Combined Figures, popular in 19th Century England, are figures involving multiple skaters on ice skating together, skating around a central orange marker, to create spatial patterns. Similar to Irish Ceili dancing and other group dance forms from the British Isles, Combined Figures require precision and uniformity between participants. Although combined figures are well documented in original sources from the 19th Century, the style is nearly extinct today. Unfortunately only a handful of videos exist, all of them flawed in videography, execution or both; but they are enough to understand this fascinating art form. Today, English Style Skating is practiced by the Royal Skating Club, the world’s oldest extant skating club, at a rink in Guilford, UK. We also have some original source material from the 19th Century describing these figures in detail, as well as commentary on English Style skating in a number of other books:
- Montagu S. F. Monier-Williams, MA, Winter Randell Pidgeon, MA, Arthur Dryden, BA, Figure-Skating, Simple and Combined, 1883
- Nordcliffe Thompson, Laura Cannan, Viscount Doneraile, Combined Hand-in-Hand Figure-Skating, 1904
- Bev Thurber, The English Style: Figure Skating, Gender, and National Identity, 2021
- The Royal Skating Club, General principles of English Style Skating, and Glossary of terms used in English Style Skating, web pages
Here is the best video we have. Notice the orange marker on the ice, how symmetry is maintained throughout, and how the skaters reach their final positions at the same time. Doing this well requires an incredible degree of uniformity of direction and speed.
“The English style is rarely practised these days and only the Royal Skating Club, now based at Guildford, continue the tradition. Championships were held annually in the UK right up to the 1990’s. Rare footage of a four performing one figure. The man you can hear talking is the legendary coach, Jacques Gerschwiler who took Cecilia Colledge to World and European titles in the late 1930’s.” — Caption on above YouTube video
Here are some other English Style skating videos from the Royal Skating Club, the last (known) club to practice English Style skating, and which may (or may not) be continuing the tradition: