Book Review: Fundamentals of Alignment & Classical Movement for Figure Skaters

Thomas, A. (2008) Fundamentals of Alignment & Classical Movement for Figure Skaters. West Bend, Wis.: Prime Radiant Press. Spiral bound. 288 pages.  On sale: $59.95 (for three weeks), regular price $69.95. Available at: BalletForFigureSkaters.com

Annette Thomas’ Fundamentals of Alignment & Classical Movement for Figure Skaters reads like a good college textbook. If you want to know about ballet for figure skaters, this is your book. But if you also want to know about warm ups, proper body alignment, and why your feet hurt, this is also your book.

Really, Thomas’ book is about artistry and the role the body plays in developing the figure skater as an athlete, a healthy person, and an artist.

She has set up the book in five chapters: A Unified Approach to Movement Training, Anatomy and Physiology 101: Heightening “Kinesthetic Intelligence,” Kinesthetic Awareness: Centering & Alignment, The Warm-Up, and Fundamentals of Classical Barre-work.

Every full-color chapter contains detailed illustrations and photos as well as practical off- and on-ice exercises. They end with reflective questions and have a workbook feel to them. A coach, skater, or ballet instructor could easily read a chapter, follow the instructions and the excellent, detailed photos, and reproduce Thomas’ exercises in the studio or rink.

Thomas really did her homework for the book and had choreographer Ricky Harris read and critique the first three chapters. Medical professionals read and critiqued her second chapter on anatomy and physiology. She includes some information on reflexology and holistic medicine in that chapter, too. Whatever your beliefs are about alternative medicine, she represents the field factually.

Thomas’ website, BalletForFigureSkaters.com, is the companion site for the book, but she wrote in the book’s introduction that she chose not to use ballet in the book’s title. Thomas wrote, “I purposely didn’t put the word ‘ballet’ into the title of the book because the word has become synonymous with a style of dancing rather than a scientific, internal training, encompassing the mind, body and spirit which the word ‘Classical’ implies.”

So, according to Thomas, classical movement is a method for achieving excellence in body movement and line, not just preparation for the next recital.

I’m a parent, not a coach or a ballet instructor, so I felt unable to critique Thomas’ book from a movement standpoint. I loaned the book to Gretchen Bourg, Education & Outreach Coordinator for the School of Madison Ballet. Here’s what Bourg had to say:

I found Thomas’ workbook very helpful when developing our program for the group of figure skaters with whom we are currently working, not so much for the technical information, but primarily for some insight into the mindset of many skaters and coaches.

As professional dance educators at Madison Ballet, we are confident in our ability to prepare dancers for the stage, but gaining a sense of the perspective and goals of skaters helped us understand how to teach in a way that would resonate with them.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that modern ballet training and figure skating training are quite comparable to one another. Though the perception of ballet is that the instruction is very ethereal and conceptual, current training methods rely on the very real laws of force, energy and mass. Both dancers and skaters can meet in the middle in this workbook.

I especially appreciated the attention to accurate ballet technique, with the understanding that such accuracy is the best way to reap the benefits of the steps that are being executed. There was no attempt to “dumb down” ballet for figure skaters, only a desire to help them fully understand how this art form can elevate their skating from simply a technical exercise to something truly great.

Bottom line. Thomas’ full-color book is like a good course in movement. Anyone could pick up this book, follow her instructions, view the illustrations and photos, and improve as a figure skater. At nearly $60 – 70, it’s not a casual purchase, but it’s something that you can lend to your skater’s coach, off-ice trainer, and ballet instructor to make sure that everyone is working from the same foundation. Would I buy this book? Yes, I would. As the title implies, it’s a classic. In 10 years, the information in the book will still be just as useful and relevant as it is today.

What do you think? Do you own a copy of Fundamentals of Alignment & Classical Movement for Figure Skaters? Have you been toying with purchasing a copy? What do you think of Thomas’ book?

Rinkformation receives no monetary benefit for its reviews. All advertising is independent from editorial content.

For more about ballet for figure skaters, please see Annette Thomas’ Ask the Expert post from March on the old Ice Mom blog.

Special thanks to Gretchen Bourg of the School of Madison Ballet, for her help with this review.

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Photo credits:
The Ballet [ballet shoes]: pussnboots / Isabel on Flickr.com Creative Commons
Fundamentals of Alignment & Classical Movement for Figure Skaters book cover: Annette Thomas, BalletForFigureSkaters.com
Brandywine Ballet Company: Jim, the Photographer / Jim Capaldi on Flickr.com Creative Commons
Madison Ballet logo: Madison Ballet
Note from Ice Mom: the pointe ballet shoe has been removed because the wearer did not reflect proper technique