Test Ready!

 I had a lesson yesterday and the goal was to run all three Preliminary Dances with the music to see whether or not I am ready to test all of them or just one or two. 

Dutch Waltzez - Christopher had me run the full pattern by myself with the music before we partnered. I thought it went well. He would like to see a bit more knee bend on the progressives (especially the second set right after the first two swing rolls). But I was able to stay on beat with the music and I knew the steps. We then ran it partnered and it was not so great. I felt very stiff and kinda scared. I think I mentioned before that partnering really isn't my jam and I think it shows a bit. It was okay and that first run through might have been passable but I wasn't happy with it. We ran it again at the end of the lesson and I did much better with the partnering so maybe it was awkward because it was the first dance of our lesson and I wasn't warmed up to partnering just yet. Anyway, he gave me his blessing to register to test this one. I promised I would work more on the progressives to get them bendy-er. 

Canasta Tangoz - Again, he had me run this one by myself first to see how I skate it solo. I did pretty well. His main criticism was to be a bit more sharp with my movements for this particular dance. To put it in musical terms, more staccato. We partnered this and it went well. The first time we ran it, I missed the second swing roll but the second time we ran it, it was pretty good! He gave me his blessing to register to test this one as well. Yay!

Rhythm Bluez - This was the one I wasn't expecting to be ready to test with but I surprised myself when he asked me to skate it solo and I was able to do the whole pattern with the music at speed WITH the cross behind steps! His main criticisms were to not step onto a flat when going into the second inside swing roll and to bend my knees more on the cross behind steps at the end. Also, he would like me to push all of the end steps closer to the boards. Right now I'm placing them from pepperoni dot to pepperoni dot and it should be a bit farther out. We partnered this as well with the music and it was okay. He gave me his blessing to register this one for testing as well so that was a surprise! I still have a bit more work to do to clean it up a bit but I'm feeling pretty good about it overall. 

So yeah, it was a good lesson and on December 4th, I'll be testing all three of my Preliminary Dances! That escalated quickly! Also, before my lesson when I was working on Silver MIF 3 turns, I almost had an LBO turn! It was there for a flash but it was there! This is the first time it actually turned but then I hit my toepick on the glide out and all forward momentum stopped. But...progress! It's a small glimmer of progress but I'll take it. It's not champagne worthy yet but I'm feeling a bit more hopeful about it.