Shortest Choreography Ever!

Friday Lessonz - I was nice and warmed up so we got right to work with the 16 beats of intro choreography for the Rhythm Blues. I have chosen Sam Smith's "Stay With Me" as my skater's choice music because it has a nice, clear R&B rhythm and it's pretty damn spot on in terms of the required tempo (88 bpm). Even though the intro choreography is short, it still makes me anxious to learn it. I'm not the smartest person when it comes to learning choreography so when Christopher makes these really pretty arm movements I just kind of stand there like wha? Basically, it took him the whole lesson to teach me 16 beats and I was still really confused. I promised him I would go home and work on it for homework plus I have my Saturday morning practice to get it together. He kept the cheesy end pattern arm choreography I did on my own and added one more arm movement so he must not have been too disgusted by what I came up with. The whole thing needs a lot more practice to get it right. Part of me wishes I could just do the dance without anything fancy but I know they'll be judging me on expression (aka the fancy stuff) just as much as they will on the technique and timing. 

24 Program Challenge (11/24) - I had a really good run through! My scratch spin at the end wasn't centered and it was a bit tricky to hold on to as it traveled but I still got it done. My camel spin went well though so I wasn't even mad about the scratch spin not being perfect. 

Saturday Practice - Whoa, this was a busy session! People everywhere! Even though I really needed to run my program, it didn't feel safe so I skipped it. I feel terrible about it because I'm really behind on my program challenge but it was a zoo out there. I was, however, able to run the Cha Cha with the music and that felt pretty awesome actually! It's so much fun to skate to! Christopher was on the ice working with some of his other students but he offered to start my Rhythm Blues music for me so I could run it with the new choreography. I feel like those 16 beats of intro go by so quickly and I'm so slow. Once I get into the pattern, I'm fine but damn, I really gotta move quicker to get there on time. Compete in Pattern Dance she said. It will be fun she said. Ugh, past Mandi is dumb. 

Avoid Circus Music at all Costs

 Today was my first lesson since the tests and it was back to the grind! I have about a month until the competition in Cody and I have a lot of work to do to get ready for the four events I signed up for. 

Movez - I warmed up with Silver Moves, particularly all of the 3 turns (since I can do them all now yay!). FO-BI are looking pretty good but both sides of the FI-BO are pretty rough. On the BO 3 turns I really need to get control of my arms after the turn. Even though I am checking with my arms, my torso is still turning and it's hard to get back to the axis. I keep circling back in on myself. My Power Pulls were also kind of icky. Not a fan. Because I'm competing Bronze Moves I worked on those for a bit as well. I did two patterns of the Forward Circle 8 and ran through the Forward Power 3 Turns as well. When I remember to count, the Power 3s look nice and controlled. When I don't? Well, they still look okay but just not...polished, I guess. 

Spinz - I worked on the two spins from my program with the aim of seeing how long I can hold them since that is part of another event I'm registered for. I just got my blades sharped a week ago and there is always a period of a couple weeks where my spins are just kind of meh. I'm sure I'll be better for Cody, though. 

Jumpz - I ran through all of my program jumps and then started work on loop combos. My salchow-loop is getting more consistent and I'm really hoping to include it in next season's program (which I'll start working on in April-ish). 

24 Program Challengez (10/24) - I hadn't run my program at all last week since I was focusing on preparing for the dance tests so I'm a bit behind in the challenge. I should be at the halfway mark right now so I have a bit of catching up to do. I had some time to run my music before my lesson today so I plugged my phone in and got in position. Over halfway through, I saw Christopher by the boards taking video of me skating and it made me super nervous for some reason and I fell on my best jump, the final loop. If I know that someone is watching/judging/recording/ from the beginning, it's different than all of a sudden realizing that someone is there watching. It was jarring. Ugh, I never fall on that element. Stupid nerves! So thus began our lesson...

Lessonz - He replayed the video element by element and had me work on improving each thing. We started with the first jump combo, the loop-toe loop. The video clearly shows me toe-waltzing the toe loop so he had me slow it down a bit and make sure to get a proper toe loop. Once I got that down, we worked a bit on the salchow to make it jump more out than up and then we looked at the loop jump to make sure the fall was just a fluke (it was, thankfully!). Finally, the bulk of our time was spent on the flip jump. My technique on this jump has never been awesome. I land the jump consistently but man is it ugly sometimes. He has been working with me on this damn jump for over three years and it is still gross. I just can't get a feel for the vault. I'm really hoping that I have one of those epiphany moments like I had with the LBO 3 turn and one day it will just...happen. Until then, we all suffer watching me as I over-rotate and overthink the hell out of this jump. Sigh. 

