Read on Twitter
there are a lot of different variations of killian. open killian for instance has the lady’s arm outstretched instead of on the hip (it can also be both partners like in the golden waltz or just the man tho it is less common)
in reverse kilian the only thing that changes is the woman is now on the man’s left. here you can see two skaters switching between standard kilian and reverse kilian (also it’s only spelled w/ one L sorry lol)
next is high kilian. high kilian is a very prominent part of the polka pattern. the right hands are supposed to be elevated slightly above shoulder height with elbows bent
this is another example of high killian just to show you how low the arms can go and also to showcase uhhh. the interesting music and costume choices made by elena and nikita
sorry one last example of high kilian from the shibs. maia is one of the highest arm holds in this position, although a lot of it is affected by height. ideally the right hands should be at least head height and the arm not bent less than 90 degrees.
and the final example of kilian hold and the most difficult variation in wrapped kilian. here you can see tessa and scott in the golden waltz pattern go from both being in open kilian to wrapped kilian to tessa being in open kilian.
here’s faiella and scali doing the same section of the golden waltz from a different camera angle. notice how faiella transitions her right arm first compared to tessa who practically does the grabs simultaneously and on the 3-turn (difference in GOE not level)
okay now onto foxtrot hold. this looks a little more like traditional ballroom holds. one set of arms placed on back and shoulder blade, the other set is extended. in foxtrot, the hips are side by side, not facing one another. they are parallel to the plane of travel of the blade
this is why foxtrot is referred to “open” hold, the hips aren’t closed off. after the lady’s twizzle in the finnstep you see them move to hips facing one another, but slightly offset. nathalie’s hips are slightly left of fabian’s. this is outside or tango hold.
this section of the finnstep is once again in foxtrot hold, hips facing forward in the same direction. they move out of foxtrot hold when their extended arms release (fabian’s right, nathalie’s left) in the last few seconds of the clip
the pasó doble has the most tango hold of all the patterns. again you can see tessa’s hips slightly offset to the left of scott’s. roughly 8 seconds in you can see them shift to closed hold, hips aligned, then to a foxtrot hold hips facing forward before shifting back to tango.
the last kind of hold and the most difficult of the traditional holds: waltz or closed hold. the hips are facing one another and are directly in line. here are tessa and scott doing the opening steps of the golden waltz in closed waltz hold (the last second shifts to tango)
the last section of the polka also concludes in waltz hold with the hips directly aligning with one another
just want to highlight this section of valse triste because they do this section of waltz hold in and out of a lift which is really rare, as often teams need to generate a lot of speed so they go into singular hand and hand for the seconds proceeding a lift
okay last 3 tweets i swear.
this is a really good recap. tessa starts her rocker in tango position hips offset ends in waltz position to do her counter and change of edge before shifting into reverse killian to do her bracket before entering into a twizzle.
this is a really good recap. tessa starts her rocker in tango position hips offset ends in waltz position to do her counter and change of edge before shifting into reverse killian to do her bracket before entering into a twizzle.
lastly there is technically “closed hand in hand” hold which you see here in the polka. it is not as difficult as waltz or tango hold because of the distance between the hips.
ice dance has increasingly shifted away from any waltz or tango hold. electing for killian, singular hand-in-hand, & foxtrot, all of which are easier to maintain speed in. additionally, distinct changes of hold as seen below used to be required for level 4. they aren’t in style B
