the same for both partners, an open inner mohawk is included: left forward-inward, right back-inward. The beginning of the mohawk is directed towards the center of the rink and is performed in the “kilian” position. In the first part of the mohawk, the right free leg is brought to the count of “three” to the supporting left leg, and with the vertical position of the body, a change occurs: the right leg becomes the supporting one. The free (left) leg is extended over the track. The position in the step right back-inward changes to reverse kilian. When performing this mohawk, an indistinct change of legs (scrapers with teeth, insufficiently pronounced sliding on the inner ribs of the skate) can occur due to the loss of correct posture, non-reversible bringing of the free right leg to the supporting left, and also due to non-parallelism of the partners’ shoulders to the track. Crossed chassis of both partners and simultaneous turns: partner's counter-left forward-outward and lady's hook-right forward-inward largely depend on the close foxtrot position and clear synchronous swings of the free legs. For the convenience of performing these steps, the partner should be slightly ahead of the partner. The complexity of step No. 15 of the partner - the triple of the right forward-inside - lies in the fact that the turn is performed at the expense of "one" of the next musical dance. A common mistake is an underexposed arc, which entails turning a three on the count of three. Steps 16-22 should include a double knee bend to spice up the dance and emphasize its character. When working on a waltz, one should strive to avoid double-edge arcs, which can lead to the execution of the drawing in the form of straight lines. Quickstep. Music 4/4, an 18-step dance with an attributed pattern performed in the kilian position. In steps 7, 9 and 10, special attention should be paid to the clear crossing of the legs. The complexity of this technique is that the dance takes place at a fairly fast pace. Blues. 22 bars, 4 counts. The slowest of all dances, consisting of 17 steps performed in closed waltz and foxtrot positions. The main task in this dance is to show long rib arcs with “soft” knees. A complex technical feature of the blues is the closed choctaw - left front-in, right back-out (steps No. 12-13), performed in the foxtrot position. European waltz. This is one of the most difficult obligatory dances for all its outward simplicity and monotony (the steps consist of repeated triple turns in a waltz position). The step arcs forming the entrances and exits of the triples are alternately turned either towards the longitudinal axis of the rink, or away from it. ORIGINAL, FREE AND DESIGN DANCEThe original dance is a repeated sequence of steps in half a circle or a whole circle. Each pair performs an original dance invented by it in a certain given rhythm and pace proposed by the ISU for all competitions of this sports season. The specificity of the pattern of the original dance. The original dance is performed clockwise or against it with a change in front of movement, but without a change in direction of movement. The original dance is performed along the perimeter of the rink, but on the condition that the main longitudinal axis of the rink intersects along the line of short sides. Loops in dance patterns are not allowed. 9change of position. Their number in the dance is not limited, but the positions themselves must correspond to the nature of the dance being performed. You can use both standard dance positions and positions invented by the athletes themselves. Hand-in-hand skating, like shadow skating, must not be included in the original dance. Usually, work on original dances begins with the selection of music and the study of the most characteristic features of this dance: the history of its creation, national color, costumes, etc. The sources of study can be books, videos, eyewitness stories, concert, ballet, pop, folk , ballroom dancing. Having received an idea of the style and nature of the dance, they begin to arrange the music. Each new series of the original dance in terms of sound time, accents, duration of pauses must exactly match the previous one. The introduction and finale in the dance should, as it were, frame the series and create the impression of a finished dance-musical work. Remember: the higher the technique of mastering dance elements, the richer your imagination, the brighter and more convincing the dance will turn out. The content of the original dance consists of various dance steps. Their basis is the elements of obligatory dances. When working on an original dance, style must be emphasized. The posture of the partners is one of the most important conditions in the work on the style decision of the dance. Movements of the arms and torso that emphasize the rhythm and character of the music should also be widely used in original dances. The most memorable movements and elements should correspond to bright musical accents. Ori staging a free dance aims to create an original composition in full accordance with the nature of the selected music. A clear rule should be followed: the higher the skill of the skaters, the more difficult the musical work is chosen in terms of tempo, rhythm, character, and artistic image. When an arbitrary composition is prepared to pre-composed music composed of parts of various musical works, it should be borne in mind that such musical segments must be combined