Compulsory figures

Prescribed patterns traced on ice with a skate blade, emphasizing precise turns, edges, and circles. They were once a major part of figure-skating competition.

Figure skating: A sport in which skaters perform jumps, spins, and choreographed movements on ice. Compulsory figures formed one of the sport’s traditional competitive disciplines.
Jackson Haines: An American skater who helped shape modern figure skating through expressive performance and ballet-inspired movement. His theatrical style contrasted with the discipline and precision prized in compulsory figures.
Figure skating judging: The evaluation of figure skating performances under criteria set by the sport’s rules. Judges scored figures for accuracy, form, and quality of execution.
Compulsory dance: A former ice-dance segment in which couples performed a prescribed dance pattern to set music and rhythm. It was a related prescribed discipline, but used partnered steps rather than blade tracings.
Edge (figure skating): The curved track made by a skate blade leaning on one of its two edges. Figures depended on maintaining controlled inside and outside edges.
Victorian-era figure skating: The organized skating culture that developed in Britain and Europe during the nineteenth century. Compulsory patterns became formalized as skating clubs codified technical tests and competitions.
Figure skating at the Olympic Games: The figure-skating events held as part of the Olympic Games. Compulsory figures contributed to Olympic results for much of the sport’s history.
Short program: A figure-skating segment requiring specified technical elements within a limited performance. Its rise shifted competitive emphasis toward visible jumps and spins rather than tracing patterns.
Three turn: A one-foot turn that changes direction while tracing a three-shaped curve on the ice. This fundamental turn appears in many compulsory-figure patterns.
Skating Club of London: A skating club founded in 1830 that helped establish organized figure skating in Britain. Its early rules and skating tests helped institutionalize prescribed figures.

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