Work on ALL THE THINGS

 I'm lumping an entire week's worth of lessons into one post. Hate me later. 

Camelz - After my camel fiasco at Fright Fest, we worked a bit on improving this. I really need to watch my leading arm so that it actually, you know...leads. I have a tendency to "swat flies" with it instead and that throws off my balance. Christopher took some video and in some of my attempts, my free leg was at the proper height so I know that I can do it when things go right. Mostly, I need to remember about a bajillion things in order for this spin to work. I think that's why I struggle with it in competition. I already have so much on my mind that it's hard to remember every detail of how to make a camel spin work. I'm not giving up on it. It will be lovely by the time I compete with it at Sectionals in March. 

Lutzez- Instead of wanting to see my flip jumps, he asked for lutzes! Whelp...I haven't really been working on these too much since I've been preparing for competitions so I wasn't really sure what these would look like. Surprisingly, they weren't the worst. After the first 2-3 jumps, I complained to him that these just feel soooo sloooow. He pretty much said "NO! That's how I want them! You are actually taking your time and not rushing for once!" LOL. He took some video of these as well and I was really surprised to see how nicely crossed in front my free leg is on this jump! Hrrm. He seems to think I'm making progress on these. I seem to think they feel awkward as hell. I really hope he's not tempted to add this to my program anytime soon. It feels gross. 

Dutch Waltzez - I requested that we spend some time working on dance. Mostly, I'm really starting to get burned out on camels and flips. I need a change of pace. I've been working on the DW so I feel like I have the steps and the pattern memorized. I just haven't been able to do on ice with the music. Turns out I've been practicing it at a much slower speed because when Christopher put the music on I felt like I had to hustle. I had the same problem that I've been having in my practices with running out of rink with the last two steps. Again, I need to make those swing rolls deeper. Something to work on. 

Canasta Tangoz - During our first dance lesson, he showed me the basic steps to the CT but we didn't spend too much time on it. I used the USFSA Dance app to learn the steps so that when he put the music on I was able to plow through it for the most part. Even though this dance is a bit more complex than the DW, I was able able to keep up better with the tempo. It's just such a fun dance. I think out of the three Preliminary Dances, this one might be my favorite, especially that cross stroke-swing roll at the end! Weeeeee!

Rhythm Bluez - We didn't spend a lot of time on this. He just walked me through the pattern and talked to me about practicing the lilt action. My brain exploded when he showed me how to do the cross behind steps. I really need to spend some time getting comfortable with those. It just seems like a great way to trip myself.