So many bad habits, so little time

Last night's lesson with Coach A. was devoted to breaking down just about every poor excuse for a turn which I have in my tool box: FO3s, FI3s, Mohawks, even two foot turns were dragged kicking and screaming from their dark hiding places.  At one point she threatened to add Bracket turns to the party and I don't even know how to do those--badly yet!  Then she said something about Counters and Rockers.  Yow!  By the end of the lesson I was so self-conscious I could barely stand up let alone turn!  All those erstwhile things that I use as crutches to get me turned from one direction to the other and from one edge to another are being righteously heaved onto the bonfire of the vanities.  I can't say whether or not my various attempts at turning qualify as "occasions of sin" but they all stand condemned under the unflinching glare of Coach A!

Turns out (HA-HA) that me and my ankles (not to be confused with me and my shadow) need to get better acquainted.  Apparently I've been relying on knee bend and "forcing the turn" to get the job done way too long.  Now I've gotta tidy things up and get "hip" with the feeling of rolling back and forth on the rocker of my blades (without engaging the toe picks, of course).  Oh, that plus winding up with my weight on the correct leg after completing the turn in question rather than collapsing and being forced to put the free skate down--can I say "check, please"?   Additionally, my turns all tend to have way too much edge for ice dance, meaning that they curve more than they should.  Coach A. wants to see turns that somehow start off flat (but without skidding) and exit more or less on a straight line.

 After a bit of experimentation with rocking around on my blades she asked if I could feel the muscles in my ankles.  The only sensation I could report was that of the tongues of my boots cutting into my shins--maybe that counts for something?  Meh, probably not the answer she was looking for.  I'm having a steadying glass of rum as I type this.  As Zippy might say "am I making progress yet?"

The History of Figure Skating Dresses

A breezy look at figure skating fashion:  https://www.facebook.com/PureWow/videos/1938507382846111/  Hopefully the link will open properly.  Couldn't figure out how to post the actual video. 

Tag Team Coaching

Coach A. and I have been chipping away at my wonky CC forward inside Mohawk.  It's improving but at a glacial pace.  Last night she had a little surprise waiting for me.  Her brother, Coach B. is also an ice dancer and after his final student for the evening had departed she had me attempt the turn while he watched.  He suggestion was that I wasn't pre-rotated enough to allow me to control the exit edge.  As a consequence I'm breaking at the waist and then collapsing to my right side as my weight falls into the circle.

Jo commented on my last post that she finds success with this particular turn by mindfully leading with her entry side hip which is another way of saying that I need to rotate more prior to establishing the entry edge for the turn.

I tried it several times under the combined glare of the brother-sister coaching pair and had limited but promising success.  I'll need to try this on my own when I get a chance to skate again later in the week.

Another benefit of having a second coach is that there was a second pair of eyes watching as Coach A. and I practiced chasses and back swing rolls.  Coach B. pointed out that I was wide stepping most of the time--something that his sister can't see while we're partnered.  So, lots to think about and tidy up.

After my lesson was over the brother-sister pair practiced several dances together during the remaining ice time.  A treat to watch! 

Wake Up!

Good Morning, Campers! Up with the lark!  It's a new year.

A new year, filled with left over problems from last year, but also the promise of new challenges.  Of course there are those pesky resolutions, generally put forth by perky people with way more enthusiasm than I can muster after a long night with the widow Clicquot; let's deal with all that right up front:  I hereby solemnly vow to make better bad choices this year compared to last.

Not wanting to be part of the slacker brigade, your old diarist went skating on the achingly beautiful first day of the new year.  I knew I had a lesson with Coach A. on the 2nd and figured if I could stand up on skates New Year's day, (actually my hair didn't hurt all that badly) that the lesson wouldn't be a complete waste of our time.

Come the 2nd, we dealt with an old problem--my poor excuse for a  CC inside Mohawk and a new challenge--my poor excuse for back outside edges.  Both of these foundation elements are key to my progress with the remaining two pre-bronze dances which I've left untested.  Doesn't matter if I remember the steps.  Doesn't matter if I remember to smile occasionally.  Without a good foundation this show ain't goin' anywhere.

So, on the 2nd of Jan. I found myself going backwards in both open and waltz hold doing outside swing rolls at dance speed during a busy FS session.  To say that we terrified a lot of inattentive free-style pixies would be a fair statement but no blood was shed.  The good news is that all this concentration on swing rolls left almost no time for Mohawks!

Scrolling on to last night's lesson, the focus was the dreaded Mohawk.  Coach A. had me over at the boards pivoting on my right foot.  Why is this turn such a stumbling block?  After what seemed to be a mind-numbing length of time (must have been at least ten minutes) we switched to back outside edges, but this time performed on the red line at the end of the rink.  There were no great breakthroughs in either department but I now have a couple more practice drills for homework.

So, that's my start to the new year.  Future posts will probably get v. monotonous and whiny, so feel free to tune out for a couple months! 

Smooth Skating!

Over the years, the New Yorker magazine has used skating as a theme for its cover.  I'll post a few from time to time.  Enjoy this one which evokes the rink-side glamour of pre-war St. Moritz.  (Note the bent knee free-legs.  Was that a style thing for the era?  I'm sure Coach A. would tell me I need to extend more if I did this!)

