Star Skate Test Information

Skaters who have completed Canskate stage 6 will eventually try Star Skate tests. The tests fall into one of the following 4 disciplines:

Skating Skills Dance Free Skate Interpretive

The first three of these disciplines are divided into 9 different levels of difficulty (which will eventually become 11 levels – Senior Bronze through Senior Silver will be changing to Star 6 to Star 10 within the next two years). Each level must be passed in the order listed below before the skater can proceed to the next level:

Star 1	Star 2	Star 3	Star 4	Star 5
Star 6	Star 7	Star 8	Star 9	Star 10

Interpretives are divided into 4 different levels of difficulty:

 

Introductory

Bronze

Silver

Gold

STAR 1 – 4 skating skills, dance and free skate tests are evaluated by the skater’s private coach during regular skating sessions. The remaining tests are evaluated by Skate Canada judges on Skate Canada sanctioned test days.

Skating skills are the fundamentals that go into everything else in skating; edges turns, field movements, power, control & balance. There are 3 to 5 exercises that comprise each test level in Skating Skills. All exercises are tried at once and all Star 1-5 levels must be assessed at silver level or higher for the skater to pass and the senior bronze to gold levels must be evaluated as satisfactory or higher in order for a skater to pass the level.

Dance tests consist of either specific patterns and steps to Skate Canada prescribed music or dance elements (ie. Specific step sequences). Each test can be tried separately. Star 1 dance is just dance elements, Star 2 & 4 have two dances that must be successfully completed for the level, Star 3 & 5 have a dance test as well as a dance elements test that must be successfully completed for the level, senior bronze dance level has 3 dances that must be passed before the skater can move onto the next level of dance. Junior silver, senior silver and gold dance levels have 4 dances per level that must be passed before the skater can move onto the next level. Diamond Dances are another level of dance above Gold. These dances are the ones that National and International competitors use as compulsory dances.

Free Skate tests are the jumps, spins, field movements and skating skills all incorporated together. Free Skate tests have 2 parts for each level of difficulty (except Star 1 – this has only an elements test); 1) the solo to music incorporating everything in a well-balanced routine in a Skate Canada mandated time limit and 2) the elements in isolation. These 2 parts of each level can be tried separately. 

Interpretive skating is a routine intended to tell the story behind the music. The routine is not evaluated on the ability of the skater to do the jumps and spins like in the free skate routine but rather the power and quality of the skating skills and in how the skater uses the elements in the routine to tell the story.