Free Dance Second Chance

 Lesson today and I haven't practiced since my last lesson a week ago. I have, however, been running through the steps for the Hickory Hoedown so I'm not totally dumb when he asks about how it's coming along. 

Free Dance Music - I had sent Christopher the music I was thinking of and, even though he said he liked it, he didn't seem inspired. Usually, we put the music on the rink speakers and he'll doodle around on the ice with some possible choreography. But with this music, he didn't seem like he loved it. Too much thinking and not enough doodling. When the music was over, he said he thought perhaps it was a bit slow and it didn't have a lot of excitement to it. It just didn't build, I guess. I think he's right. So, I told him about another song I was considering so we put that through the rink speakers and he.lit.up! All kinds of interesting doodling was happening! Yay! Final verdict: he loves this music and thinks it would be much better than what I had initially sent him. So yeah, new music!

Free Dance Elements - Which brings me to what will actually go in the program. He gave me a few things to work on - a knee slide, another twizzle with two rotations instead of 1.5, and a dance spin. The dance spin is what really surprised me today! He proposed a catch foot camel. Yikes! Since I've never attempted one before, he had me do some catch foot spirals to make sure I knew where to grab my skate (grabbing the heel works best) and once he was satisfied with that, he had me attempt the full thing. I got into my camel and reached back for my free foot and then pulled up and wow that was a ride! As soon as I got a grip on my skate and pulled up by flexing my back, the spin got faster! I wasn't ready for it to actually work! When I skated back to him he said "that was actually impressive!" So I guess this is my new dance spin! I'm sure I can flex my back more to make it prettier and I'll work on that on Wednesday but I'm just really excited that I was able to do it!

HickHoe - Since I know the steps now, we ran it with the music. Oof, I'm not ready to do this at speed yet, lol. So, we turned off the awful country music and just focused on the end pattern which needs the most work. The problem isn't the steps, it's the tracking. If I'm slightly off center from him, it makes it so much harder for him to do his 3 turn at the end of the pattern. I'm also struggling with the transition from Killian to Waltz hold at the start of the end pattern. These are things that I can only really work on with a partner. It felt fine practicing by myself and then Christopher comes along and I struggle. Sigh. 

Ten Fox - We worked a little bit more on this. I asked him to go over back progressives since I'm sure I'm not really doing them correctly. Then we worked a bit on the end pattern with the damn outside mohawk. Ugh. 

So yeah, lots of exciting things in the works. I bought a pretty lavender ice dance dress that was on sale for Black Friday that I can use for tests and comps and I'm brainstorming ideas for a free dance dress (I'm thinking of one of Brad Griffies' new designs in mallard and I'll stone it myself).

A little bit country

Today was my first lesson following my dance tests and we got right to work on the next set of dances. For the Bronze level, I'll need to pass the Hickory Hoedown, the Willow Waltz, and the Ten Fox!

Hickory Hoedown - This is the first time I'm learning these steps! Aghghghgpanic! Usually, I study the steps before Christopher teaches them to me so I'm not completely lost. However, I didn't know we were going to just jump right into Bronze dances today. I thought we were going to look at some of my Gold Moves that have taken a backseat during the last month while I've been preparing to test. But here we are. So, initial thoughts about this dance: it's kinda fun! There aren't any elements here that I can't do so it's just a matter of learning the steps and skating them well. There is a change of hold at the beginning of the end pattern and again at the end but everything flows well so it's not a difficult transition (not like the Fiesta Tango which felt sort of awkward). The biggest confusion was on the progressive-cross roll-hickory kick. I kept kicking with the wrong leg. I think I started to get my brain wrapped around it by the end of the session. So yeah...yeehaw!

Tex Fox - We spent so much time on the HickHoe that we were running out of lesson time but Christopher still wanted to introduce me to the Ten Fox. Seems okay until I ran into my old nemesis the Outside Mohawk. Ugh. Also a new hold - Foxtrot position!

Juvenile Solo Free Dance - It's been a goal of mine to start working on a Solo Free Dance once I pass my first 6 dances. So, here I am! When talking to Christopher about music choices, he suggested something with lyrics and something in 4/4 time. I had a couple of options already floating around in my head but now I think I know what I'll be skating to (stay tuned for the official announcement). I have dress ideas too! So exciting!

