Ski ballet is a form of

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

performed on

ski A ski is a narrow strip of semi-rigid material worn underfoot to glide over snow. Substantially longer than wide and characteristically employed in pairs, skis are attached to ski boots with ski bindings, with either a free, lockable, or partia ...

s. It is very similar to figure skating, combining spins, jumps, and flips in a two-minute routine choreographed to music. It was part of the professional freestyle skiing tours of the 1970s and 1980s and then an official

FIS FIS or fis may refer to: Science and technology * '' Fis'', an ''E. Coli'' gene * Fis phenomenon, a phenomenon in linguistics * F♯ (musical note) * Flight information service, an air traffic control service * Frame Information Structure, a Se ...

and Olympic discipline until the year 2000. Ski ballet became known as Acroski in the 1990s in an effort to legitimize its place among the competitive ski community, especially to the FIS. It is no longer a part of competitive freestyle skiing.

Overview

Ski ballet involved a choreographed routine of flips, rolls, leg crossings, jumps, and spins performed on a smooth slope. After the mid-1970s, the routine was performed to music for 90 seconds. For a short period of time (in the 1980s), there were also pair ballet competitions, a variation of ballet where two people performed tricks that not only included spins, jumps, and leg crossing, but also lifts and synchronic movements. A panel of judges scored the performance similarly to

figure skating Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are m ...

Notable athletes

Suzy Chaffee

Following her ski-racing career, Suzy Chaffee modelled in New York with

Ford Models Ford Models, originally the Ford Modeling Agency, is an American international modeling agency based in New York City. It was established in 1946 by Eileen Ford and her husband Gerard W. Ford. Company Ford Models was started in 1946 by Eileen ...

and then became the pre-eminent freestyle ballet skier of the early 1970s. She is perhaps best known by the

nickname A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...

, ''Suzy Chapstick'', from the 1970s, when she was a spokesperson for

ChapStick ChapStick is a brand name of lip balm manufactured by Haleon and used in many countries worldwide. It is intended to help treat and prevent chapped lips, hence the name. Many varieties also include sunscreen in order to prevent sunburn. Due to ...

lip balm.

Genia Fuller

At the 1974 Freestyle Championship, Genia Fuller was the first person ever to win all four disciplines at one event (aerials, moguls, ballet, and combined). With a background in figure skating, she finished second in her first national junior freestyle contest at age 16. Unlike other competitors, she performed ski ballet without ski poles.

Lane Spina

Lane Spina won medals both times the discipline was held as an Olympic demonstration event; during the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada and the

1992 Winter Olympics ) , nations = 64 , athletes = 1,801 (1313 men, 488 women) , events = 57 in 6 sports (12 disciplines) , opening = 8 February 1992 , closing = 23 February 1992 , opened_by = President François Mitterrand , cauldron ...

in Albertville, France.

Rune Kristiansen

Rune Kristiansen won a gold medal in ballet at the

FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships 1995 The 1995 FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships were held between February 6th and February 9th at the La Clusaz ski resort in France. The World Championships featured both men's and women's events in the Moguls, Aerials, Acro Skiing and the Combine ...

, and had a total of 38 World Cup victories throughout his career. He competed at the

in ski ballet, which was a demonstration event. He was Norwegian champion in ballet in 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992 and 1993.

George Fuehrmeier

George Fuehrmeier competed in ski ballet during 1985. He gained popularity after a video of his routine was circulated on the Internet during the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Richard Schabl

Richard Schabl Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stron ...

was the FIS World Champion of 1986, and was considered the ultimate world champ. During his successful career as a freestyle skier, he invented the one handed pole flip and created many maneuvers that have revolutionized Freestyle Skiing.

Olympic demonstration sport

Ski ballet was a demonstration sport in the

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

and

. The sport has significantly declined in popularity in recent years due to the fact that it did not become an Olympic sport. The International Ski Federation ceased all formal competition of ski ballet after 2000.

References

{{Skiing 1960s in sports Freestyle skiing Types of skiing Former Winter Olympic sports