Squeezed in One More Lesson

Last Dance (session) with coach Vitali until I return at the end of summer.  Thanks for the last minute lesson .. 1 hour at 7:00 am.  Whew!

But Wait … There’s More

Two lessons - same day - different rinks.  

And to top it off .. I skated my butt off on the 2nd session.  That’s the reason for the extra long video. I never .. ever skate multiple runs of a program  the way I did today.  I was so tired at the end.

So this is it. My final lessons for the summer ~  I’ll be skating when I can up in Spokane while we are there for the summer but not too much as we are selling our home and preparing to move permanently to Arizona.  Lots of work ahead and I probably won’t have much free time for skating.

…. Until then.

Last Lesson for a While

We’re leaving soon for Washington.  I may be able to squeeze in another couple of lessons but it’s unknown at this point.  

Looks like I won’t be testing before I go either ~  There’s just no way my dances are good enough yet.

Looking forward to coming back and settling into full time Arizona life.

Wait Didn’t I Just See You Yesterday?

 Skating version of cramming before a test.  I don’t actually have a test date yet but I know I am leaving for the summer very soon and I am trying to get in as much practice as I can.  I just hate the idea of doing all this work and just leave the dances till fall.  

Yes I can practice while away .. but it’s just not the same doing it solo.

Today was lesson 2 of 3 with coach Vitali this week.  We had 1 great run on the Tango.

Learning a Side Lean Spin

 Today in my weekly lesson with Naomi we worked on putting the ending together for my free dance. We recently revamped the required Character Step Sequence which needs to use up the short axis of the rink.

Still Dancing on Freestyle Blades

 I’m still skating in my Freestyle boots and blades.  Some edges feel less secure while others more so ..

Today we didn’t get much past the Silver Tango.

Moving To Arizona

 Big news.  We have decided to make the move to Arizona permanent and give up our big beautiful home in Liberty Lake.  We’ve been loving it for 10 years but it’s big and a lot of work.  So we will start 2024 as new full time residents of Arizona probably escaping northbound as Reverse Snowbirds.. like Canadian Geese!

With all that on my mind it was difficult to skate well this week.

Foggy Lesson Day

 Special affects?  No just some Arizona rain and building humidity.  It created a foggy foggy rink with some bumpy drips in the center of the ice.

Still on FS blades working on a decision to stay in them or go back to my dance blades.  There were several instances today when my blades “clicked” … spinning feels better but speed across the ice is lessened.

In my lesson we changed the ending choreography putting the long edge (spread eagle) after the character step sequence on the short axis … it’s ALWAYS a challenge.

Marching Into Spring on Freestyle Blades!

 I did it.  I tried going back to my old skates this week.  The jury is still out.  I was skidding quite a bit at first.  The blades are not set exactly as my dance blades and I feel like I have to work harder on things like stopping and stroking .. however everything else felt fine while in partner.  I didn’t get a chance to do the spin in my program run.  I know I will be able to do a better spin in these skates.  Will try again Wednesday.

Last Lesson On Dance Blades (for a while)

 I’ve grown increasingly frustrated on my dance blades.  They are working great for preventing tripping on the tail of the blade during partnering but I cannot get comfortable doing solo spins and I am nearly to the point of going back to square one.

Next week I will try both lessons on my freestyle blades and see what comes of it.