Due to the upcoming Holiday, I won't be able to get back on the ice until next Monday. Sigh.

Pre-Bronze Dances - PASSED!

Today's the day! Test Day! Aghghghgg!

Practice Ice - The club gives us a free 45 minute practice ice for testing. The problem is that it's at 7:00am and I don't test until right around noon so there is a lot of waiting in between practice and the test. That's fine. I had some friends taking other tests throughout the day and I wanted to be there to support them. Practice started out rough. My body knows it's a test day so it does the whole "legs no workey" thing that it likes to do. Frustrating. But, after about 10 minutes things started to work again and I started to relax into my practice. I was able to run all three dances with the music and things seemed as they usually do. I didn't feel too worried about testing them. I felt prepared enough. 

After practice was over, my husband and I trekked over to Starbucks for some much needed coffee and settled in to watch everyone test. 

Off-Ice Warm-ups - As it got closer to test time, I did some off-ice warm-ups and tried to "Zone" but my Spotify wasn't working. It would only play for one minute and then cut out. I reverted to putting on my dance music and running through my tests. Big mistake! I started to overthink the timing on the end pattern of the Fiesta to the point that I thought I broke it. Nothing seemed right anymore. Panic! The steps were still there but the timing wasn't!

On-Ice Warm-ups - We got a 5 minute warm up and Christopher and I were able to run one of the dances with the music. I can't even remember which one it was but it didn't suck so I started to feel a bit better about things. 

Alright, here we go. Test time! For each dance, I'll put my comments followed by the judges comments in italics. Also, my husband took video. Watch if you dare. Sorry about the cringe factor, lol.

Cha Cha - This was the first dance and I was thankful for that. This felt okay. My legs got a little shakey coming around on the first end pattern but it seemed like our unison was good enough. I remembered to smile throughout the whole thing. Here's the video.

• Judge Debbie: Very shallow edges in spots. Slightly rushed on end pattern. Lacks expression. Score =0 (Pass)
  
• Judge Susan: Correct steps, some on flats. Unison with partner. Pattern a bit flat. On time. Lacked expression. Score = 0 (Pass)
  
• Judge Leslie: Little oops at #9 first pattern otherwise all steps ok. Unison secure. Timing ok. Some Cha Cha feel present. Score - +1 (Pass)

Swing - This was next and I was actually excited to skate it! This is my favorite dance of the three and the one that I was hoping to do well enough to pass with honors. According to the judges, however, this dance is actually kind of garbage. Only 2/3 judges passed me. That was a huge reality check for me. How could I have been so wrong about this? Christopher said it was good and I felt good about it but the judges marks showed something completely different. Sigh. Here's the video.

• Judge Debbie: Wide-stepping throughout. Very shallow edges. Rushing free leg swings. Lacks Waltz expression. Soften knees. Score = -2 (Retry)
• Judge Susan: Correct steps but chasses must have free foot lifted up, very low on yours. On time. Smooth expression. Score = 0 (Pass)
• Judge Leslie: Chasses a little walked. Edges could be deeper. Ok timing. Some expression. Score = 0 (Pass) 

Fiesta Tango - Ok, out of all the dances, this was the one I was most panicked about. Honestly, I was prepared for a Retry on this. However, I passed and I feel guilty about it. One of the judges really didn't like this dance and I kinda agree with her. I don't think I would have passed me either. Here's the video.

• Judge Debbie: Flat edges. Not doing proper mohawk. Progressives steppy. A little rushed on end section. Lacks Tango expression. Score = -4 (Retry)
• Judge Susan: Steps correct but some are very flat, try for more knee bend. On Time. Lacks sharp steps and crispness. Score = 0 (Pass)
• Judge Leslie: Steps 11 and 12 not clearly done and steps 1 and 3 could be better. Other steps ok. Timing ok. Some Fiesta feel. Score = 0 (Pass)

 

