Review: Faction Dancer 2

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In a nutshell

Faction’s Dancer 2 is the freeride skier’s everyday inbounds ski. With a traditional shape, 96mm waist, and a black magic combination of stability and playfulness, it’s a fantastic daily driver for when it hasn’t snowed in a while.

• Length Skied: 182 cm

• Weight: 1900 g

• Stated Dimensions: 127-96-117 mm

• Stated Sidecut: 19 m

• Recommended Mount Point: 3 options: -7.7cm, -9.2cm, -10.7cm

Faction’s Dancer 2 is available now.

Intro

Unless you lived under a rock, you’ll remember that early season for Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, California, BC, the PNW - pretty much anywhere except Alaska and Europe - totally sucked this year. I’m writing this review in early January from the Tetons and it hasn’t snowed since before Christmas. Normally, we’d all be skiing deep pow in the high mountains by now, but the immense amount of rocks and sagebrush still poking through has put a damper on that. The solution? GROOMERS! And Faction’s Dancer 2.

While the Swiss brand might be best known for its playful jib-oriented sticks and artsy films, it’s had a hand in producing some of the hardest-charging resort skis out there. First starting off as the Dictator series, these aggressive directional all-mountain skis have since evolved into something a bit more playful that Faction now calls the Dancer. I didn’t particularly like the old Dictator series - there were major durability issues, and they were just too aggressive for my liking, akin to skiing on literal I-beams. Hopping on the new Dancer this early season, I was curious about whether this was just a surface-level rebrand or would they actually turn out to hold up to their name and be more playful and fun? The Dancer 2 is the middle-of-the-road ski in the Dancer lineup, with a 96mm waist width, positioned as an “all-mountain freeride” ski in the lineup.

Length and Mount Point

I rode the Dancer 2 in the 182 cm length, and really enjoyed it. The flat tail and stiff flex make it feel longer than stated, and I felt like the 188 would have given me trouble on anything but wide open runs. Faction offers a full size run: 163, 171, 177, 182, and 187. The women’s Dancer 2X (same ski, different color) adds a 155cm size.

The skis come with three mounting options marked on the topsheet: Classic (-10.7cm), Progressive (-9.2cm), and Newschool (furthest forward at -7.7cm). I’ve found I usually prefer skis with a mount point further forward than factory rec, so I went ahead and bolted my bindings onto the Newschool line. That’s still pretty far back from true center, but feels appropriate for a stiff and directional ski.

Where does the Dancer 2 shine?

I’m not really sure I’ve ever written this in a ski review, but the Faction Dancer 2 is at its best when the snow is at its worst. Given the meager snowpack we’ve experienced over the last month, I’ve spent upwards of 20 resort days skiing these at Jackson Hole and Grand Targhee. Over the last few years, I’ve pretty much always reached for a 105-110 underfoot ski for resort days, but quickly learned I could trust the Dancer 2 in all conditions the mountain threw at me, especially when I knew that “fresh powder” wasn’t going to be one of them.

As expected, the Dancer 2 requires a certain degree of speed to come alive, but it continuously surprised me at how fun it was even at slow speeds. Yeah, it’s really fun to just bomb groomers at ludicrous speeds and play the game of “how few turns can I make down this pitch,” but the edge grip and really damp ride feel make these skis a blast to turn. I grew up on the East Coast, so I have some affinity for skiing hardpack left in me, and these sticks rekindled a love of putting a hip to corduroy within me.

It’s not all about speed though. With a 19m turn radius, low swing weight, and a 96mm waist, they are quite responsive, making skiing steep chalky bumps (a JHMR speciality) REALLY fun. The combination of insane edge grip and quickness side-to-side allow you to throw them around, and smear turns through the trees and mogul troughs when you need to. It’s not super slashy, the way a ski with more tail rocker would feel, instead it gives you the sensation of being able to carve through this kind of terrain. Many laps went something like this: make a few turns through the bumps up high, gain a little speed, then let off the brakes and point it through a field of moguls at the bottom before carving a few GS turns on the groomer back to the lift.

After spending a month riding them, I came to the conclusion that the ski has 2 personalities. It feels a little like a race ski on smooth groomers, where you can really press into the front of your boots and commit to high-speed carves. I found myself leaning over so far I felt locked into carves several times, and actually came to embrace that sensation because I learned to trust the ski and knew I could come out of the turn by releasing my tails whenever I wanted. Tailpressing over rollers mid-carve became a fun new game.

The second personality was much more playful. It’s called the Dancer, after all. In steeps, bumps, and on cat tracks littered with sidehits, the skis handle like well-tuned park ski. They require a lot of input from the pilot, but they will respond immediately. Despite feeling very damp and suspended at speed, they are incredibly poppy if you keep a more centered stance and load up the tails. I found myself easily gapping moguls and sending sidehits much deeper than expected. Despite the flat tail, they’re kind of fun to ski switch for short sections on hard snow - think reverts or switch 180s off cat tracks.

Where does the Dancer 2 make some compromises?

Turns out it did snow once or twice during the early season here, and I eagerly took the Dancer 2 out into some fresh, untracked snow. They do not shine in these conditions. In fact, the very traditional shape, narrow waist, and heavy construction turn them into anchors in deep snow. There was a noticeable lack of floatation, and I felt that I was skiing the bottom, even with 6+ inches of fresh.

If you’re looking for a better option, something like Faction’s Dancer 3, or even the Mana 3 or 4 would be better suited for fresh snow.

What would a perfect day on the Dancer 2 look like?

Any day where it hasn’t snowed in a while and you’re unsure of the conditions at your home mountain. Grab the Dancer 2 and know you’ll have a reliable partner for whatever the hill will throw at you - firm snow, crud, bumps, or chalky steeps.