Last Week Video Fail - This Week I Tried Skating with Guards On !

 If you have skated long enough it has happened to you.  I was on the ice today and the rink music wasn’t working.  So off I went to inform someone at the front desk and when I came back onto the ice …. 

… you know what happened next.  Nearly did the splits and lucky not to have bruised anything but my ego.

My practice ice didn’t go great .. maybe I will look at it later and post a few moments but my lesson went pretty well.  These dances are not getting any easier.  There are lots of quick steps in the Tango and partners shift positions quite a bit.  The Waltz is well.. swingy to say the least… that’s all it is.  Swing rolls and swing 3’s .. it can get out of control pretty easily.  Hard for me to keep my hips under me on that one. The Rocker Foxtrot has trouble in just about every step.

Not In Synch Today

 I really look forward to my lessons on Monday partnering the dances I am working on with coach Vitali. Usually I walk away feeling like I can do this!    But today I didn’t skate the session leading into my lesson with him and he had already been on the ice for an hour.

We did a short warm up of two foot forward and backward pumps and slaloms and got into the Tango. Suddenly I am cutting myself off after the cross-behind step and making it impossible to keep the dance on pattern.  We stopped and restarted so many times.

When we finally moved into the American Waltz  the same thing happened.  I was not swinging to the wall and not re aligning with my partner after each swing.  Again start-stop-start-stop.

At the end of the session we had no time for the Rocker Foxtrot but did a couple of lengths of the rink doing the rocker exercise.  Again .. that rocker isn’t being executed correctly.  

Hopefully next week will be better.  I’ll try to get some solo practice done.  You know things are bad when your coach is out of breath and you are not.  It made me aware of how hard it is for them to “prop” you when you are learning the steps and the cadence of the dances.  I can’t imagine how hard this would be with two “student” skaters both trying to learn the dance.

Another Choreo Lesson

 Putting the final outline of the program together today including the edge element, the choreographic character step and the spin placement.  What kind of spin.. TBD.

Coach is off to skate at Masters Synchro next week so I will get 2 weeks to work out the kinks.  

Lesson Day - Repetition is the Name of the Game!

 Sometimes there is forward progress.  Sometimes you take one step back.  Most of the time you keep practicing until everything starts to click … and I don’t mean blades!  When a dance is done properly and you and your partner are in the correct dance hold and your posture is good and you are skating on the correct edges and you are making clean turns with legs properly extended … 🤯 it’s pretty amazing. 

You don’t even run out of breath.  The dance flows and you feel such a sense of “I’ve got this” 

Well… that isn’t the case quite yet for me on these Silver Dances.  It’s going to take a lot of REPETITION.    

Choreo Part III

 Bit by bit we’re putting this program together.  I could use 2-3 sessions of practice in between all these days of lessons but I just don’t have the energy to stay on the ice beyond one session.  Earlier this week I skated 2 sessions on Monday.  One before my pattering lesson and that didn’t really pay off.  

Today I had a little warm up time before my lesson, but things weren’t really working.  Especially my brain while trying to learn new choreography.  I felt pretty off balance too.  Who knows why some days are like that.

Lessons on All 3 Silver Dances

 I got introduced to the Rocker Foxtrot today.  Yep.  Tricky dance for me.   

Building Blocks. Part II of New Choreography

 Great lesson today with Naomi.  She helped straighten me out on a few of the Tango steps I didn’t understand.  The end pattern is tricky.  That closed Mohawk (ugh) and I know I will need to get my boots much closer together on the XB’s. 

She also started me on the Rocker of the Rocker Foxtrot with a Great wall exercise and an exercise down the rink to help reinforce the steps.  

Then we got to work on the new choreography - adding to my new program.  She always is smiling when she does this.  It’s a gift.  How - without any forethought - can come up with great steps that fit perfectly into music she has only heard 1-2 times.  She’s a PRO.

Practice without Coaching - Splat!

 Practiced at Gilbert today.  

Ran my 2 dances … alone!  Fail.  Crash. Disaster.

Ran my opening of my program.  

Practiced some Spread Eagles, Ina’s and Spins.

The Classroom is Now OPEN! First Lesson on Silver Dances

 Great lesson today.  I knew we wouldn’t make it through all 3 dances.  But we got some good practice in on the American Waltz and I am trying to learn the complicated (to me) steps of the Silver Tango.  So many cross behinds!!!  Such a different feeling trying to do these steps alone vs with a partner.

Next lesson we will finish the Tango steps and start on the Rocker Foxtrot.