Parting Thoughts - I think I've been a little deluded about my dances. I really thought they were good. I expected the Fiesta to be pretty awful and thinking back on it, it really wasn't completely ready to test. I should have spent another couple of months polishing it up to work out those kinks. But man, I really wasn't expecting the Swing to be so bad! I'm trying to make myself feel better by thinking about the fact that the judges were really brutal on everyone today. There were at least a few skaters that I saw that were in tears over the surprisingly bad scores they got. But I can't put this on the judges being brutal. It's their job to be picky. I just have to go into this next set of dances with a renewed sense of my abilities. The feedback they gave me (as harsh as it was) is really helpful. It tells me exactly what I need to work on. For instance, expression. This counts for 1/3 of the total test score and I'm consistently not meeting expectations on this. Clearly they want more from me than just smiles. Expression is a full-body thing. I just need to figure out how to be better at expressing the feel of the dance. Another thing is that, as curvy as I feel my lobes are, they really aren't. I need to put more work into making my edges deeper. They should be so deep that they rip loudly enough for the judges to hear. So yeah, Dance is hard, ya'll! It's more than learning the steps and being on time with the music. It really has to look completely polished and full of expression. I have a lot of work to do on the Bronze Dances. Ugh. 

     

Last Minute Prep

 I skated early this morning and worked on some last minute improvements before I test tomorrow!

Swing - Ah, this is nice. I'm actually excited to skate it tomorrow. It might be my favorite dance out of the 6 that I've done so far :) 

Cha Cha - I worked on that bit after the slalom to make sure I'm not putting in that illegal chasse. I'm not! Yay!

Fiesta - Ugh. I'm still struggling with that last step. The rest of the dance seems to be fine but that last step is important. 

Program - I also ran my program this morning since I didn't do it with the music last week and it was fine. It's maintaining. I'm separately working on elements to eventually enhance this program (Camel spin will become a camel-sit, final scratch spin will become a layback, and arms up on the jumps). I'm not sure I'm secure enough to practice the program with these new elements. I want to get them more consistent before I do that. I think this will be a New Years Skating Goal. 

So yeah, I'm as ready as I can be for tomorrow. I know nerves are a thing for me on testing days so I'm still going to employ my "Zone" strategy as it gets closer to my test. As it is, I'm scheduled for a 45 minute practice at 7am and then I test around noon so I'll have some time to cheer on my friends who are testing and take some "zone" time before I hit the ice for my test warm-up. 

Fingers crossed for a Triple Pass!

Dance Dress Rehersal

Today was my final practice with Christopher before test day on Thursday! Since I'm testing two spicy dances and one mild dance, I'll be wearing my red and black dance dress for testing. I wore it today to get a feel for things and I apologized to Christopher at the start of our lesson because this dress has a ton of glitter (I didn't know this when I bought it). I warned him he would sparkle too, lol. Glitter gets on everything!

Fiesta Tango - We started with this since it's my weakest dance. I'm still having some timing issues with that last step forward. I feel like the mohawk transition is the thing that the judges will really be looking at and, thankfully, that step is just fine. If I remember to keep my head up, look down the long axis of the rink, and keep my shoulder pressed into his, I think I'll do okay on the end pattern and that final step. 

Cha Cha - I was talking to a friend of mine about the Cha Cha and she told me that she too was putting in a little chasse after the slalom and she got a "retry" on the test because of it! Yikes! Good thing I have fixed this but man, that gives me some anxiety. This dance is mostly in good shape. Christopher just wants me to pay a little more attention on making the end pattern lobes a bit deeper. 

Swing - This is in really good shape! This is the only one of the three dances that I feel 100% good about. Christopher told me that he's feeling really good about this too! This has the potential to pass with honors.

So, I have one more practice on Wednesday morning to do some last minute polishing and then I test on Thursday afternoon. Aghghgh!

Feelin' Good

I skated early this morning and had a really great session! My jumps jumped and my spins were hella centered today! 

Moves - I spent a lot of time on the outside part of the Backward Circle 8. I want to make sure that's stable before I add the inside circles. So far, I'm making it around the RBO about 95% of the time and the LBO about 50% so it still has a way to go. Today was one of my better days on this move where I made it around most of the time. Using the Theraband helps so much in keeping me aligned but I still need to work on getting a better push at the start of each circle. I worked a bit on the Forward Double 3 Turns too. 

Spins - Yeah! These were good today! Every spin I did was centered! I even had a really nice sit spin where I was so centered that I was able to push farther down. I didn't take video but it felt like I was at 90 degrees! I'm still struggling with that transition from camel to sit but I worked on it a bit and I know it will improve little by little over time. 

Jumps - Arms up! I worked on all of my jumps with arms overhead. Oddly, the one jump that feels bad with the arms up is the salchow. Weird. 

