Monday, November 30, 2020

Solo Dance Practice - YAWN .....

 So I have this beautiful ice.  Only 1 other skater.  Dance session - no Lutz corner or wild free stylers darting across the rink....  yet it seems nearly wasted.

Practicing ice dancing alone (when you are not a solo ice dancer) is really hard for me.  I can’t seem to stroke with enough energy to bring the dance into the proper tempo - nor am I doing all the steps correctly.  Of course it’s a learning process, but by now after testing 9 dances, I should have better skating posture.

My big areas of fault are;

1. Not skating through my hips.  I lurch my upper body forward and the hips and feet are late to the party.

2. Not staying in dance hold posture and keeping my body underneath.  See above.

3. Not sitting low enough in my knees.  Partly due to bad knees and partly due to lack of quad strength.

4. Not keeping feet together - especially during three turns and back chassés.

What do I mean by all that ... this video is a prime example of it all


   

Wednesday, November 25, 2020

Dance Lesson on the European Waltz and Hold fixes

 2nd lesson with Todd Gilles - These three turns are killing me.  I know I need to keep my foot closer - and sometimes I feel as though I am ... but I see the video playback and I see I am still lurching vs skating through my hips and wide stepping vs having the feet together during the turn and before the step down onto the other foot.  


Thursday, November 19, 2020

Pre-Silver Dances ... Here We Go

 Had my first lesson on Pre- Silver dances today. I’m going to need to acquire some strength and better glide ratio to keep up, The Fourteen Step is easy enough but it’s fast. The Foxtrot opens a whole new can of Mohawk worms for me plus some tricky cross behind steps. The European Waltz will be a huge challenge. Maybe it will force me into fixing my Three Turns!!! Time will tell. 

We attacked 2 of 3 dances today and talked about the dance three turn.

My coach Todd Gilles is real easy going and gives me lots of space between runs to catch my breath! 


Wednesday, November 18, 2020

I Could Have Danced All Night..

 Today I went to a “dance session” at Chandler Ice Den. My very favorite rink in my immediate area. 

I worked on the Fourteen Step and even stated trying to learn the beginning step of the foxtrot.

Lesson tomorrow 🤞 


Monday, November 16, 2020

Three Turns ... Sounds Simple

 Three turns are some of the very basic fundamentals of skating.  Doing them correctly - not fighting imbalance, having extension, strong edges and flow are not so basic and hard to correct.  For me - it’s knee  pain and fear much of the time, but sometimes it’s just a lack of confidence.  I seem to be losing it exponentially a time goes by.  It’s so difficult to stay motivated to #GETUP when dealing with aging, fatigue, pain and loss of muscle memory.  END GRIPE

On AZ Gilbert ice today for the adult session midday.  Some familiar faces (some 😷).


Friday, November 13, 2020

First Slice of AZ Ice

We are back in Arizona for the winter and I took my first glide across the ice in Scottsdale for Thursday Adult Ice Café. There is a great group of talented adult skaters here who are very welcoming. 

Coach Grant offered up a short group lesson on edges and turns and artistry. I really enjoy these group classes it reminds me of being in Sun Valley. 



Im on my last legs here…

 I just can’t turn the corner on these dances.  One pattern looks about as good as I can do it, but two patterns I make too many mistakes. M...