Open can, worms everywhere!

I finally had a lesson! We did a 30 minute lesson instead of our usual 20 minutes since it's been a while. One of the first things I mentioned was my thoughts on moving the new bit of choreography to the beginning of the program as a lead in to the loop jump. He agreed that that part of the program seems a bit empty but he didn't move the new footwork there as I expected. Instead, he changed my choreography all around! I mean, don't get me wrong, what he did makes sense and it's lovely choreography, it's just that I'm not the best at learning new choreography. I'm pretty sure he was ready for a few beers after having to deal with me stumbling about for 30 minutes trying to learn something so simple. Anyway, here's what we did:

• Opening is the same
• I do a neat extension/swoosh with my arms and then right into the waltz-falling leaf-half flip
• Build up lots of speed and enter the spiral which is now longer and more pronounced
• Aim the salchow at the hockey goal instead of the lutz corner
• We took out the pretty arms/one-foot glide into the Ina Bauer and replaced it with more advanced movements
• Ina Bauer entrance into the sit spin remains the same
• Stag jump in front of the judges
• Mohawk into prep for the loop jump
• Push under right after landing the loop jump and start the footwork sequence (which starts with the new footwork I learned and connects directly to the old footwork making it a bit more obvious). 
• Toe loop
• Attitude spin
• Lunge and final pose

So, the footwork sequence is now more advanced and is more obvious that "hey, footwork starts here!" The jumps are still the same, just in a different order and there is now one loop instead of two in combination. Spins are the same as well. I spent some time at home working out the new timing of things to the music. A lot of my former musical cues are replaced by different ones so it's almost like relearning the program. I've run this program so many times with the former cues that it's tricky changing up that muscle memory. However, the new stuff is neat and, once I get to the point where I can competently perform it, it should look pretty cool. It was also pretty neat that I was skating to Star Wars music on May the Fourth. How fitting :)

We talked briefly about a July test date for both MIF and Free Skate so it looks like that's happening! Yikes!