On Friday, we will work a bit on adding some extra choreography to the two dances I'm competing with next month. I told him I was able to play around a bit and figure out some less boring arms on the end pattern of the Rhythm Blues but I'm kind of lost on what to do with the Canasta Tango besides adding some cheesy flamenco arms. I'm sure he'll come up with something good. I don't need much, just enough to show expression throughout and make it a bit more interesting to look at. Since this is a competition and not a test, I want to skate to some more modern music instead of the typical circus music that the USFS has on tap. I haven't uploaded my music yet for the competition because I'm still kind of undecided. I know I want Sam Smith's "Stay with me" for Rhythm Blues but I still don't know what to do for the Canasta Tango. All Tango music sounds alike to me. It's all just different variations on cheesy accordion music (no offense to accordionists). So I'm just trying to find something that's a tango...but fun? The only thing that I can somewhat tolerate is "Querer" from Cirque de Soleil but it would need to be cut since the intro is too long. I was really hoping to avoid cutting music. Sigh. 

Preliminary Dance Tests

It's Test Day!!!! My goal was to not only pass all three Preliminary Dance Tests but to pass them at the Standard Level rather than the Adult level. Guys...I PASSED! I still let nerves get to me a bit and when I watch the video, I can see areas where our unison isn't perfect like it has been in practice but hey, I didn't fall on my face. I stayed upright and there were moments were I looked sort of elegant, lol. 

Rhythm Blues - This was the first dance to be tested. For the "Technique" portion of the test, I met all of the requirements for Accuracy, Placement, Skating Skills, and Unison but she did not put a check mark next to Style. I'm not sure why. Maybe we needed to add more flourish with the arms instead of just staying in Killian hold? Her comment in the "Technique" box was "Point toe of free leg for clearer extension and better edge." For the "Timing" portion, she commented "Crisp end pattern." This was nice to see since those cross behind steps are scary. For the "Expression" portion, she simply put a question mark. I guess it's hard to determine one's expression when they are wearing a mask. Passed!

Dutch Waltz - Boy am I glad I never have to skate this again! I am not the biggest fan of the Dutch Waltz so I was especially pleased to have passed this one today. No comments in the "Technique" box but she put check marks next to Accuracy, Placement, and Skating Skills. She left Style and Unison unchecked. I understand why Style was unchecked but if our Accuracy and Placement were good then why wasn't our Unison also good? Oh well, no biggie I guess. No comments in the "Timing" box but in the "Expression" box she said "Use upper body to express lilt of Waltz." She's right. I could be a little less stiff in the upper body. I'll work on it. Passed!

Canasta Tango - This was my final test and the one I have the most fun skating to so I'm glad they saved the best for last! In the "Technique" box she didn't checkmark anything but commented "Nice depth of edge." Yay! In the "Timing" box she simply put a big checkmark. In the "Expression" box she said "Work on expression of Latin Rhythm." Yeah, I mean I did the steps and all but I could have incorporated some Latin-y kinds of arms to express the character of the music. I'll work on that for the next set of dances, especially for the Cha Cha and the Fiesta Tango. Anyway, Passed!

So YAY, it's over! I still have to work on the Canasta and the Rhythm Blues since I'm competing them at the competition in Cody next month so now I can use the judge's feedback to make these sparkle more with expression. I did the things!!!!! YAYYY!

Final Preps

 Tomorrow is TEST DAY!!! So, this week was final preparations for that and I feel ready! Bring it!

Monday Dress Rehearsal - I got wear my fancy dress for the first time and honestly? I felt like a real Ice Dancer! I finished stoning it the week prior so the glue had time to cure and everything held on really well as I squeezed into it. When I was warming up off-ice, a hockey player saw me in my dress and asked if we figure skaters ever get cold. I told her the adrenaline kicks in pretty quickly at comps and tests so we don't even notice it. I think hockey players think we are crazy :) For our lesson, we ran through every dance partnered at least twice and each dance once solo. My husband was able to come to the rink with me (finally! Yay for slightly lifted restrictions!) so he took some video of each dance. Our unison is pretty damn good! I had some trouble spots with the Rhythm Blues during the second pattern. There was a spot on the ice that had some deep ruts and that was the spot where we do the two inside swing rolls. I kept getting caught in the rut and couldn't get on the correct edge. Christopher even admitted to feeling it too. Hopefully the ice is nicely zam'd on test day so this isn't an issue. Overall, things went well. 

