I'm a freestyle skier and ski ballet is kinda like a guilty pleasure that we're all addicted to. The onesies are definitely required as I think the whole point of ski ballet is to have fun and look ridiculous, which is definitely what we do.
I was a ballet specialist from 1976-1980 but also skied moguls and did aerials. Those were the three elements of Freestyle Skiing during that time. I became National Ballet Champion in 1978. Our National Amateur Championships were held at Copper Mountain. In 1979 I turned professional and traveled the world with Bob Howard (who is in this video) and the rest of the US Team...such great memories! Having started ballet around age 4 as well as gymnastics, ballet skiing was the best of both worlds. I loved it! Some of the greats during this time were Bob Salerno, Frank Beddor, Jeff Chumas, Greg Athens, Jumpin’ Jack Johnson, Bruce Bolesky, Lea Hillgren, Katy Murphy, Mary Beddor, Mike Russell, Bob Howard, the Bowie family, the crazy guys on the Canadian Air Force and soo many more! I will always have the memories...and a horrible back😔 Thanks for the memories, Kande Krutsch
I skied ballet at Boreal Ridge and shared the slope with Bob Howard many times. Bob was 10 times better than anything seen in this video if you could imagine that [no offense to anyone]. His ballet was effortless, like walking down the street for anyone else. All the flips were cool but my fav was the fully extended tip tail which he did halfway down the slope and he told me he could do it all the down if he wanted to, If you look at the tricks shown, there's no way you can do those unless the bindings are cranked to the maximum and won't release. I don't recall ever releasing from a binding. Some ballet skiers would screw their boots directly into the skis for better control and less weight. It wasn't hard on the knees because the skis were 140-150cm and after a while you knew how you were going to fall. Don't recollect Bob ever falling. Notice to trolls: all the ballet skiers were all mogul and aerial skiers as well, so they could blow your doors off the slopes
I was a ballet and aerials skier in Southampton, Hampshire back in the late 80s and early 90s, until my knees were shot. I've still got my skis and poles, although they'll never be used again. Unless you try it, you'll never know how hard it is!
Loved Ski Ballet, learnt a few tricks myself, spins and turning on the outside edge forwards and backwards etc. Freestyle was so much better in those days you had Ballet, Moguls and Aerials in the one venue, all tied together by the combined competition. Trouble was FIS thought it was getting a threat to the Alpine Circus so they wanted to suppress it a bit, and Ballet was the casualty. Speed skiing also went through a similar experience. Love to see it make a comeback, a lot more elegant than the ugly tuck micky ducky mouse 47 2/3rds grab off a old lump of iron girder that we now get.
It's useful too! I was skiing a week ago and when I saw that big Douglas fir coming towards me I promptly did some ski ballet in order to avoid it and...crashed into three people instead. They were not as pleased as I thought they would be. At least we all had our masks on.
I used to race slalom and GS back in the days when ski ballet was a thing, and we all knew those dudes were doing something WAY more dangerous than we were. It was leg-breaker stuff if you got it wrong. So cool to watch though. Any kid who could do a helicopter was going to get way more attention than us race nerds.
This was a big thing back in the day. Olin even had a ski specifically for ballet skiing called, you guessed it, "Olin Ballet." Thinking about those bright orange skiis makes me want to dust off my old Hanson ski boots!
I had Olin Ballet skis and Hanson boots, I also had The Skis with Spademan bindings. I eventually got a pair of The Ballet Skis "Puppet Skis" serial number 4 I still have them and I had Alan Shoenberger sign them at one of his Piano Roll deck show performances. Good times but much harder than it looked, it helped me in later life when I got into ski instructing which I did for 26 years. When it came to skiing on my uphill ski in clinics it was a piece of cake since so many Ballet "tricks" happened on the uphill ski, it was really hard for those with racer backgrounds.
I started freestyle / trick skiing / hot-dogging back in the early 70s. The junior competitions grew as a specialty complete with choreography and music. When they grew up and became the top competitors of the sport complete with specialized poles and skis not to mention costumes and a crapload of drama added to the show. I can speak for myself and say that I loved to watch the new tricks but it was all the Showmanship that turned me off from watching it and I believe that is why there was a death to the sport. When the sport first started with costumes and choreography the term balgay popped up in racing circles. It's a shame because hiding behind all the showmanship were some of the most difficult tricks; triple and quad axles and some in both directions, spins that only some people on the planet could accomplish. I hope the sport comes back but it needs to come back as trick skiing. Only recently have I seen some of the old tricks just starting up in the Parks; javelin's, crossovers and even now and then a simple spin. Trick skiing in the park is also one of the reasons why we now see snowboarders turning to skiing. When my body could take it and the snow is right simple things like a tip roll, a tip 360, and even a simple shoulder roll bring some questions like what was that? I found that the new skis carved so well that there are some tricks like a Shay guy have become nearly impossible because the skis start to carve instantly, as in you're just touching an Edge and that Edge takes over, like it or not. I truly hope trick skiing comes back.
