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Culture on Ice
Figure Skating & Cultural Meaning
Sales Date: 2003-05-21
376 Pages, 6.00 x 9.00 in
The first in-depth, critical look at figure skating.
Figure skating is one of the most popular spectator sports in the U.S., yet it eludes definitive categorization. In this engaging new book, Ellyn Kestnbaum examines figure skating from multiple perspectives: as sport, as performance, and even as spectacle, guiding the reader through both the technical aspects of skating and the sometimes convoluted rules of figure skating competition. By careful readings of skating events at the 1994 and 1998 Olympic Games, she argues that figure skating is a language, one whose meaning is inflected by the culture at large. In particular, she looks at the ways in which race, social class and gender all disrupt, subvert or reinforce the practices of figure skating, and examines the influence of the media in shaping perceptions of the sport. As a skater, skating fan and scholar, Kestnbaum brings a unique point of view to this study, providing not only a history of the skating world but also a feeling for what it is like to be on the ice.
Meaning and Figure Skating
A General Theory of Meaning
Skating as a Signifying System
How Figure Skating and Its Meanings Developed
The Beginnings of Skating on Ice
Issues in the Development of Figure Skating
Specularity
Cultural Meanings of Ladies' Figure Skating
Critiques of Skating's Feminine Ideal
Girls versus Ladies
Masculinity on Edge
Figure Skating and "Real" Manhood
Out of the Closet
Compulsory Mating Dances
Defining Duos
Gendered Meanings in Crisis
Spectatorship
Intimate Pleasures: Skating Fandom
Conclusion
Appendix: The Technical Basis of Figure Skating
ELLYN KESTNBAUM has published articles in Theatre Topics and is a contributor to Women On Ice: Feminist Responses to the Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan Spectacle, edited by Cynthia Baughman (1995).
"Culture on Ice provides a thorough perspective of the popular dancing and yet sports activity that is a favorite of both spectators and participants. This book chronicles this form of skating so that readers will be proud of the input of Nordic, Canadian and English youths and adults for well over 4,000 years."
~Bernadine Jennings, Attitude, The Dancer's Magazine
""A brilliant exploration of the fascinating world of figure skating. It includes a detailed history of the sport from its earliest beginnings and delves into its many facets. A superb and thoughtful work.""
~Eugene Turner, figure skating champion
""Kestnbaum's writing is lucid and often elegant, the material artfully arranged. Truly impressive.""
~Helena Michie, Professor of English, Rice University
"A brilliant exploration of the fascinating world of figure skating. It includes a detailed history of the sport from its earliest beginnings and delves into its many facets. A superb and thoughtful work."
~Eugene Turner, figure skating champion