Figure Skating Advanced Spins Tips – Introducing A Death Drop (Kori Ade)

Kori Ade demonstrates how she initially teaches a death drop. Kori starts with a flying camel and wants the skater to keep her chin up as a pre-requisite for starting death drop. Kori says, “So I describe a death drop as the offspring of a flying camel and a butterfly. I tell the kid, if a flying camel and a butterfly got together and had a baby, it would be named death drop.”

Kori uses arm movements that represent the skater’s legs to get the skater to understand the leg movement. Kori wants the free leg on take-off to behave like a flying camel, and then the opposite leg to behave in a scissors motion like a butterfly. She also tells the skater to do the “worst version of a waltz jump” she can imagine. She focuses on this “bad waltz jump” to get the hip movement she wants for death drop. Notice the focus on keeping both legs straight in the air.

Next she returns to the flying camel entry to get more rotation and a higher free leg at take-off than a skater would normally get on a “bad waltz jump.” Turning over into the sit spin is relatively easy for most skaters that transfer their weight properly. Note that the demonstrator in this video had never attempted a death drop before.