Рік тому
What is Shay guy like? Is there any good source of knowledge about all the ballet tricks?
I ride snow on a snowboard. We do this stuff faster and with waaaaay more steez. But that two legged crisscross flamalama whatever it's called looks painful af!
I'm a freestyle skier and ski ballet is kinda like a guilty pleasure that we're all addicted to. The onesies are definitely required as I think the whole point of ski ballet is to have fun and look ridiculous, which is definitely what we do.
Is there a specific skii that ski ballet uses?
I was a ballet specialist from 1976-1980 but also skied moguls and did aerials. Those were the three elements of Freestyle Skiing during that time. I became National Ballet Champion in 1978. Our National Amateur Championships were held at Copper Mountain. In 1979 I turned professional and traveled the world with Bob Howard (who is in this video) and the rest of the US Team...such great memories! Having started ballet around age 4 as well as gymnastics, ballet skiing was the best of both worlds. I loved it! Some of the greats during this time were Bob Salerno, Frank Beddor, Jeff Chumas, Greg Athens, Jumpin’ Jack Johnson, Bruce Bolesky, Lea Hillgren, Katy Murphy, Mary Beddor, Mike Russell, Bob Howard, the Bowie family, the crazy guys on the Canadian Air Force and soo many more! I will always have the memories...and a horrible back😔 Thanks for the memories, Kande Krutsch
Those were some fun times!(79-82)
This is awesome to hear! What kind of skii poles did you use? I'd love to try it
You're a legend. Thanks for sharing.
We need to bring this back to the winter games!!!
Never knew ski ballet was a thing until now.!! Fascinating
Why Olympics, why take this joy away from us
Only just found out about this from a friend whose dad did ski ballet and this is so cool!!!
Just make me cry of happiness. Seeing an updated video of Ballet Ski is just to me like a family revival ~
I'm an alpine ski racer and we try to do ski ballet when we want to have fun but we're nowhere as good as this guy, love the video !
That's because he's Jonny Moseley lol
That looks soooo dangerous for ones knees!
the music was majestic
So good!! I want a full length documentary! Had no idea until today that this even existed.
I remember watching that as a kid. I miss watching it
Me to those were good old days sure middle them
this brought a massive smile to my face; knew nothing about ballet- gonna have to check out some 80's era clips of this (purely for the costumes!)
I skied ballet at Boreal Ridge and shared the slope with Bob Howard many times. Bob was 10 times better than anything seen in this video if you could imagine that [no offense to anyone]. His ballet was effortless, like walking down the street for anyone else. All the flips were cool but my fav was the fully extended tip tail which he did halfway down the slope and he told me he could do it all the down if he wanted to, If you look at the tricks shown, there's no way you can do those unless the bindings are cranked to the maximum and won't release. I don't recall ever releasing from a binding. Some ballet skiers would screw their boots directly into the skis for better control and less weight. It wasn't hard on the knees because the skis were 140-150cm and after a while you knew how you were going to fall. Don't recollect Bob ever falling. Notice to trolls: all the ballet skiers were all mogul and aerial skiers as well, so they could blow your doors off the slopes
I was a ballet and aerials skier in Southampton, Hampshire back in the late 80s and early 90s, until my knees were shot. I've still got my skis and poles, although they'll never be used again. Unless you try it, you'll never know how hard it is!
Loved Ski Ballet, learnt a few tricks myself, spins and turning on the outside edge forwards and backwards etc. Freestyle was so much better in those days you had Ballet, Moguls and Aerials in the one venue, all tied together by the combined competition.
Trouble was FIS thought it was getting a threat to the Alpine Circus so they wanted to suppress it a bit, and Ballet was the casualty. Speed skiing also went through a similar experience.
Love to see it make a comeback, a lot more elegant than the ugly tuck micky ducky mouse 47 2/3rds grab off a old lump of iron girder that we now get.
It's useful too! I was skiing a week ago and when I saw that big Douglas fir coming towards me I promptly did some ski ballet in order to avoid it and...crashed into three people instead. They were not as pleased as I thought they would be. At least we all had our masks on.
I love the narration!
"Remember, you're witnessing the flight of a phoenix." lol
Omg! Bob Howard! I met him and hung out with him when he was that dark curly haired 23 year old at a competition in Vernon BC. Age is cruel!
