World and Olympic figure skating coach and choreographer Pasquale Camerlengo discusses the importance of edge work and skating skills as it relates to skating development and IJS points. Pasquale is an elite choreographer, and notice the focus and awareness on finding “different ways to make turns happen, just to make it look different and original.” To get to this level of mastery, edge and blade control, power generation, and proper alignment are absolutely necessary.
Pasquale says, “Sometimes we’re just trying to break the rules of the physics in order to make it different than what people have seen so far.” This is the view of someone challenging traditional ideas and rules regarding skating. Elite choreographers are always trying to help their skaters find ways to maintain speed, give power to every step or turn, make the edges more visible and deep, and push the limits of the skater.
Mastery of this aspect of figure skating comes initially from mastery of inside and outside edges. Young skaters usually understand the difference between inside and outside edges but often do not skate on curves. Pasquale focuses even at very low skating levels on having skaters use lobes or curves in their skating. In classes, Pasquale does warm-up drills with full lobes. He suggests working on inside edges first because they are much easier. Skaters should master different edge depths and step tempos going both forward and backward on each foot.
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