Swing roll

A roll held for several beats while the free leg swings past the skating foot and back, on a new lobe.

Also called SwR. Other names.

Not checked yet. The mechanics on this page are a first draft by a non-expert, and no coach has seen them yet. Read them as a starting point and check them with a coach. Corrections are very welcome.

A long edge, held for several beats, during which the free leg swings past the skating foot and returns beside it for the next step. Going forwards it swings back, then forward, then back beside; going backwards it swings forward, then back past the skating foot, then beside. The ISU’s wording is that the swing gives the sense of a rolling movement.

U.S. Figure Skating separates it from a plain swing, which stays on the same lobe as the edge before it. A swing roll starts a new one. Inside edges count too: the Rhythm Blues has forward inside swing rolls.

KiwiSkate’s Dance 1 badge asks for forward outside swing rolls to a count of six, and the Dutch Waltz, the Fourteenstep and the American Waltz are built on them.

Build on

• One-foot glideA swing roll is a one-foot edge held for several beats while the free leg swings past, so it rests on holding one foot that long.
• Left forward outside edgeLFO: the left foot travelling forwards on an outside edge, tracing an anticlockwise lobe.

Appears in