Swinging into the week like Cha Cha Cha

 After my terrible fall on Saturday, I was debating even skating this week. But, I had already paid for the sessions and there are no refunds. Plus I'm stupidly stubborn so I went to the rink as sore as I was. After icing it quite a bit, it feels slightly better. It still really hurts though, so I broke out my padded skate pants that I haven't worn in a while and brought them to wear during this week's sessions. I really don't want to fall on it again and aggravate it further. 

Monday Swing - Christopher started our lesson by asking me if I was disappointed about the test session getting canceled. I admitted I was but was also kind of relieved. At the pain levels I'm experiencing right now, I am not in the mood to test. He said since I would have passed the tests, he would like to move forward and teach me the next set of dances from the Pre-Bronze level. We started with Swing! This introduces a whole new dance hold (waltz position) as well as a change in direction from backward to forward halfway through the pattern. We went through the basic steps first and then he taught me the pattern. His main piece of advice was to have good turnout on my swing rolls so I don't toepick him in the shins (it's happened in the past apparently). I have a feeling that this will be difficult to practice without a partner as I will need to skate backwards for half of it and won't have a way of looking out for other skaters without breaking my posture. It's fun and swingy though so I think I'll like it. 

Tuesday Cha Cha - I spent the whole time before my lesson working on the Swing so that when he got to me I would at least know the steps. I finally got all the steps down so imagine my surprise when our lesson started and he said he was going to teach the Cha Cha. I mean, sure, let's do it! This is a super fun dance and I know it will be one of my favorites once I get all the steps down but man, two new dances in two days. It's a lot. 

I've been practicing at home using the USFSA Dance app so I have the steps to both dances memorized now! Hooray! If he throws the Fiesta Tango at me next time my brain might actually explode.