A Question for My Ice Skating Friends

[sigmund__freud]

What exactly is the difference between ice dancing and figure skating? I have a number of people who do things on ice on my friends list, but when I was looking up to see who would be at the world skating championships, and there was a distinction between “pairs” and “ice dancing.” So now I’m confused as to whether I should call these people on my list figure skaters or ice dancers, or if there is another all encompassing category for them, should I use that? I wouldn’t want to call someone a figure skater if they were actually an ice dancer, or vice versa.

Thank you for clarification- Sigmund