The Fundamentals of Skating

by Sonja Henie
(from 1939 Hollywood Ice Revue Program)

Pictured on this page are the fundamental figures of championship figure skating, as sketched by Sonja Henie, herself. These figures are the foundation upon which Miss Henie built her success. To achieve championship honors it takes hours and hours, days and days, weeks and weeks, and years and years to acquire technic. The great test of figure skating is school figures. Miss Henie excelled in school figures. No skater of her time approached her score. It is probable that no skater ever will. She is mistress of school figures and school figures are 75 percent of skating championship rating. But she is also the world's best in free skating (optional numbers). That is where showmanship counts. When Sonja after leading her field in school figures, appeared in the free skating part of the championship programs, her triumph was always completed by a wide margin. During her last eight world championships no skater, amateur or professional, closely approached her for showmanship. She had all the requisites - face, figure, poise, allure and program. Her "Dying Swan" number remains as the finest thing ever done on ice. It invokes nearly every bit of technic known to figure skating, technic mastered by the brilliant and only Sonja Henie.

Reprinted from the Hollywood Ice Revue program for 1939