Crowd psychology and the Sunday Winter Holiday Public Session

 

In order to maximize my ice time I, like many adult skaters, rely heavily on weekend public sessions.  I don't have to tell most of my readers that weekend publics are mobbed during the holiday season.  The mob "ramp-up" starts during the Thanksgiving holiday and achieves it's maximum density during Christmas break.  Mercifully for the dedicated skaters the tide generally starts going back out around mid-January and by February weekend publics tend to return to a manageable population level.

As an observer with more than a casual interest in weekend publics I've noticed that some crowded sessions just flow better than others.  Typically, Saturday is calmer than Sunday.  But why is this so?  There are just as many people on the ice but the dynamic or personality of the crowd at the Saturday session is usually more conducive to higher level practice.  In my mind I picture it as the difference between a closely packed but orderly school of fish and a similar school of fish which suddenly becomes chaotic.

Case in point: I skated the early afternoon publics at Bowie on both Saturday and Sunday this past weekend.  The Saturday session was crowded but I was able to skate several patterns of each of the two dances I'm working on plus get in a fair amount of practice on back skating elements and foot work sequences.  The crowd was "mellow" for lack of a better word.  Sunday the vibe was completely different.  The crowd was chaotic with kids all over the map, adult ice tourists camping out in the rink ends or coming to dead stops in the mid of traffic to take photos with their cell phones and very few breaks in traffic when one could take a flyer.  It was total bedlam and I got close to zip accomplished.  By the end of the session I told myself that this would be the last Sunday public I'd skate until mid-January.  My time on earth is a non-renewable resource and I have a long laundry list of other things I could be doing.

But the question remains: what is different in terms of crowd psychology between a "good" and "bad" collection of ice tourists at a public session?  What is the trigger that moves a crowd on an ice rink from orderly to agitated?  Does the introduction of a few good skaters cause tension like the introduction of predators in a chicken coop, or does the presence of good skaters impose a certain discipline which the crowd follows?  There were more good skaters Saturday than Sunday.  Coincidence or not?

There are also different degrees of anonymity in a given crowd.  Some crowds are composed of unconnected individuals while other crowds are clusters of family members or friends.  Are unconnected individuals more orderly than people who know one another?  I'm beginning to suspect so. 

Are people grumpier on Sunday vs Saturday, knowing that the following day is a workday?  Do they bring that aggravation to the ice?  Perhaps.

Fortunately I have this next week off and so will skate as many early morning public sessions as possible.  That will get me another week closer to "low tide".

Happy Holidays!

Glad to see that you're taking a break from all that yummy food and drink (not to mention from all of those enchanting relatives) long enough to check what's cooking On Thin Ice.  Most rinks, including mine are closed today.  By tomorrow I'm going to need to skate all day to burn off the accumulated calories! 

Last Saturday's lesson took place at the beginning of the public rather than at the mid point.  And of course both the ice was smoother and the initial population was smaller.  The population density remained at a tolerable level for the duration of the half hour that defines my lesson.  I think this timing will become permanent since none of the other Saturday students are attempting dance and so for the most part can take their lessons in "quiet" parts of the rink even after the ice tourist population swells.  I'm the only Saturday problem student needing acres of real estate!  Coach K and I worked on the Canasta Tango.  I can now (most of the time) remember the steps (in the correct order!) but K had to draw a curve on the ice with her water-proof marker so that I'd finally "get" where on the ice the first swing roll, the following edge step and the slide chasse were supposed to be. Pattern dances are unflinchingly specific in terms of timing and placement.  After drawing me a picture I finally got it.

I still haven't skated this dance or the Dutch Waltz to music--I have the music but haven't bothered with it yet.  Now that I know the steps and sort of know where I need to be on the ice I can start figuring out how to move the various songs from the CD, where they currently reside, over to my iPod shuffle.  The shuffle might not be the ideal gizmo for this since I don't think music can be organized into separate files like on other iPods and, if I'm not careful, the shuffle will indeed live up to its name and "shuffle" the order of the music.  I probably need to go to an Apple store and have a "genius" explain it all to me.  Ain't technology grand?