Wednesday Lesson - Same thing as Monday but without the fancy dress. Christopher asked what I thought of the videos Dustin took from Monday. I felt like this was one of those trick coach questions where "it looked great" is not the right answer. The one thing I noticed in the videos is that there are spots in some of the dances where I have a very slight break at the waist. Overall, my posture is pretty good but during these weird moments, I break posture for a hot second. He agreed! That's what he was noticing too! So, we worked a bit on trying to get me to lean back more against his arm. If I don't feel his arm firmly on my back, I'm not leaning back enough. This isn't an issue that I think would cause me to not pass but I want to do everything I can to make these dances look amazing. 

So yeah, I feel ready to crush these dances tomorrow. I need to remember to stay tall, lean back, relax, trust my training, and have fun! One of my skate buddies told me that she is a volunteer runner for tomorrow and she told me she might be the one to run my passing results to me. I hope so! I told her if I don't pass to please also run me some adult beverages, lol. Also, because the test session is so busy, all three rinks are being used! I'll be testing on the Red Rink which is my favorite. It's bright and happy and the ice is nice and hard. I always feel my best on the Red Rink :)

Good Day, Bad Day

 Yesterday's practice was splendid. Today was not so much. But I still worked on all the things I needed to. 

Friday Lesson - Since I have a fancy new LBO 3 turn, we started with that. You know what's crazy? These have better technique than the RBO 3 turns I've been working on for the past year and a half. What gives? Anyway, we worked on the RFI-LBO pattern and Christopher would like to see me wrap my right leg around a bit more when I'm doing the turn and work on stabilizing my arms after the turn happens. They tend to want to keep turning. I think that will get better with time. I'm just excited that I can actually do ALL the moves on the Silver MIF test now! From here until the end of the year, I just have to clean up technique and I think I'll be ready to test. Woot! We also worked a bit on the Forward Power Pulls. They are happening but he really wants me to emphasize the "power" in the pull. So he had me exaggerate the edges and it felt dangerous and unsure but the whole point of the move is to show how strong one's edges are. I need to work on that. 

Dances - We ran all three Preliminary dances and they all still look pretty good. I'm excited for next Friday when I can finally test them and be done with them. I don't know if I've mentioned this here yet but I'm really not a fan of the Dutch Waltz. I might use it in the future for warm-ups but I really don't see myself skating it with music ever again after this. It's like how I hated the two-foot spin in Pre-Bronze and was happy to never have to do it ever again after I tested it. Good riddance. I'm excited to start working on the Pre-Bronze dances more seriously once this test is over. I've been keeping up with them so I don't lose them but we haven't partnered them in a while. I hope we can get back into them without too much trouble. 

Moves - So yeah, I've been working on all of my Silver Moves because I can! I feel like only half of my 3 turn patterns are good. LFO-RBI is my best followed by RFO-LBI. The Inside to Outside patterns are still pretty weak with a foot down most of the time. But I'm determined to really focus on these so that they are consistent!

24 Program Challenge (9/24) - Yesterday's run through was better than the one I did today mostly because today my spins were wonky. Overall, I'm hitting my marks and I'm feeling more confident about the program overall. I think once I get to Cody in March, I'll be in a good place with this program. The competition in Cody will be my last time skating my "Fix You" program before I retire it. So far it has earned me a gold medal at both of the competitions I have participated in this season. It would be nice to earn one more with it in March. Fingers crossed. 

Cody Spring Classic - I'll be registering tonight or tomorrow. I always like to wait until the deadline to register for comps because I'm always so worried about being ready even though I know I am. I plan on competing in 4 events! Yes, FOUR! Of course, I'll be competing in Bronze Freeskate but I'm also planning to register for Preliminary Dance (which will be the Canasta and the Rhythm Blues), Bronze MIF (which will consist of Forward Circle 8 and Forward Power 3s), and finally, I'll be registering for "Survivor." So basically, Survivor involves each competitor being timed on three things: How long you can hold a spiral, how long you can hold a spin, and how long you can hold a landing position. They add up all the times for each competitor and whomever has the longest time, is the ultimate survivor. It's silly and I can't wait to compete in it. My goal for Cody is to come home with a "Triple Golden Buffalo." The medals are shaped like buffalo heads and I would love to bring home gold in each of my "serious" events. Survivor is just for fun so I don't really care if I get gold there (although it would be cool to bring home a "Quad Golden Buffalo"). 

CHAMPAGNE!

 You know how I've been working on the LBO 3 turn for a year and a half and it hasn't turned? Guess what happened today?!?! IT TURNED!!!!! It was a legit turn too! With a glide out! YASSSSSS!