Program - I ran it without the music but at full speed. Everything did what it was supposed to. I'm maintaining at this point. 

Dances - I ran the Swing once and the other two dances were run twice. Everything feels good. I spent some extra time on the crossfoot hold right before I step forward and restart the pattern on the Fiesta. I feel like I'm more secure on that step now.

So yeah, I got a lot of work done this morning and I'm feeling pretty good about my progress :)

Just like the Russians!

 Lesson today and I told Christopher about how the Jumps Clinic went. He told me that Christy Krall actually used to be his coach! I guess that makes sense. My husband and I often joke that we know who Christopher's skaters are because they have such pretty arms. Christy just so happened to make arm magic happen as well so now I know where "Christopher Arms" come from. They were originally "Christy Arms!"

Of course, the first thing he wants to see is the flip jump with arms overhead and the first one I did was nice! So we continued to work on it but I got more and more sloppy as we went on. Sigh. We did some lutz jumps with arms and those were slightly improved but still not where they need to be. Basically, jumping with arms overhead works for me and he's okay with me doing it on all of my jumps ("just like the Russians," he said!). The judges will appreciate the added difficulty and when I skate Silver next season with IJS, my scores will thank me. 

On to dances. Besides today, I have one more lesson with him before test day. I've been practicing my trouble spots and have made some improvements. He took video of me running the Cha Cha on my own and the little chasse I've been putting in after the slalom is gone! Yaasssss! We ran it together and it felt pretty good except I need to make the end pattern lobe a bit deeper on the edges. Next up was Fiesta. Although I've been able to improve the timing of the end pattern, it could still use some work. I think the problem now is not so much the last step as it is my arms not moving along with the last step. I need to get the top half of me and the bottom half of me in sync. Finally, we ran the Swing Dance and it was nice. He reminded me to smile, though. I said "fine, I'll remember to smile on test day" and he responded with "you gotta practice it with the smiles." So we ran it again with more smiling action and I almost cracked up laughing halfway through because I felt silly. Ugh...so awkward. But that's what the judges want so I guess that's what I gotta do. 

Next week is the dress rehearsal so I have to remember to look all kinds of fancy with my dance dress. Eventually, I think I'll need to invest in another dance dress. I have the pretty grey one and I have the black and red one but I've been wearing them for lots of things. I probably need another to spice things up. I have ideas about what I want :)

Jumps Clinic with Christy Krall

 Ah, yet another reason why I love my club so much! I just got done participating in a jumps clinic at my rink and I am pooped! I learned a lot and came away with some cool new tricks. The best part? It was FREE! Our club provided everything! So, this was originally supposed to be a spin clinic with Janet Champion from Broadmoor but something came up unexpectedly and the club had to pivot. They changed it to a jumps clinic with Christy Krall (also from Broadmoor) but it was only for skaters who have an Axel or higher. So, basically this excluded the adults. When we brought this to their attention, they allowed the adult skaters from the club to participate anyway. Hells yeah!

Off -Ice: The day started with all of us doing an hour of off-ice jumps and spins. We were split into two groups. The Green Group were the adults and younger kids and the Red Group was made up of skaters working on double jumps and above. Josh Farris (from, you guessed it, Broadmoor) took the Green Group though off-ice jump exercises meant to get us into the air with some height. We were each given a Theraband and were told to wrap it around our waist twice. Then we either used our left arm or right arm to extend the theraband out as we jumped. Super hard. After 30 minutes we switched and did off-ice spinning with Christy to get some good positioning as we rotated on the spinner. Also pretty difficult. Basically, Josh's job was to get us up in the air and Christy's job was to get the in-air positioning better and to get us back down for a good landing. I now have some new ways to use my at-home spinner!

On-Ice: We had some lunch and then got on the ice for two 10 minute private lessons, one with Josh and one with Christy. I had Josh first and he asked me what specific jump I'm struggling with the most so, of course, I said the Flip jump! He had me do one and it was gross (as it usually is) and he asked me how long I've been working on it, probably expecting me to say a few months. When I told him it's been 4 years of working on it and not making progress, he seemed surprised but tried to hide it out of politeness, I suppose. He ran me through a lot of the exercises that Christopher usually has me do so, while it helped to get some perspective, I didn't have any "aha!" moments. I had some time to practice a bit before meeting Christy for my 10 minute lesson with her. When I got to her, she asked what I was working on and I said I was struggling with the flip. She had me do a loop jump, then she asked to see the loop with arms overhead (I've never done that before!), and then she asked to see the flip again but with arms overhead. Holy smokes! The flip was easier!!!! Getting the arms overhead stopped me from pre-rotating the jump so it had more flow. It's still not perfect but it feels 100x better (and it's prettier with the arms). 