After about 20 minutes of running through the Canasta Tango I asked K to help me with step-behinds and back cross rolls.  She watched while I demo-ed my step-behind and gave me some pointers on how to make it smoother.  We then worked on back cross-rolls.  I soon could do a scratchy version of those and with further practice have since discovered that my getting more confident with the cross-rolls has had a positive effect on the step-behind as well.  It's always a plus when learning one element spills over, in a good way, and helps with a related maneuver.  For those not familiar with back cross-rolls here is a youtube clip of a good skater doing some:

These are hard to practice on anything but uncrowded ice since you really can't look over your shoulder(s) while doing them.  So far I haven't picked off a munchkin pushing an EZ-skater, but increased practice involving back cross-overs, swing-rolls and cross-rolls may force my hand and push me towards the vastly more expensive free-style pick up sessions or into taking time off to attend the early morning publics which have very low traffic.  The FS-sessions would cost more money, while the the early work-day publics would "cost" more in time off from work--the eternal "quality time" trade off--which is more cost effective?

Had a crappy lesson or practice? Dr. George has the sure fire cure: Usova and Zhulin

Weekend public sessions are now maddeningly crowded.  'Tis the season.  Coach K and I had to bail on last week's lesson after two attempts at skating the canasta tango.  So nothing new to report from Thin Ice HQ.  But after having a couple of her students who have lessons ahead of mine cancel, K and I agreed to move tomorrow's lesson to the beginning of the session.  No warm up for moi, but the ice should be better at the front end of the session than at the mid point.  Hopefully some of the ice tourists will go do some last minute holiday shopping and the remainder will be take their time tying up their rental skates. 

Meanwhile we can watch Maya and Alexander skate the Argentine Tango at the 1989 Worlds. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXyh3Rfl2Hs

No good deed goes unpunished dept.

 

I skated the Friday afternoon public.  It was lightly populated and I actually got in some useful Canasta Tango practice.  S. a free-style skater whom I know from power stroke class, was also on-ice, working hard.  She's a strong adult free-style 4 skater who's been working like forever to escape to FS-5.  The only thing holding her back is that she doesn't quite have her axle.  She tends to two foot the landings.  Anyway, we were both doing our respective thing when out of the corner of my eye I saw her go for it and actually land cleanly.  Wonderful to see after months of unrewarded work.  I skated over to give her a thumbs-up but in doing so I was very inattentive to my skating and managed to trip over my own "toe peeks".  In the process, I managed to deliver myself at her feet in a spectacularly inelegant, full on belly flop.  I have a very small sense of shame so it was not a big deal.  I looked up from my prone position on the ice and said "this is absolutely the last time I'm ever giving you a thumbs-up, so enjoy it!"

Now one point I'd like to make from this little admission of clumsiness is that when I skate my personal value literally increases several hundred dollars just in d3o ballistic padding alone; knee pads, butt pads, hip pads, tail bone, wrist guards, you name it--I'm surprised I haven't been "jacked" in the rink parking lot just for the value of my protective gear.

Honey, let me tell you--all that stuff earned its keep on Friday.  My fall must have looked just as stupendous as S's axle landing, judging from the reaction of a very concerned ice monitor, but I quickly staggered to my haunches and felt pretty good all things considered.  And unlike other incidents which I've blogged about this one didn't define the rest of the session (or following months).  I quickly got back to productive skating and finished the session none the worse for the wear.

So, if you've been on the fence about protective gear, this post is your heads-up.  Get some good gear--this is one area not to scrimp--and wear it--at least during practice sessions.  The lumps and bumps to your otherwise slim, trim, sleek and racy lines are way better than the lumps and bumps you'll be sporting courtesy of orthopedic appliances if you bust something.  Like other life-style choices, this is one that can help you avoid or at least reduce the effects of an otherwise nasty outcome.

Here endeth the lesson. 

Forget the Dutch Waltz--Thinking waaaay outside the box.

On the way home from my free-style group lesson I was trolling for some music and hesitated on a local classical music station.  They were playing eight Gaillardes by the renaissance composer Tielman Susato. (forget about the unicorn; just listen to the music).

Could one ice dance to music from the early renaissance?   An interesting thought, no?  Just think, not only does music from this period present an untapped resource, but for once the male skater's costume would easily be as interesting as that of his female partner--men in tights! Mel Brooks would be all over this.

Here's some more music and dance:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqvoFHekE0c

and here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZL3qVw5rkc

I'll let the choreographers in the audience put their collective thinking cap on...

