Freestyle
The kind of figure skating that everyone seems to be familiar with is freestyle skating. It's the branch that incorporates footwork, spins, and, of course, the jumps. The first thing people ask when they meet someone who figure skates... "Oh, can you do a triple axel?" (This, by the way, is ROYALLY annoying. It also irks me that people automatically associate figure skating with jumping, when there is so much more to this sport than acrobatics on ice.)
Testing procedure
In ISI (Ice-Skating Institute), the levels start at Freestyle 1 and go on up through Freestyle 8. In ISU (International Skating Union), which encompasses most major national governing bodies, the levels are Novice, Junior, and Senior. The USFSA (U.S. Figure Skating Association) additionally includes Pre-Preliminary, Preliminary, Juvenile, and Intermediate (all of which lead up to the subsequent Novice, Junior, and Senior.) In Skate Canada, information on the testing procedure can be found here.
No matter which organization you test under, certain required maneuvers must be performed in order to advance to the next level. Each individual organization has different sets of rules as to which elements are required.
Competitions
At some competitions, there are separate events for freestyle solos and compulsory moves. Compulsory events generally consist of only three or four moves which may or may not be done to a "program" (without music). The rink or club which hosts the competition has sole discretion over what moves are required for the purposes of their event, but they must be picked from among the ISI required moves for that level. The solo is performed to music, and all required moves must be performed. Skaters are allowed to repeat elements as many times as they want. They are also allowed to perform any maneuvers below their level of competition, but may not do anything which is above their level. (i.e., a skater competing in Freestyle 2 may do maneuvers from Freestyle 1, but not Freestyle 3.)
In the USFSA, and other ISU governed organizations, certain levels require both a technical and a freeskate program. The technical, or short program, consists of required elements (though usually there is a choice of performing element A or element B, rather than a strict list) which may not be repeated. The freeskate is a longer program where the skater is free to repeat any element. Certain elements are still required, but there is much more freedom in the choice of elements.
One issue brought up in the world of freestyle is the practice called "sand-bagging." It's used mostly to give the skater an advantage over his or her competitors. In the ISI, a skater may choose not to test to a higher level so that they can continue competing in their current level. They may be working on double salchows and flying camel spins, but still competing at a level where they mastered the moves years ago. In the USFSA, one example is someone who technically could pass their Senior USFSA test may still compete at the Intermediate level if they choose to do so, and perform triple jumps not required for the Intermediate level. This is a very common practice; often skaters will not test to the next level until they are required by age to do so. (Age requirements are only used for use in the Juvenile and Intermediate divisions in qualifying competitions past the Regional level; they can still compete at Regionals in the Open Juvenile or Open Intermediate divisions). There are no rules against these practices, however.
List of jumps
List of spins
Technical figure skating
Skater's links
Email: hook-line-and-synchro@iceskater.co.uk
