# Ice Dance Rules, Law 5: Pattern Dances (ISU Sports Rules)

Figure Skating · Law 5: Pattern Dances · Insporta Book (https://book.insporta.app/figure-skating/laws/ice-dance-law-5-pattern-dances/)

What a Pattern Dance is, the ISU list and the number of sequences skated, the music and the start and finish of a dance, what a good Pattern Dance must show, and how its Sections and components are marked.

## 5.51 Pattern Dances

The list, sequences and music of the Pattern Dances; what they require; how they are marked.

### Test 1: The Pattern Dances, their sequences and music

- Pattern Dances are prescribed patterns, steps and turns skated to music with a defined rhythm and a constant tempo. (Source: ISU Sports Rules S&P/ID 2026, Rule 707.1)
- The man must skate the Man's Steps and the woman the Woman's Steps of the dance description. (Source: ISU Sports Rules S&P/ID 2026, Rule 707.2)
- The Pattern Dances are taken from the ISU list of 35 and must be skated in the order of that list. (Source: ISU Sports Rules S&P/ID 2026, Rule 707.3)
- The sequences of the listed dances are described and charted in the ISU Handbook Ice Dance 2003; any dances added later are described in an ISU Communication. (Source: ISU Sports Rules S&P/ID 2026, Rule 707.2)
- The current ISU Ice Dance music is used unless the Ice Dance Technical Committee has decided that couples bring their own music for one or more dances. (Source: ISU Sports Rules S&P/ID 2026, Rule 707.5)
- When the Ice Dance Technical Committee lets couples provide their own Pattern Dance music, it sets requirements; music that does not meet them is penalised by a deduction under Rule 353. (Source: ISU Sports Rules S&P/ID 2026, Rules 707.5, 353.1.n)
- A change of edge within the last half beat of a step is permitted to prepare the push or transition to the next step. (Source: ISU Sports Rules S&P/ID 2026, Rule 707.8)
- Unless an ISU Communication says otherwise, the Dutch Waltz is skated in two sequences, the Blues in three, the Quickstep in four and the Kilian in six. (Source: ISU Sports Rules S&P/ID 2026, Rule 707.3)
- Five tunes of each dance are played to the couples in numerical order for each starting group; the sixth is used only in that group's warm-up. (Source: ISU Sports Rules S&P/ID 2026, Rule 707.5)
- Pattern Dances start so that the steps of the first side of the pattern are skated in front of the judges, unless the Ice Dance Technical Committee directs otherwise. (Source: ISU Sports Rules S&P/ID 2026, Rule 707.4)

### Test 2: What a Pattern Dance must show

- Some latitude is given for individual style, usually through arm and leg movements; arms and hands may differ from the described hold provided the man's leading hand stays in its prescribed place. (Source: ISU Sports Rules S&P/ID 2026, Rule 708.1.a)
- Good basic skating skills include a flexible knee on the skating leg with a rhythmic rise and fall, the weight carried over the skating foot. (Source: ISU Sports Rules S&P/ID 2026, Rule 708.1.c)
- Maximum use of the ice is desirable and needs deep edges and good flow; coverage must not be gained with flat or shallow edges. (Source: ISU Sports Rules S&P/ID 2026, Rule 708.1.b)
- Among the skating skills required, the feet are lifted a small distance from the ice on Chassés and Progressives; two-footed skating is avoided unless the dance requires it. (Source: ISU Sports Rules S&P/ID 2026, Rule 708.1.c)
- Under style, the dance holds should be firm with the fingers neither spread nor clenched, the carriage upright but not stiff and the head up. (Source: ISU Sports Rules S&P/ID 2026, Rule 708.1.e)
- The free leg should be extended with the foot turned out and pointed down; speed should never come at the cost of good style. (Source: ISU Sports Rules S&P/ID 2026, Rule 708.1.e)
- The couple skate as close as possible at a constant distance, their swings, knee bends and lean equal; the man shows he can lead and the woman that she can follow. (Source: ISU Sports Rules S&P/ID 2026, Rule 708.1.f)
- An interrupted Pattern Dance resumes at the nearest technically practicable point after the interruption, and the steps missed are not skated. (Source: ISU Sports Rules S&P/ID 2026, Rule 707.7)
- After the last step the couple must reach their final pose within 20 seconds; if they take longer, the time deduction of Rule 353 applies. (Source: ISU Sports Rules S&P/ID 2026, Rules 707.6, 353.1.n)
- In a regulation-size rink a couple may not cross the long axis during a Pattern Dance; only B does. In a smaller rink some crossing is allowed in proportion to its width. (Source: ISU Sports Rules S&P/ID 2026, Rule 708.1.b)

### Test 3: Marking the Pattern Dances

- The pattern of each dance may be divided into a number of Sections, published and updated in an ISU Communication, and each Section is valued and graded. (Source: ISU Sports Rules S&P/ID 2026, Rule 708.2)
- The Scale of Values, published in ISU Communications, holds the base values of all Sections of each dance and the plus or minus value of each grade of execution. (Source: ISU Sports Rules S&P/ID 2026, Rule 708.3.a.i)
- Unless an ISU Communication says otherwise, the Pattern Dances are judged by Timing, Presentation and Skating Skills, not by the Composition used for programs. (Source: ISU Sports Rules S&P/ID 2026, Rule 708.3.b.i)
- Timing is skating strictly in time with the music; its criteria are musical sensitivity, skating in time, skating on the strong beat and starting the first step on beat 1. (Source: ISU Sports Rules S&P/ID 2026, Rule 708.3.b.i)
- Skating Skills is the precise execution of the steps and movements with power, balance, depth of edge, easy transitions, glide and flow; ice coverage and unison are among its criteria. (Source: ISU Sports Rules S&P/ID 2026, Rule 708.3.b.i)
- Presentation shows the correct rhythm or style through the skaters' involvement; its criteria are expressiveness and projection, and oneness and awareness of space. (Source: ISU Sports Rules S&P/ID 2026, Rule 708.3.b.i)
- Levels of Sections are set in novice competitions and in competitions that specify it in their announcement, provided level descriptions and values exist for that dance in an ISU Communication. (Source: ISU Sports Rules S&P/ID 2026, Rule 708.3.a.ii)
- The level decides the base value in the Scale of Values; each judge then gives a grade of execution, whose plus or minus value is added to or deducted from that base value. (Source: ISU Sports Rules S&P/ID 2026, Rule 708.3.a)
- The components are evaluated after the completion of the dance, on the whole performance. (Source: ISU Sports Rules S&P/ID 2026, Rule 708.3.b.ii)
- Unless the dance description or the Ice Dance Technical Committee says otherwise, the first step falls on beat 1 of the ninth measure (C). (Source: ISU Sports Rules S&P/ID 2026, Rule 708.1.d)

Sources: ISU Sports Rules, Single & Pair Skating and Ice Dance, effective 12 June 2026, Part III, Rules 707-708 and Rule 353 1.n (paraphrased in original wording; original questions authored from the rules, not reproduced)

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