Adios Muchachos

I went to the ice rink for my fourth ice dance lesson this afternoon. My lessons take place during a busy Saturday public session so things can get, well, a bit "busy".   Today the place was heaving with ice tourists, birthday party urchins and klingons.    

(klingon\ noun; the lowest level of ice tourist.  Generally dragged to the rink against their will by frenemies or extended family.  Usually found with death grip (clinging onto) the dasher boards, nervously taking stiff walking steps on rental skates).

My lesson is scheduled for 2:30 pm and the session starts an hour earlier.  This gives me plenty of time to warm up and plenty of time for the crowd to turn the ice into a rutted combat zone.  Coach Kelly had been at the rink giving lessons since 7 am.  When we skated up to each other I could tell she was hesitant to attempt a lesson in the midst of the crowd.  But I said "we're here, let's do it".  We eased into the traffic with me demonstrating back outside swing rolls and Kelly giving me correction.  I almost got collected by a three foot tall person with an E-Z skater aimlessly going against traffic.  Fortunately no blood was drawn and I did get some good tips from Kelly about timing of the swing which wasn't obvious to me.  This is why it pays to have a coach!

After that we launched into the Canasta Tango.  I had attempted to skate it on my own in traffic and hadn't made much headway.  I told her to just skate me through it so I'd get an idea of where the dance was supposed to be on the ice and after that I wanted to follow her and watch her slide chasses and the cross roll at step 14 in order to mentally capture a good model to mimic at at quieter session next week.

To say it was hectic is an understatement.  As we flowed through traffic my brain recorded a bizarre kaleidoscope of snap-shot images:  one ice tourist went down hard and banged the backside of her head on the ice.  It took several minutes before the ice monitors could move her off-ice.  Then there were people's expressions as we cut through the crowd in dance mode.  Some smiled as we passed, others looked on in puzzlement.  Kids were cutting in and out as we skated the pattern.

We next worked on the step behinds for the Rhythm Blues.  I could do the two in which the right foot crosses behind the left but the middle one where the left foot crosses behind the right is going to take some work (and probably a couple shots of rum).

At the end of the lesson Kelly gave me a CD with dance music covering ice dances from the Dutch Waltz to Rocker Foxtrot.  I listened to it in the car on the way home and my first impression was "What Dreck!"  I don't think that our rink has up-graded dance test music since the '70s.  I remember being turned off by some of this same music back in my University of Delaware days.  Fortunately the music for The Fiesta Tango (which I'll approach much later) is a tune I like:  "Adios Muchachos" .


Here's a version way better than the rink's pathetic version.

Americans will probably better remember Louis Armstrong's version (When we are dancing and you're dangerously near me, I get "idears", yea "idears")

This may help me survive the Dutch Waltz and Rhythm Blues music selections--something to look forward to....

Good Evening, and Welcome to Short Attention Span Theater.

Dear constant reader:  if you skimmed my last post you'll recall that I seemingly can't remember to bring all the required gear to a practice session (and no, I haven't caught myself putting the car keys in the sugar bowl or my wrist watch in the freezer--yet).  Your diarist has no interest in a repeat performance and to that end has been racking his brains for a solution.  Not being clever enough to invent something on my own, I did the next best thing: I stole someone else's idea.  I now pass it shamelessly on to you.  I stole this idea, as well as the accompanying photo, from Bill Schneider's Skating Web Site. (thanks, Bill if you ever read this; I looked for your contact info but didn't find any.  Your idea is too good not to share).

Fig 1.  Laminated Dance Diagrams with neck lanyard.  This idea seems obvious--why didn't I think of it?  Perfect for someone like me who needs to sneak a peek at the printed diagram until the steps sink in.  No more fumbling for a wadded scrap of paper in one of my pockets.  The laminated diagrams are sturdy enough to ride along in the skate bag (rather than being left behind on the computer table) and won't disintegrate in my pocket the next time I wash my jacket and forget that my little road maps are still in there. Additionally, while big enough to read on the ice, the diagrams can be scaled to whatever size seems convenient for neck wear.  The plastic lamination is flexible enough not to be a bother if you decide to tuck the card inside your vest or jacket rather than have it flop around while skating.  You can download the various dance pattern diagrams from any number of websites.  I printed out the first half dozen dances, trimmed them to an agreeable size, and placed two diagrams back to back prior to having them laminated at a local office supply store's copy center.