i have always wanted to skate, but instead i have been dancing for 11 years. The us figure skating championships were in a town near mine and i ended up on a bus with a judge who remarked that i looked like a skater, i told her i was a dancer but didn't skate and she said that dancers always turn out to be the best so i should really give it a try...? i skate on the lake near my house and it feels pretty natural should i give it a try?

Give it a go!

Take a few classes, and see what you think!

I wouldn't start having the Olympics in mind or anything like that, but it couldn't hurt to take some skating lessons and see if you like it. I'm sure dancing helps with gracefullness, balance, flexibility and stuff like that. How old are you?

I took ballet for 12 years before I started figure skating. I'll tell you one thing, they aren't as similar as they seem. The balance is at a much different spot for both spins and jumps. That being said, though, once you train your body and get used to that new balance point, newer and more advanced spins and jumps come a lot more quickly. Spirals and spread eagles (kinda like a 2nd position on the ice) also come much more easily!

I would start out in group lessons, mainly because they are a lot cheaper. The one downside about figure skating is the price. My coach charges $1 a minute, my skates were $735, dresses range anywhere from $65 to $300, and you have to pay for ice time if you're getting private lessons. Even so, I absolutely love figure skating, and if you're able to keep a decent budget, it shouldn't be a problem at all!!

I'd definitely start with the group lessons, and if you like it after awhile, I'd talk to your group coach about private lessons. My coach suggests private lessons once a student is in USFS free skate 1, or in ISI freestyle 2. Hope that helped, and best of luck!

The ballet doesn't help the basics of learning how to skate, but once your a developed skater and start competing etc, artistry plays a major part on your performance score. Because of your history with ballet you will look more graceful on the ice etc. An example of this is Evan Lysacek the olympic gold medallist in men's figure skating, he did not have the big spectacular jumps that many of the other skaters had, but was very artistic ( obviously from a lot of dance training etc) and he still won