Final 3 Days with Coach Vitali

Unexpected end to my ice dance season.  We booked a last minute Alaska cruise - leaving this Friday and won’t return until after Memorial Day - Which is also the beginning of my summer travel season.  Living in Arizona the heat is unbearable in the summer months so we head to the Arizona mountains to escape.  That means no real skating for me during June-Sept .. sometimes longer.

I never thought I would make skating a part time seasonal thing, but I’ll be 67 when I get back this fall and I am losing my coach because he is moving away to Texas before I return.  There are dance coaches here but mostly female and/or they are a long travel distance for me.  I don’t know what I will do come fall.  

Meanwhile I have 3 days of lessons - 1 already gone.  2 more left to try and get one or all of my Pre-Gold Dances to a place where I can try and record them to submit for testing.  I’m sure we will try them all on Wednesday if I can get my husband to come record them.  But whether or not I can pull it off ????? I seriously doubt it.

So today is part 1 of 3 and probably my last skating post for a few months.  If I find some mid summer ice time - Maybe in August in Sun Valley I will make a full report!!!

I’m Back from Vacay!

One month off ice

Picked up a nasty RSV virus on the last few days of the cruise and I’ve been trying to get over that.

Took my chances today with a lesson - Glad I did.  I felt a little wobbly at first but we got through all the dances with some practice today.

First is the long version, 2nd is just the dances to music.

Last Dance till May

 Music system up and down today.  Rink filled with out of town kids for a competition and nobody film - The stars just weren’t aligned in my favor this month.  I’ll have to pay for this test twice too.  Grrr.

We skated for an hour but I’m already mentally checked out for vacation so I grabbed the Blues and cut the rest.   

Happy April - 

I felt guilt that I didn’t post all the dances - so here they are

2nd To Last Skate Before a MONTH OFF

 Time has run out.  Was hoping to test the Blues last week but the music was out and today’s practice did not seem worthy when we did the full run through.  The music system at the rink is broken.  They tied a speaker to the system on the floor but the selector system wouldn’t accept our fingers with or without gloves.  I’ll show up Wednesday and hope A) the music works B) I skate better and C) someone there will be kind enough to record it.

No Test Today

 Got up at 5:15 to get to the rink for the 7:00 freestyle.  Brought hubby who is not feeling well at the beginning of a cold .. just to find out the rink music system is down.  So no test attempt today.

But coach did bring a pocket speaker and we practiced all the dances with a speaker dangling from his coat - an awkward experience having music blaring in your face while skating … he is pretty tall so it was really right in front my face!

On a positive note we have starting running full or multiple patterns of each dance.

Crunch Time

Well I have a goal and a date.  Looks like I may be looking for a new coach next fall as my coach is moving away.  I don’t know what I will do next fall.   I will cross that bridge when I come to it.  For now I have April and May to work on these Pre-Gold Dances.  But I will be gone for 3 weeks of April on a cruise.   That leaves me about 4-5 weeks of practice 

Coffee Club Reunion Spokane

 It wasn’t a true reunion, but I did attend a session of Adult Coffee Club while in Spokane this week.O was so happy to learn it is still going strong and so many skaters showed up.  Great to see everyone I knew and meet new skaters too.

Tick-Tock …. Last Dance?

So I had the realization today that I won’t be back on the ice until possibly April 1 - then I will be gone most of April on a cruise - leaving me no ice time or very little in between time.   May will be my last chance to hunker down and skate as much as I can to get these dances past the finish line. 

Today’s lesson was a full hour but I only uploaded the patterns we did with overhead music.  They weren’t my best.. so I didn’t  bother zooming in to look at my sloppy feet!

* The Blues 3 patterns but I did not correctly do the Choctaws.  They were more like Mohawks.

* Starlight Waltz I messed up change of hold at the end of the pattern

* Kilian clearly needs cleaner Choctaw and neater feet

* Paso Doble same as Kilian.  Neater feet  - and EXPRESSION on all dances.

Starting to See The Light at the End of the Tunnel

 Good lesson for me today.  First time ever skating a full test pattern of the Blues to music overhead.  I think it was pretty good.  I still need more expression in the dance and to quit looking down at my feet. The Chocktaw is getting better and step 14 - the back CR and LBO edge are making progress.  I still look a bit bent forward at the waist.

As for the Paso Doble… all I can say is … it’s like patting your head and rubbing your stomach.  I am getting closer to muscle memory of the steps but I really need NEAT FEET and more push on all the strokes and of course EXPRESSION in the dance.  Step 17 I always forget is 2 beats.

2 Lesson Week

 Since I didn’t skate last week I decided to take 2 lessons this week.  Today was #2 and it was at 7:00 am.  That is NOT my favorite time of day to skate.  I rallied as best as I could.  We skated hard for the entire hour but I just captured the dances we did with overhead music.  Ironically the best runs are the ones without music playing.