Special Figures: A Two-Day Blade Control Mastery Workshop

In this two-day workshop you'll learn the art and roots of ice skating for better blade control and advanced skating creativity (think complicated turn sequences and more-than-Cale-Makar-advanced edge work). This workshop is for those looking to achieve mechanical precision with their edges for the purposes of advanced and elite competition as well as a new outlet to take their skating further into life whether that’s creating incredible blade art on wild ice, competing in the World Figure’s Championships or staying challenged and active on the ice with the skills you built earlier in life.

Skaters should have a minimum of one foot (or two-foot) forwards and backwards:

• Three-turns
• Brackets
• Power-pulls

To make the most of the workshop and achieve some incredible looking advanced designs skaters will want to easily have one foot:

• Counters
• Rockers
• Choctaws

We’ll be teaching you some new turns as well! Beaks, Pig’s Ear, Crosscuts and more! — This is the third of it’s kind workshop catering to both skating disciplines in this way, and for that it has high potential to sell-out.

Two-day Workshop Structure:

Saturday August 9th, 8:30am-1:00pm:

• ~90 min. in-class presentation
• 2hrs of on-ice instruction

Sunday August 10th, 8:30am-1:00pm:

• ~90 min. in-class designing / Q&A on how to design your own special figure, footwork sequence, drill etc.
• 2hrs of on-ice instruction and practice

'Figures' are the root of the playful side of ice skating and more specifically the formation of figure skating. Which started out as ‘figure-skating’ – turns, designs; art work drawn by blade on outdoor black ice. Figure Skating was the first winter sport ever to be included in the Olympics and ‘Special Figures’ was one of the three events (singles and pairs being the other two). The winner of the Special Figures event was Nickolai Panin of Russia, whom Laura (your instructor) holds a fondness for as it is his designs she feels most aligned with in her turn preferences, design intricacy, and flow. To skate another skaters special figure design is likely the closest thing you can come to feeling like skating just like them, the originators of the sport. In the same way jumps, spins, and footwork become like “muscle-memory” so do these figures and ability to control your edges to achieve these figures. In this way ‘Special Figures’ can assist as much in Today’s skating as it did back then with the rise of difficult entries and exits into and out of elements and edge control that not only fakes out an opponent but gives you the precision to move fluidly or instantaniously through, around, and break away from opponents in an elite hockey game. The precision you will garner and the practice thereof is very much a meditative form of skating (the brain doesn’t allow you to think of anything else while doing these!).

Intermediate-to-Elite Skater Intended Workshop:

This workshop is for current competitive skaters, ‘retired’ skaters, and coach/skaters that would enjoy nerding-out on the history of skating and being challenged (and humbled!) by centuries-old skating designs. There are no age restrictions as long as the skater is serious about skating, and having fun (and not disruptive to others learning). This workshop will likely trend towards adults but we would love enthusiastic kids and teens who love edges (or understand the importance of getting better at them!) and would enjoy learning about the roots of the sport through in-class (screen presentation) and on-ice group learning.

Minimum levels to enjoy the workshop:

Passed Standard Pre-Silver, Silver (Juvenile/Intermediate MIF), Adult Gold, & above or has both forwards and backwards one foot (or two-foot): three turns, brackets, & power pulls. The hockey equivalent although hard to judge would be level AA (Hockey skaters: shoot us an email for questions or a video review of your skating if you don’t know the turns listed above! TGVhcm5Ub1NrYXRlT3V0c2lkZSB8IGdtYWlsICEgY29t).

To design and skate advanced patterns:

Figure Skaters: Gold test skaters and those with Counters, Rockers, and Choctaw’s

Hockey: AAA, Junior, D1, NHL, PWHL

Elite Levels:

There is no max as these figures are challenging and difficult for current Olympic-level skaters, NHL skaters, professional skaters and beyond...

*Reach out to Laura for a private lesson or semi-private lesson (groups of 2-3) if you’d like to review, work-on, or learn: Brackets, Counters, & Rockers prior to your workshop date. (For those with private coaches: She would be happy to discuss requirement minimums with your coach as well!)

Saturday August 9th, 8:30am-1:00pm:

Doors to the 'Summit' classroom will open promptly at 8:30am and we will start with the in-class portion shortly after. Plan to arrive early to fill-out a skater waiver. The Summit Room can be accessed from the West side of the inside of the West Ice Rink (you will need to enter the West rink and walk around. There may be a group on the ice at that time, but that's totally fine!), please ask the front desk for directions if needed.

Our on-ice portion will take place on the West rink at 11am. We will have a ~15 min. break at 10:45am for you to lace-up for the on-ice portion of the workshop. Feel free to bring both Figure and Hockey Skates if you skate in both! We have the ice for two full hours! We'll be going over basic special figure turns and designs to start as well as designs Laura has designed over the years. Then, we'll have time for solo practice and designing with help from Laura and figure-specialist helpers (maybe even some World Figure champions!). For those desiring advanced designs we'll end on these challenges.

