Oh boy, it's been awhile! I took my tests on May 11th and then my husband and I moved to our new house a few days later and didn't have internet until Comcast could come and install. So yeah, I really wish I could have updated sooner but alas. Anyway, I PASSED BOTH TESTS!!!! I'll do the recap in two parts (one for moves and one for free skate).
On test day, I got to the rink plenty early in case the tests were running ahead of schedule. Little did I know they were actually running an hour behind so I had almost two hours of anxious waiting. For the first hour, I watched others take their tests and then for the next hour I did some warm ups (jumping and stretching) rinkside while I waited for Christopher to show up. Once he got there, we did some more stretching and a run through of the free skate on the floor. Finally, it was time for myself and the other adult tester to get on the ice for our warm up. My warm up...was a disaster! I think I had too much adrenaline running through me (or perhaps too much coffee) because I got on the ice and I felt powerful. In fact I was too powerful because I was skating with force rather than with ease. I took quite a number of falls and a good portion of them were toepick falls (the hurtiest kind). I wanted to skate with confidence and power but I may have over-did it a bit. Next time, I will meditate and listen to relaxing music rather than getting all jacked up on coffee. Lesson learned.
I got off the ice after the warm up and had 10 minutes to wait until the other skater finished her test. During this time, Christopher did his best to calm me down and bring me back down to Earth. By the time it was my turn, I was relaxed a bit but still quite jittery. I'm including the video of my Moves test below but here's a run down of how it went (with judge's comments in italics):
Perimeter Stroking - Pretty good flow, nice extension, nice posture. This was actually pretty good. Looking at the video, I'm still steppy on the end crossovers but the stroking felt good and solid. I was pleased.
Consecutive Edges - FO ok, FI edges fine remember not to toe push, BO ok, BI ok. Yeah, I was toe pushy on the forward inside edges. I don't think this is usually the case because I'm sure Christopher would have commented on it during our lessons. The backward outside edges felt so slooooow but that's what Christopher wanted so that's how I've been practicing them.
Forward and Backward Crossovers - Good steady flow forward and backward. These went as planned. I have been practicing getting them all at a steady speed so I'm pleased the that judge commented on the "steady flow" as that's what I was going for. The mohawk transition felt like it could have been more smooth but when I watch the video it looks ok.
Waltz Eight - Very large circles, fell on last circle, reskate. Ugh, this was frustrating. I skated the pattern with very large circles like Christopher wanted, so yay, but on my last step forward right before the finish, I tripped on my toepick and face planted. This is something that NEVER happens! I remember thinking on the last step "omg I can't feel my legs!" and down I went. It felt like when your leg goes numb after sitting on it weirdly for a while. You can feel that you indeed have a leg, you just can't feel it, you know? Technically, I finished the pattern but fell on the dismount, so to speak. She asked me to reskate and I was able to redeem myself by doing it well. But still...frustrating. Stupid nerves. I included the reskate version of the Waltz 8 in the video because that was the version that passed (and besides, I really couldn't stomach having the whole world watch me fall like that).
Forward Right and Left Foot Spirals - Right foot ok extension. Left foot (1st spiral you did) extension not at hip level. Well, no surprises here. I have been having problems with my left foot spiral ever since I broke my leg. Because that leg is still unstable, I have problems leaning forward and bringing my right free leg up. I knew this would be a problem and so did Christopher so we were not really surprised by this.
Overall, the test was strong enough to pass. It's not my best but I made it through. Here's the video :)
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