Back to the Weekly Grind -

 I was out of town unexpectedly last week after my lesson - so no practice in between my lessons.

Today we concentrated mostly on sections of the Blues and touched a little on the Starlight Waltz.

First Lesson in 5 Months!

Ok, I’m back for the winter.  (Fingers crossed) - This is the longest time off ice I have had in 14 years of my return to skating.  We had a great time this summer traveling in our motorhome, followed by a few months in the high mountains of Arizona to escape the blistering heat, followed by a fabulous 3 week cruise across the Atlantic from England!  Who can complain about that?

But now it;s back to the drawing board.  I am going to try to UP my skating game this winter and dedicate more ice time and especially practice time on my own.,  Last year I mostly only skated on y lesson days.  That made for slow progress.

First lesson went pretty well.  We spent a good deal of time on exercises for each of the dances.  We revisited all except the Paso Doble..which we plan to leave for a later..much later time!

This video is a little longer (about 10 min) but I didn’t want to delete the exercises or my mistakes.

I’m Back - After 4 Months, 17 Days

Wow that is the longest I have been off ice in 14 years.   4 months, 17days.  And that was just a drop in lesson in late June.  Prior to that I had skated 1 day in May.  So it’s really like being off six months.  I was not as wobbly as I thought but it will be a long road back to any proficiency in my ice dances.  Next week I will start back with my lessons on Mondays.  

Pop In Summer Lesson

 I never thought I’d be one of those skaters who only skated during a certain time of year.  But here I am.  My current lifestyle only allows me to skate primarily November through May.  On our recent 46 day road trip I found ice twice toward the end of May in Spokane and Bremerton WA.  The rest of my summer is spent where it’s not 115º ….  And where there is no ice rink within 2.5 - 3 hours.  That’s too much driving for 1 hour on the ice.

 I was able to arrange a lesson with Vitali since I was in town this week.  Luckily it wasn’t at 7:00 am and luckily my lesson was on the 2nd half of the session so I had time to get my feet back under me before we started.  We focused on remembering the step of most of the dances I was working on before I left.  Starlight Waltz, Kilian and Blues.

On The Road Again ….

 Last skate and lesson before my summer hiatus.   We had an hour on clean ice to work on all the Pre-Gold Dances including a surprise introduction to the Paso Doble.  Sadly my phone started the morning with 27% and ran out during the Paso lesson.  All I can say about THAT dance is that it’s going to be another difficult one.  Fast feet.. under, over, change of edge.. whew.

Friday Blues and Starlight Waltz

Getting near the end of my skating season.  I don’t have access to ice during the summer in Pinetop Arizona where we live during the hot months.  So unless I drive home 3.25 hours or go to Flagstaff 2.5 hours - there’s no skating.  I’ll probably get in 2-3 sessions all summer.  

We’re just getting started on these pre-gold dances so I hate to walk away now but it will be interesting when I get back in November.  We are also taking a month long holiday in October.  No skates allowed!

For my own benefit I left most of the footage on the upload today since I’m still in the learning phases of these dances and I don’t want to forget where we left off.

Monday Blues, Starlight and Killian

Worked on 3 of the 4 Pre-Gold dances today and really broke them down into segments to try and work on them.  

The Killian is so fast.  That Chocktaw is pretty scary going as fast as the dance requires.

The Starlight is very tiring for a waltz.  There are so many different steps and hold changes.

The Blues requires pretty deep edges and flexibility.

 

Rocker Foxtrot Test Passed!

Finally done with the Silver dances.  I started these dances in late December of 2022 right after I finished the previous batch of Pre-Silver Dances.  It’s been 2 years and 4 months of work. 

The judges were fair in my opinion.  A sprinkle of compliments and some deserved criticism on areas I struggle with.  I love it when they say I did well for 21+ much less 50+ … and I wonder .. do they know I am 65?   They should give us a whole new level!   Just kidding.

  I have no idea what the time frame for the Pre-Gold dances will be.  I have learned the basics of the steps of 3 of the 4 of them, but they are really challenging. 

Blues Basics

 30 minute lesson today on the fundamentals of the Blues dance.  We did a little in the beginning on my closed mohawk of the Starlight Waltz too.

This dance is hard.  There are a lot of deep edges and difficult steps and turns.  Just LIFTING MY FREE LEG UP HIGH is a challenge!~

Killian and Starlight Waltz Lesson

30 minute lesson cut short by some rink drama and subsequent distractions during my lesson.  We managed to eke out a little practice.  I took the opportunity to jump OFF the ice right after my lesson and skidaddle home!