Today we honour a sport, Ski Ballet, that unfortunately no longer exists on a competitve level. Ski Ballet was part of the 1988 and 1992 Winter Olympic Games as a demonstration sport; however, it did not make it into the official Olympic Program. 8 years later in 2000, Acroski was removed from the FIS calender after the first competition orgranised by FIS in 1980.
Ski Ballet was part of the birth of Freestyle Skiing
This discipline originated during the Freestyle Ski movement in the 60s in the USA. Amidst a time of protests against the Vietnam War, a whole generation questioned established rules, which filtered all the way down to skiing. The ‘Hotdog Skiers’ would not pass any gates from start to finish, instead they would jump and do tricks in moguls and off other terrain features. In order to establish Freestyle Skiing as an Olympic Sport, the various elements were separated. The first three disciplines were moguls, aerials and ski ballet. The original Hotdoggers competed in all three. The other Freestyle disciplines, Halfpipe, Slopestyle and Ski Cross, were introduced later. As an Olympic demonstration sport, Ski Ballet was not able to secure a large enough audience either on television or at the competition site. Nevertheless, this mixture of figure skating and gymnastics was created by fascinating movements on skis. It was an integral part of the birth of Freestyle Skiing and for this reason should be honoured and not forgotten. This is why we honour Ski Ballet as the Ombi of the day.
Do you know what Ski Ballet is? What tricks can you do, do you dare or do you want to learn?