Before we talk about my new awesome LBO 3 turn, I should talk about what came before that. I warmed up with the usual routine of Silver Moves, jumps, and spins. I had one really good camel today that was speedy and had lots of revs. I finished it off with a nicely centered scratch spin. I think this was my best camel spin to date! I was pretty excited! I ran through all of my jumps and jump combos and those were looking okay as well. I even did the flip exercise using my guard in place of Long Dog. 

24 Program Challenge (7/24) - I ran my program and it was pretty nice. Everything happened right on cue and I finished in time with the music. All spins and jumps happened as they were supposed to and my choreographic step sequence was pretty good too! I was having a pretty good skate so far so I moved on to working on MIF trouble spots (AKA the LBO 3 turn). 

Turnt - As usual, I went to the wall to work on practicing these at the boards and a funny thing happened. They turned! I was like WHA?! so I did some more and those turned too? So I was like "what would happen if I tried them away from the boards? Would they still turn??? So I went out into open ice and I tried it and IT HAPPENED! I literally stood there with my hand over my mouth and tears welled up. It's been a year and a half working on this one turn and Christopher and other people have tried EVERYTHING in their bag of tricks to get this to happen for me. And here I am standing there after having just done it! I couldn't believe it! Like, how can it just suddenly happen like that? I didn't do anything different except try again like I always do. I was so giddy, I got my phone and I recorded myself doing it and I texted my husband to tell him the good news (he's been listening to me lament about this turn for almost two years and he was the first person I wanted to hear the good news). Christopher got on the ice for our lesson and I skate flailed up to him and told him what just happened and he was just as happy as I was! I'm so thankful he kept working with me on it and didn't give up on me! Best coach! So, of course, we worked on them for half of our lesson. AGHGHG! This means I can maybe test Silver Moves this year after I get them spruced up a bit! YaY! Let this day live on in infamy! Mandi got her LBO 3 Turn! Hells yeah!

Long Dog

 Practice and lesson today and for the most part it was all pretty decent. I warmed up with all of my Silver Moves, some jumps, and some spins. All felt good so I decided to run my program before my lesson started. 

24 Program Challenge (6/24) - It started well enough but I landed weird on my flip jump and I was too much in my head about it for the camel spin so that looked like garbage as well. The rest of the program was pretty good. When I was done, I did a few flips into camels to make sure that my body knew that the mistakes were unacceptable. 

Lesson - Christopher heard me working on my program so when our lesson started, he asked me how the run through went. I told him about the flip flub so we spent the next 10 minutes working on it. I always know that when he reaches into his bag he's about to pull out some weird kind of torture device. Today, I got Long Dog! You know those dog toys you get at PetSmart that are shaped like an absurdly long dog? Yeah...that. My first exercise with Long Dog was the Hand Dog where I hold the dog in my left hand and keep him in front of me during and after the mohawk entrance into the flip. I like Hand Dog because he forces me to stop pre-rotating. However, I'm not a fan of Armpit Dog which was the next exercise. Basically, I stick the Long Dog in my left armpit  and make sure he doesn't fall out during the jump. This just felt awkward. It was also pretty difficult to keep him secure. Ugh...Armpit Dog. 

Dance - The last 10 minutes of our lesson, we ran through the Preliminary Dances. The unison on these is actually pretty damn nice. I'm impressed. I think I'll do okay on test day :) 

A Case of the Sads

 My last 2-3 practices were pretty rough. My senior kitty (she'll be 18 this year) has been sick the last few months and most recently she's really not been feeling well. I feel like we are faced with making some difficult decisions soon. Needless to say, I've been very distracted during my practices and my program music, "Fix You," is pretty triggering right now. I'm kind of a mess. 

Spinz - My spins have been really good lately! I had a few really nice camels into scratch spins that made me feel like I'm finally getting a handle on things. It's the first time where I haven't felt like the worst spinner. Yay. 

Jumpz - I have been working on everything but I've been spending a lot of time on salchow-loop and loop-loop combos. I've been getting better at keeping the free leg up and crossed in front during the combo so it's nice to see some improvement there. 

Dancez - During our lesson yesterday, we ran all three Preliminary Dances with the music. Everything still looks good. I did, however, botch our first run through of the Canasta. We just got done with the end pattern and started down the rink again when my thoughts went to my kitty and I forgot the steps. Ugh. We ran it again and it was fine but now I know I can't auto-pilot these dances. 

24 Program Challangez (5/24) - I did two run throughs today and they were okay. My camels were pretty good but I need to clean up my choreographic step sequence a bit. Overall, it's a strong program but there are definitely areas where I can improve things.