Grapevines are a two-footed figure in which the legs twist around each other in a repeating pattern. There are many different kinds of grapevines, which George Meagher (1919) explains all found their original in America. He also notes that “no skater’s repertoire is considered complete without the addition of at least two or three good Vines.”
George Meagher on Grapevines (1919)
Click here for George Meagher’s description of multiple grapevines in his book “Guide to Artistic Skating” (1919). He describes the “Single Grapevine,” “Scissors,” “Grapevine, Double,” “Grapevine Pennsylvania,” “Grapevine Philadelphia,” “Grapevine Spread Eagle,” and Meagher’s own “Grapevine Victoria.”
World Figure Sport is working on cracking the lost knowledge and patterns to skate all of the Grapevines in the WFS Archives.
Marianne Tisch demonstrates the Pennsylvania Grapevine:
Marianne Tisch demonstrates the Philadelphia Grapevine:
Learning Grapevines
Here is the Single Grapevine as explained by Nick Perna. Excellent and easy-to-follow tutorial but note that Nick is on inside edges when demonstrating the pigeon-toed position and he demonstrates that fact when he spins in that pigeon-toed position.
https://icoachskating.com/the-grapevine-nick-perna/
This grapevine video may be helpful, too.
Single Grapevine
Here Gary Beacom demonstrates and teaches a variation of Meagher’s Single Grapevine. Beacom and Perna stress only the outside edges but the pigeon-toed position in a half or whole circle naturally happens with one foot on the forward inside edge and the other foot on the backward inside edge during the single grapevine, so Meagher’s edge diagram is correct. Notice: Nick Perna spinning round in the pigeon toe position and he is spinning on the forward and backward inside edges (one foot being forward and the other one backwards).
Single Grapevine and then into the Slalom Grapevine
This video is performed in hockey skates as most parts of Figures & Fancy Skating developed without toe picks and can be performed in hockey skates. Freestyle Ice Skating on hockey skates believes that they are a part of a new skating discipline, developed in Budapest Hungary starting 2010, called Freestyle Ice Skating (a distant but awesome cousin of better-known original Figure-Skating) but they are just rediscovering these cool skating elements in modern times.
Double Grapevine, Infinity 8, Triangle Spin
Slalom grapevine is not last, here is the Double Grapevine and related Infinity 8 and Triangle Spin figures. Enjoy!