Skating on the Continent

This chapter discusses the development of skating in the Continent. Skating on bladed skates, as practiced in the Netherlands and England, arrived in France sometime in the eighteenth century. When figure skating did arrive it became a popular winter activity spurred at least in part by acceptance at the court of Louis XVI, who reigned from 1774 to 1792. As in England, an aristocratic society had the financial means and free time to participate in skating at a sophisticated and artistic level. However, the larger French populace was surely sliding on the ice or skating on bone skates as they did in England, and probably had been doing so for centuries. For the French aristocracy, skating became a fashionable pastime, but unlike their English counterparts who put emphasis on methodical technique and precision, the French stressed grace and elegance.