into one program either by a homogeneous sound of the orchestra, or by one era of the creation of a musical work, or by a single style or character of music . If you chose sharply contrasting musical parts of the program, then each of them should represent a complete musical miniature. When choosing music for juniors, it is best to turn to musical works that correspond to a childish, joyful perception of the world, which are not yet capable of conveying a lyric-dramatic image prompted by a complex piece of music. When creating a dance, one should pay attention not only to the difficulty, but also to the artistic side of the performance. Good roll-up of partners, change of dance positions, synchronism in the performance of elements and combinations, change of tempo and speed of sliding, high musicality, lightness, artistry - these are the main requirements for dance. When staging a free dance, a number of recommendations should be taken into account: Elements of the same name (supports, jumps, spirals, etc.) should be used evenly in different parts of the dance. The free program drawing should be drawn on paper, then you will avoid monotonous movement in one direction or incomplete use of the entire ice area throughout the dance. Try to perform the brightest combinations in the central part of the rink. Alternate steps, connections and combinations, watch for alternating steps, long and short arcs. Do not be afraid to enrich the dance with new interesting movements, even if it is already ready. After all, searching and improving is the way to success. Demonstration dance. A good means of developing the technical and artistic skills of figure skaters is a demonstration dance. Most often, the performance of a demonstration dance coincides with a decrease in the load of the competitive period, when the main events of the season have already been completed, and the transition period is ahead. Work on staging a demonstration dance is started only after the choice of musical material and the clarification of the basic ideas and design of the dance. Due to the fact that the demonstration dance, unlike the free dance, does not have clear judicial restrictions in the content of elements, positions, execution time, saturation, etc. During the development of general and special endurance of dancers, when staging a demonstration dance, the following should be taken into account: its duration, the pace of execution of movements, the inclusion of various supports; the development of endurance to some extent contributes to the encore of the number, which is possible only in demonstration performances. The development of agility is facilitated by the use of various objects in a demonstration dance: a ball, a hat, a cane, a scarf, etc., as well as acrobatic elements previously mastered by the skaters in the hall. Versatile possession of various technical skills is possible only with the introduction of elements of related disciplines into the demonstration dance - pair and single skating, elements and poses borrowed from ballet. A rational sequence of teaching compulsory, original, demonstration, free dances helps to improve the quality of training and reduce its time. The following sequence can be recommended: 1. General idea of the studied dance - steps, pattern, character of performance, musical rhythm, tempo. 2. Separate and joint work with a partner on the main elements of the dance without musical accompaniment, then to the melody. 3. Analysis of one series or part of the dance separately, then together with a partner in the hall. 4. Mastering one series or part of the dance separately, then together with a partner on the ice without musical accompaniment, then to the melody. 5. Work on the dance as a whole: a) each partner performs the required number of series or parts of dances to the music; b) partners jointly perform the required number of series of dances to the music. When perfecting the dance, the partners must follow: a) the conformity of the steps with the description of the dance pattern; b) for the performance of dance steps in the rhythm of music; c) for synchronism and clarity of steps; d) for artistry, ease and ease of execution.  .
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Before staging free and original dances, coaches and athletes should carefully study the rules for judging these sections. 
During its execution, the free leg when performing a simple chassé is placed on the ice next to the supporting one on the inside of the foot, and when performing a crossed chassé, from the outside. When learning a simple and crossed chassé, it should be remembered that removing free legs by bending the leg at the knee, and not by pulling up the hip, is the most common mistake. 
Mohawks come in three types: open, closed and flywheel. When performing a mohawk turn, the legs rush side by side, but do not cross, while the tracks on the ice, with the correct execution of the elements, turn out to be crossed. When performing the Choctaw turn, pay special attention to the vigorous turn of the shoulders in the direction of the new arc. The change of legs must be silent. At the time of the turns, the hook and hook should be slightly raised with the heel of the supporting leg, and the free leg should be fixed in the thigh and the ankle should be extended. These turns must be performed boldly and decisively, but at the same time completely excluding jerky movements and bouncing of the skate. 
