Choreography Styles in Figure Skating

Abstract

AbstractFifty‐eight figure skating trainers from fifteen different countries acted as volunteers in this study on choreography styles. The styles were based on reports of artistic‐creative strategies in composing music, drawing, writing poems or novels, and in making dances. The prevalence of the Mozartian (at the onset the choreographer already has a more or less complete plan in mind), Beethovenian (the choreographer does not start with a complete plan, but instead focuses on a succession of single and detailed elements) and Avant‐garde Style (instead of starting from the music, as the impulse for creating movements, trainers choreograph straight from movement ideas) is 77.2%, 56.4%, and 16.1% respectively. The results from a CATPCA reveal that the features, associated with the three choreography styles have loadings on two dimensions, one representing features predominantly belonging to primary process thinking (Mozartian), the other representing features predominantly related to secondary process thinking (Beethovenian and Avant‐Garde). In the discussion attention is paid to 1) why the Mozartian and Beethovenian are more popular than the AvantGarde Style, to 2) the universal quality of artistic‐creative styles in a wide range of artistic endeavors, and to 3) the differences between elite, runner‐up, and novice trainers on experience, on using the assistance of a professional choreographer, and on using the Avant‐Garde Style.