Your "homework" between Saturday and when we're back on the ice Sunday morning is going to be to play around with creating your custom design on paper. We'll bring our drafts into the classroom Sunday AM. To "work them out", get help/feedback, modify and ultimately take on the ice Sunday AM to practice and take home and perfect!

Sunday August 10th, 8:30am-1:00pm:

We will meet in the Summit room again at 8:30am. We'll help you "workshop" the designs you started drafting overnight/morning, answer questions, etc. Then we'll take the designs on the ice! We will also attempt/perfect more designs from either the 1800s or Laura's design box!

--> Grid paper, 'ice markers', and a few Scribes will be provided to sketch designs, but if you would prefer designing in a notebook you have for ease, feel free to bring that! If you have a Scribe, feel free to bring that as well! (if you don't know what that is, you'll find out ;)

Note: If you sign-up from out of town and/or would like a private or semi-private lesson after the workshop this can likely be arranged! If you would like recommendations on what else to do while you're in town, ask and we'll send you a list as well!

Laura Kottlowski is a U.S. Figure Skating Gold Medalist, and competed through Junior at the Collegiate-level for Penn State. She is a professional wild ice skater & safety instructor, founding: ‘Learn To Skate Outside’ in late 2022. She competes in the World Figure & Fancy Skating Championships. And has been practicing and designing 'Special Figures' for the past thirteen years. Laura has been teaching skating for 23 years, and has taken skaters through their Senior Test. In the past 3 years she's taken hockey players of various ages from B to AAA with her edge and power instruction.

When Laura isn't on the ice, she is a One-Woman-Creative-Agency providing creative direction, art direction, graphic design, motion graphics, video editing, content creation, and more to clients in the outdoor, environmental, action sports, and fitness lifestyle industries across the United States. It is her degree in graphic design that helps steer her passion for designing 'Special Figures'.

Laura's been The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Women's Health Magazine, ABC Nightline, Vogue, National Geographic, BuzzFeed, Huffington Post, The Red Bulletin, SKATING Magazine, PSA Magazine and many more...

• 33 years skating
• 23 years teaching all ages to skate (age 2-90+) from the basics through double-jumps.
• 13 years practicing 'Special Figures'
• 17 years Wild Ice Skating at various elevations around the world
• Skate’s outside annually ~200 hours
• U.S. Figure Skating Gold Medalist
• Instructor with Learn To Skate USA, U.S. Figure Skating, (and former Professional Skaters Association)
• Teaches edge & power skills to hockey players of all ages and abilities
• First known person to skate the highest lake in the U.S.
• Helped Nepal Tourism Co-host and plan the World’s Highest Figure Skating Show and Ice Hockey Match in the Everest region of Nepal
• Played in the World's Highest pond hockey match in Nepal, and scored the first goal!
• Is helping to bring Ice Skating to Nepal
• Wilderness First Responder
• CPR / First Aid / Epinephrine Certified

Learn more about Laura in our 'Learn To Skate Outside' bio on our Eventbrite profile, on LearnToSkateOutside.com , or Linktr.ee/laurakottlowski

$250 - Basic Admission - Gives you a ticket to attend the event in-full which includes ~3hrs in-class learning and designing, and four hours of on-ice instruction over the course of two days. You’ll receive a handout of the turns and figures you’ll learn, Q&A’s throughout.

$275 - All-Access Admission - Gives you a ticket to attend the event in-full which includes ~3hrs in-class learning and designing, and four hours of on-ice instruction over the course of two days. You’ll receive a handout of the turns and figures you’ll learn, Q&A’s throughout. This tier also gives you access to a screen recording of the presentation slides/videos to review, and re-review on your own time after the workshop. Links to resource(s) will also be sent after the workshop.

$315 - 1 :1 VIP Consultation + All-Access Admission - Gives you a ticket to attend the event in-full which includes ~3hrs in-class learning and designing, and four hours of on-ice instruction over the course of two days. You’ll receive a handout of the turns and figures you’ll learn, Q&A’s throughout. This tier also gives you access to a screen recording of the presentation slides/videos to review, and re-review on your own time after the workshop. Links to resource(s) will also be sent after the workshop. Additionally, you will have access to a 1:1 – 15 min. virtual consultation with Laura (sign-ups through Calendly post event). This is your time and it’s "ask whatever you want" or pre-send a video to get feedback on designs!

Discounts for:

Previous ‘Learn To Skate Outside’ workshop attendees, Current Team USA competitors and coaches, Students and Co-Students of Laura’s. — If this applies to you, please reach out to @LearnToSkateOutside TGVhcm5Ub1NrYXRlT3V0c2lkZSB8IGdtYWlsICEgY29t, or message: @LauraKottlowski , Y29udGFjdCB8IGxhdXJha290dGxvd3NraSAhIGNvbQ== for a code to apply before purchasing!

Donations: For those feeling generous towards the mission of Learn To Skate Outside (as we continue getting up and running!) during check-out there will be an option to make a further donation.

Also check out other Workshops in Arvada, Sports events in Arvada, Arts events in Arvada.