In closed, or waltz, positions, the partners stand facing each other and one of them slides forward and the other back. In this case, the partner’s right palm is on the partner’s left shoulder blade, and the partner’s left palm is on the partner’s right shoulder. The shoulders are parallel, the free arms are connected at the hands. The tango position, or side position, differs from the waltz position in that the hips and shoulders of the partners are parallel, but shifted to the right or left relative to each other. In the foxtrot position, the position of the arms and hands is similar to the waltz position, but the partners slide in the same direction. In the “kilian” position, as in the foxtrot position, the partners slide side by side in the same direction (the lady is on the right), the partner’s right shoulder is behind the lady’s left shoulder. The partner's left hand is extended and fixed in the partner's left palm. The partner grabs the partner from behind and puts his right hand on her waist, and she covers her from above with her right palm.
Step #7 in the dance is a six-count left-back-outward arc where the pivot knee double bend should be applied. 
The steps for both partners are the same. Steps 5-6 - Fly Choctaw left front-out, right back-in with constriction out. Entry into the Choctaw must be made on a well-defined outer edge with control of the position of the shoulders. The right shoulder is laid back, and the left forward. This must be done on all four counts when swinging with the free leg. The partner should be slightly ahead of the partner. Relaxation of the shoulders will lead to a change in the position of the partners. A change in Choctaw occurs when the free leg is brought to the supporting leg at an angle of 90°. At the beginning of sliding along the arc, the right back-inside, the left shoulder is pulled back. On the count of "two", the free left leg is brought to the supporting leg, and then taken back to the side. At this moment, the supporting left leg is pulled from the inner to the outer edge. 
Therefore, it is necessary to practice these steps slowly in the beginning. Execution of steps on the front of the skate with the transition to the teeth is the most common mistake. To avoid it, it is necessary to ensure that the position of the body is strictly vertical, and the head is raised. When taking steps, aim to cover as much of the area as possible. On the internal two-count arcs, the left forward-inward and right forward-inward bend the knee of the supporting leg as much as possible, and straighten the free leg and stretch it back. Make these arcs steep, sustained and fast at the same time. The lively rhythm of the dance will well emphasize the double knee bend. 
Since this element is difficult, it is recommended that you first learn it without a partner. Entry into the Choctaw is performed to two beats of music on the steep inner edge of the ridge of the left leg, strongly bent, the right shoulder laid back. On the count of three, the free right foot comes close to the left and there is a Choctaw turn with a two-count exit on the right foot back-out. In this case, the left shoulder is retracted. The slope of the exit must be the same as the slope of the entrance, and the free legs at the entrance and exit of the Choctaw must be raised to the same height. When performing this element, the partner slides along the trail of the partner. 
Entries into man's triple turns start from a cross roll, but the closed position must not change. This is achieved by controlling the shoulders fixed throughout the dance. When entering the three, the partner's supporting leg should be directed between the partner's feet. It is very important throughout the dance to bend the knee of the supporting leg in the same way, which makes the performance smooth. The free leg is slightly turned outward, after repulsion it is in front or behind the supporting leg. Pay attention to a slight counter-movement of the shoulders to avoid twisting the torso when performing a three-way turn. It is important to observe the count of the execution of each step, since in the European waltz any of them is performed in three counts. The higher the skill of the dancers, the more uniform and smooth the dance looks. It should be remembered that the European waltz is useful even for highly qualified athletes and should invariably be included in their training process as an excellent method for improving the classical alphabet of sports ice dancing.
They can only be used in the intro and ending. 
A successful combination of these elements, as well as original elements invented by the athletes themselves, performed at different tempos, scores and positions, determine the complexity of the original dance. It should be borne in mind that the value of the content of the dance depends primarily on the confident, easy execution of steps in unison with the music. When staging an original dance, it is necessary to avoid riding on two legs, to monitor the equivalence of the parties of both partners, to pay attention to the alternation of steps with arcs of different duration and steepness, performed with contrasting positions of the bodies of the partners. 
This will enliven the dance and emphasize its character. 
Compositions composed to folk melodies or certain dance rhythms look interesting. 
Limit hand movements if it is not related to accents, semantic phrases and the nature of the dance. Associated with the change of music, the transitions from one part of the dance to another must have a complete and original character of positions and movements. 
, its means and tasks are much wider. 
