Thursday, July 14, 2016

Gaining an appreciation for inside forward swing rolls

OK, it's a new season at Bowie, the newly generated ice surface is nice as expected and coach A. and I are dusting off where I was waaaay back at the end of May.  You may recall that I had passed the CT but rec'd a "retry" on the DW.  I was also working on the Rhythm Blues.  During last night's lesson we worked briefly on the RB's lilt step sequence but spent most of our time working on the inside forward swing rolls which follow the lilt steps.

Until last night I didn't have a good understanding of inside swing rolls.  I was basically attempting to do an inside edge version of the outside forward swing rolls familiar to those who've done the DW and CT patterns, i.e. : holding the free leg back and extended for two beats followed by swinging it forward for two beats.  This approach was not only ugly but more troubling, it left me on a flat most of the time rather than the correct inside edge. 

Coach A. broke the element down and pointed out that the inside swing roll consists of four distinct parts, each held for one beat of the four beat roll.  What follows is my recollection of that demo:

On the first beat, one pushes onto the inside edge while extending the free leg back.  On beat two the free leg is bent slightly at the knee and brought to the back of the skating foot (raised above the ice).  On the third beat the free leg is simultaneously straightened and extended forward with the toe pointed in the direction of travel.  This helps pull the inside edge around the semi circle which the swing rolling skater supposedly carves.  In beat four the free leg is slightly bent as it returns to the back of the skating foot, again raised off the ice, in anticipation of the next swing roll in the pattern.

This was a small revelation to me and while it looks quite elegant when coach A. demonstrates, like most things she demos, it will take your old diarist a good bit of practice to make all it work instinctively at dance speed!  I hope that woman doesn't think I'll be testing this in August...

2 comments:

  1. Oh, how elegant! What I like about what you've described here is how it spreads the motion of the free leg more equally around the edge: easier to control and more suited to that Blues style. So glad you are starting off the new season with a revelation--hooray!

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  2. Thanks Jo. Baby steps down here in Maryland.

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