Choctaws & mohawks

Closed mohawks from a back outside edge on the first side, and open choctaws with slip chassés on the second.

BIS Skills 5exercise 3In the syllabus both before and after 01/10/2026

Not checked yet. The requirements 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.

The first side turns backwards to forwards with a mohawk, which is the direction skaters practise least. Coming out of it onto a forward outside edge and straight into a 3-turn means there is no glide to gather anything up in, and the mohawk has to be placed so that the turn after it has a lobe to happen on.

Side two is the harder half and the reason the exercise exists. An open choctaw changes foot and reverses the curve at the same time, so the body has to be over a lean it is about to abandon, and then over the opposite one within a step. The rhythm requirement is specific to this side in the document, which is a clue about how it is assessed: the shapes can all be right and the exercise still fail because the timing is not even.

Between them sits the slip chassé, which is a step and is not something this guide can draw. It matters here because it is where the speed is meant to be maintained: it is a step that keeps the flow going while the skater is set up for the next choctaw.

Elements

Right backward outside mohawkRBO to LFO: a step onto the other foot, holding the edge and staying on the same lobe. No cusp.
Left backward outside mohawkLBO to RFO: a step onto the other foot, holding the edge and staying on the same lobe. No cusp.
Right forward outside three turnRFO to RBI: half a turn into the circle, changing edge and staying on the same lobe.
Left forward outside three turnLFO to LBI: half a turn into the circle, changing edge and staying on the same lobe.
Right forward inside choctawRFI to LBO: a step onto the other foot, changing edge and reversing onto a new one. No cusp.
Left forward inside choctawLFI to RBO: a step onto the other foot, changing edge and reversing onto a new one. No cusp.
Right forward outside slip chasséRFO to LFI: a step in which the free foot slides away along the ice, still travelling forwards, and the lobe continues.
Left forward outside slip chasséLFO to RFI: a step in which the free foot slides away along the ice, still travelling forwards, and the lobe continues.
Right backward outside crossoverRBO to LBI: the free foot crosses in front of the skating foot onto the same lobe, still travelling backwards.
Left backward outside crossoverLBO to RBI: the free foot crosses in front of the skating foot onto the same lobe, still travelling backwards.
Right backward outside edgeRBO: the right foot travelling backwards on an outside edge, tracing an anticlockwise lobe.
Left backward outside edgeLBO: the left foot travelling backwards on an outside edge, tracing a clockwise lobe.

This page lists which elements the exercise calls for and what it is working on. It does not reproduce British Ice Skating's sequence, pattern or wording. For the exercise as published, go to their own document.