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.

Back After Another Week Off

 I had a good lesson today.  Worked hard.  Made so many runs.  Got through 3 dances with music.  These are not easy and as you can see - the steps are sometimes a challenge.

Get Your Head In The Game!

 2nd Lesson of the week.  A short one but we got lots of Blues practice in and I learned that I have been turning my head the wrong way … forever during the dance, fighting the direction we are skating toward and not looking “out of the circle” like I should.  

When the coach tells you this … it sounds like an easy fix, but for me with what I call “choreography dyslexia” trying to fix something in my upper body means forgetting what my feet and legs are doing!!

Lesson Day Interrupted by Virtual Testing (other skaters)

 Usually during a virtual test other skaters on the session try and skate out of the view of the videographer so as not to block any perspectives a judge needs to see.  I get that.  But it seemed today we spent a lot of time at the wall just waiting for a skater doing “skills”.  Great for her, but it cut into my hour session and my hour of my lesson too.  Oh well.

Swapped Jury Duty for a Skating Lesson!

I somehow got lucky enough to be “dismissed” from jury duty on Tuesday and was able to snag a last minute lesson with coach Vitali.