Back in the harness

That's "harness" figuratively.  No your old diarist isn't donning the jumping harness anytime soon.  Rather, the giddiness of passing my test last Friday has given way, the following Tuesday, to getting back to work on the remaining two pre-bronze dances.  Celebrations are like weekends and vacations--they're always too short!

Coach A. and I briefly explored optional opening footwork for the Swing dance, as I'm slightly mystified as to how and when she transitions from us both starting off facing forward in hand to hand hold, to her doing a 3 turn in front of me which will get us into waltz hold, with her skating backwards, for the actual start of the dance. We tried a couple different entries without committing to either.

We then worked on the rest of the Swing Dance pattern and finished the half hour lesson by revisiting the Fiesta Tango.  Coach A. is of the opinion that the FT might actually be the easier of the two dances for me to crack since in that dance the Mohawk's two edges are only held for one beat each rather than the SD's required two beats.  Think of the FT as a skill builder bridging (eventually) to the SD.  Besides, having just passed the Cha Cha, the cross in front/tuck behind steps found in the FT are still fresh in my muscle memory.  Additionally, there's less backwards skating in the FT, a point she drove home by finishing the lesson with me practicing the back chassé steps found in the SD.  As one can predict, my back chassés are better in one direction than the other.  I need to get over my back edges more so that the chassé curves enough to generate the correct lobe of the pattern--a lot for an old geezer to digest for what seems like a relatively simple dance on paper.

I'll leave you with a little eye candy that I found on youtube while searching for Swing Dance music.  Yes, yes, it's dry land dancing but amazing, at least to me, to watch.  If I tried to dance like that I'd be in traction (and probably on a ventilator) for a month!

Chalk one up for the old geezer

Today was a test session day for Bowie FSC.  The session itself was held at Piney Orchard rather than Bowie for reasons that are not know to me but no doubt had something to do with ice availability.  Since Piney and Bowie offer each other's skaters reciprocal treatment I didn't have to pay a "visitor's" fee like the last time I tested over at a rink near Laurel, Maryland.

With that bit of admin out of the way, I suppose I should mention that I was testing the Cha Cha, a Pre-Bronze level dance.  To me, the Cha Cha represents the last of the "easy" pattern dances; i.e. no turns and no backwards skating.  The end pattern is a little tricky with a cross in front immediately followed by a tuck-behind step.  These precede a sweeping inside swing roll, the momentum of which can take the dancing couple perilously close to the boards in the far corner as they attempt the two cross steps that mark the repeat of the dance.  But as long as one doesn't rush those steps, the dance itself is straight forward.  Having said all that, Coach A. constantly implores me to smile like I'm actually enjoying all this rather than hanging on for dear life--particularly when we're gliding passed the judges.  I occasionally humor her and manage a grimace.  Maybe when we test the Tango all this smiling and smirking can be put to rest...

Ice dancing seems to be on an up-tick at our rink.  Reviewing the final schedule I was gratified to see that ice dance testers outranked free style testers by a ratio of over 4:1.

Ice dances from Prelim to silver were being tested with the dancers split into three groups.  I arrived at the rink an hour before my group's warm up time and was informed that things were running about ten minutes ahead of schedule.  Coach A., my partner for the test, arrived shortly after that.  We were called to the ice at 12:58 for our six minute warm up.  I'm testing on the "masters" track (I'll take all the leniency I can get).  I need more like twenty minutes to properly warm up--and that should be followed by a sandwich, a beer and a nap. Six minutes!  I don't know what I'll do when I have to warm up for the harder dances which follow this Cha Cha.

Actually, they gave our group more like eight minutes since we were (a). ahead of schedule, and (b). one of the skaters was stuck in traffic fairly close to the rink.  She did make it.

So, after our brief warm up the testing began.  I was way down the skating order for my group and was scheduled to skate next to last (7th out of 8 skaters)--so much for the warm up!  There was a little drama when an early skater in our group had a spot of brain fade and "checked out" after two patterns of the Fourteen Step (higher level dances require three patterns plus a solo if one is doing the standard track).  Her coach/partner forged ahead, correctly assuming that they were going to start the required third pattern and as a consequence the skaters touched blades and he went down hard.  After he sorted himself out the judges permitted them to complete the dance. I didn't hear if she passed or not.

And then it was my turn.  At least the music was familiar.  During the second of the two required patterns I touched (my own) blades briefly but managed to stay on my feet.  After we got off the ice Coach A. said she was pleased overall but that I had skated with softer knees during warm up.  I always seem to put down my best efforts when it doesn't count!  There was nothing to do but wait for the runner to bring over my scores.  Much to my relief all three judges saw fit to give me passing marks--just barely passing marks--but a pass is a pass:

Pass

Pass

Pass

Zooming in on the judges comments:

"Knows the steps".  I certainly hope so!

Can't make out what the top comment is all about.  Something to do with the wide-step.  At least this judge liked the fact that my timing was ok and my dancing exhibited "some lilt".

"Slight rushing at times".  Almost got me in trouble when my blades clicked towards the end of the second pattern!

So, with the Cha Cha in my rear view mirror it's onward and upward with the dreaded wonky Mohawk required by both the remaining two pre-bronze dances.  Next up will be the Swing Dance.  My goal is to test that one before I turn 80.

Ta Ta and Smooth Skating!