Ski ballet is a combo of ballet, gymnastics, figure skating, and skiing
I used to race slalom and GS back in the days when ski ballet was a thing, and we all knew those dudes were doing something WAY more dangerous than we were. It was leg-breaker stuff if you got it wrong. So cool to watch though. Any kid who could do a helicopter was going to get way more attention than us race nerds.
BRING THIS BACK!!!!
When I was a youngster, I would see people training in Ski ballet and it always impressed me!
bring this back
I'd be glad enough if I can ski well!
This was a big thing back in the day. Olin even had a ski specifically for ballet skiing called, you guessed it, "Olin Ballet." Thinking about those bright orange skiis makes me want to dust off my old Hanson ski boots!
I had Olin Ballet skis and Hanson boots, I also had The Skis with Spademan bindings. I eventually got a pair of The Ballet Skis "Puppet Skis" serial number 4 I still have them and I had Alan Shoenberger sign them at one of his Piano Roll deck show performances. Good times but much harder than it looked, it helped me in later life when I got into ski instructing which I did for 26 years. When it came to skiing on my uphill ski in clinics it was a piece of cake since so many Ballet "tricks" happened on the uphill ski, it was really hard for those with racer backgrounds.
i want to see more about this kind of skiing
Makes me wanna watch "Hot Dog" movie all over again.
Tahoe!! My hometown
This is a will Ferrell movie waiting to happen
God I love your music. All your videos have great music. Is there anyway I could get a hold of it?
Can we get links to the music? Please?
Beautiful. Love it so much!!!
this is super fab like omg
That is soooo cool
Awesome music! Anyone knows the intro song?
Женя Лосев! Нормальный пацан!
Sooooooo it's figure skiing?
Thanks to @vitaminwater I’m here watching this
I started freestyle / trick skiing / hot-dogging back in the early 70s. The junior competitions grew as a specialty complete with choreography and music. When they grew up and became the top competitors of the sport complete with specialized poles and skis not to mention costumes and a crapload of drama added to the show. I can speak for myself and say that I loved to watch the new tricks but it was all the Showmanship that turned me off from watching it and I believe that is why there was a death to the sport. When the sport first started with costumes and choreography the term balgay popped up in racing circles. It's a shame because hiding behind all the showmanship were some of the most difficult tricks; triple and quad axles and some in both directions, spins that only some people on the planet could accomplish. I hope the sport comes back but it needs to come back as trick skiing. Only recently have I seen some of the old tricks just starting up in the Parks; javelin's, crossovers and even now and then a simple spin. Trick skiing in the park is also one of the reasons why we now see snowboarders turning to skiing. When my body could take it and the snow is right simple things like a tip roll, a tip 360, and even a simple shoulder roll bring some questions like what was that? I found that the new skis carved so well that there are some tricks like a Shay guy have become nearly impossible because the skis start to carve instantly, as in you're just touching an Edge and that Edge takes over, like it or not. I truly hope trick skiing comes back.
What is Shay guy like? Is there any good source of knowledge about all the ballet tricks?
hey, I''m johnny mosley
Where do you get the outfit tho
Wasn't that difficult when I did it in Calgary 1988 at Canada Olympic Park.
I know a couple moves. Get a lot of looks from the chair.
Seeing this just gave me a severe PTSD episode.
Vitamin water brought me here
They got rid of this but curling 🥌 is still a “sport”?! 🙄
That’s not virgin snow. Virgin snow is untouched powder.
1:43 yeah crotch material nowadays is not the same as it was back then.
I’m just here for the retro; I’m not gay tho.
I thought it was actually called acro not ballet
was called ballet then changed to acro
boooooo
Looks cool but it should stay banned....I shudder at the knees. He said himself, his knees were shot. Eaaauurgh im making myself queasy haha
5,912.
The gays are shook
I ride snow on a snowboard. We do this stuff faster and with waaaaay more steez. But that two legged crisscross flamalama whatever it's called looks painful af!
There’s no ballet technique why call it ballet? Like ski dance makes more sense.
Second
Ski ballet is not where free skiing came from yall just copied snowboarders
Cool sport but I wouldn’t call it ski ballet .
I've seen much worse Olympic sports
Like figure skating, ultimately boring.
first boiiiii
I want to see them get body checked by a hockey player
And by "they invented a new sport", you mean white guys, correct?
HAHAHAHHA. can you say SUPER GAY ?
I love this channel, but can you not have overly dramatic and cringy commentator dude? Thanks
No! I love his narration.
Ski ballet is so stupid
Like rollerblading?