Haines, Jackson
Figure Skating
b. 1840, Troy, NY
d. June 23, 1875
Figure skating was a stiff, even awkward exercise in its early years. Skaters simply performed figures with no attempt at grace or style.
Haines changed all that. After studying dance in Europe as a young teen-ager, he returned to the United States when he was seventeen and he began to incorporate dance movements into skating with musical accompaniment.
His ideas met with little enthusiasm until he founded a skating school in Vienna in 1863. Haines' colorful, theatrical approach to figure skating became known as the "international style." Among his many pupils was Louis Rubinstein of Canada, who popularized the style in North America.
Haines died in Finland and was buried there. His tombstone refers to him as "The American Skating King."