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

   

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.  

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! 

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 🤞 

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 😷).

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. 

October Snow Day - Final Coffee Club for me in Spokane 2020

Today was my last skate at coffee club for this year.  We head south for the winter soon .. and not a moment too late.  Woke up to a beautiful crisp sky and ended the day with a snow blower and having to leave my car at the dealership downtown because it’s not suitable to drive in winter conditions!  

So my footage is short - the first 15 minutes of coffee club with Kim.  I hope anyone who reads this blog from the area knows that Adult Drop In Coffee Club will continue even though I am not posting video.  For current schedules and sign ups see the eaglesicearena.com website.

Some Practice During Coffee Club

 I got on the ice first and took advantage of the clean ice to do some figures.  I sped them up because as we know .. this is why figures went away.  THEY ARE SO BORING TO WATCH! (Unless you are a skater .. then you can feel the effort it takes to hold an edge or stay within the tracing.)

In a few weeks we will migrate south for the winter and I hope to get some regular coaching on everything from ice dancing to moves in the field to free style - maybe.

Three Turns - Doing Them vs Doing Them Right

 If you ask me if I can do a three turn.  My response would be YES.  But doing them correctly, with strong edges and good flow going in and coming out with speed and control and extension !!!  That is the difficult part.  Videos of myself show me how off base I am, but somehow don’t give me the insight I need to correct them.  Words are easy - but execution of any element of skating thrown into the soup pot of 61 year old bones (some with spurs) and joints (minus the necessary cartilage) - slows me down to a crawl sometimes.  Progress does come, but not quickly.

Coffee Club is Back ... Minus the Coffee !

Nice to see some familiar faces today like my friend Wendy Bauer and coach Kim Ferraro.   

I worked  on the Fourteen Step and my moves in the field with a dash of freestyle for fun.