Pairs skating

Beginnings

The roots of pairs skating, like ice dance, is in the "combined skating" developed in the 19th century by skating clubs and organizations and by recreational social skating between couples and friends, who would skate waltzes, marches, and other social dances together. According to writer Ellyn Kestnbaum, the rising popularity of skating during the 19th century led to the development of figure skating techniques, especially the "various forms of hand-in-hand skating that would become the basis of pair skating". Kestnbaum believes that there is no technical reason why pair skating moves could not be performed by opposite sexes because the moves emphasize the symmetry and similarity of the two bodies making them. Kestnbaum also states that men developed the original concepts of combined skating because most advanced skating was done by adult males. When women became more involved in the sport, they were allowed to compete in "similar pairs" competitions in the U.S.