I had some more time after my lessons to work on both the flip and the loop with my fancy new arms. I took a video of the loop with the arms overhead and look how it FLOATS! :)

Dance Progress

Practice this morning and my main focus was dance, not only because I have a test coming up but also because jumps were not happening today. My right boot has basically no support left so I'm falling on stupid things like loop jumps. 

Cha Cha - Before I ran this with the music, I spent a lot of time on the step out of the slalom. I finally got it to the point where I'm not inserting a tiny chasse right after but the muscle memory is so strong that I have to focus pretty hard to make sure I'm not doing this. 

Swing - This was pretty good!

Fiesta Tango - I worked on that last step where I hold the free foot crossed behind. I did just the end pattern a bunch of times to make sure it stuck. I think I made some progress. 

Towards the end of my practice, I ran all three dances with the music. I feel really good about the Swing and the Cha Cha and, although I feel better about the Fiesta Tango, I don't feel entirely great about it. I feel like if there is a dance that will be marked as a "retry" it will be this one. It's not bad, though. Maybe I'm just being hard on myself because it doesn't feel as good as the other two but man, I wish I was more comfortable with it. I still have two weeks until test day so I still have time.

Tiny Courage

I had the ice all to myself this morning (yay Wednesdays!). I got a lot done because of that. 

Dances - After my warmups, I started with dances. I was able to Bluetooth into the speakers (yay) but the sound quality wasn't the best (boo). At least it was something and I didn't have to skate with my phone in my pocket! My Swing dance felt really good, my Cha Cha felt alright, and my Fiesta was still pretty meh. I still have a couple of weeks to spice them up so I have hope that I'll come through with a pass. Maybe. 

Spins - I worked a lot on camels, change foot spins, and camel-sit spins. The most frustrating thing is that I can do a camel and I can do a sit but when I transition from camel to sit, I get on my heel and can't get my sit to go lower or go beyond 2 revs. I gathered some tiny courage and attempted a Camel-sit-backspin. It was gross but I tried it. I did a couple of mediocre laybacks as well. 

Jumps - I worked a bit on the Lutz and Flip to get the left leg up sooner after I pick in. I don't know if I made any progress but I did the thing. I didn't spend too much time on jumps because I wanted to make sure I had time to run my program. 

Program - This is the first time I have run my program since last week's competition. It was okay. I struggled with the Lutz-Toe combo (as I do) but I got it done and I ended on time with the music. 

Moves - I worked on Forward Double 3 Turns which are coming along. I'm able to do the full pattern even though my lobes are small and misshapen. I've got two years to improve them so I'm happy with what I have for now. I also worked a bit on backward outside edges on a line in preparation for the Backward Circle 8. Finally, the remainder of my time was spent on Brackets. FI brackets are still maintaining and the RFO is still happening even though it's hella scratchy. I gathered some tiny courage once again to work on the LFO bracket away from the wall for the first time. I promised myself I wasn't leaving the ice until I try one without chickening out. I tried TWO! They were gross but the turn happened! I ended up getting up on my toepick right after the turn so there wasn't a glide out but I did a brave thing and I'm proud of myself.

Long Camel

Lesson today and we focused on my upcoming Dance tests. But first: 

I was working on spins before my lesson and they were feeling pretty good. In fact, I did one camel that had some speed and was right on that sweet spot! I think I counted 5-6 revs on just the camel alone and then the scratch coming out of it had about 8-10 revs! I think this may have been the best spin I've ever done! Like...EVER! Of course, Christopher wasn't there to see it and I didn't get it on video so it's almost like it doesn't count. But it was there! That means it's evolving and I'm getting better at this whole camel thing! Yes!

Before our lesson began, Christopher and I had a discussion about whether or not I'll register to test as Standard or Adult. We are thankfully both on the same page with this. I will register as Adult. Although he said I could pass at the Standard level, there is going to come a time when I'll need to switch over to Adult anyway and he thinks I'll have a better shot at passing with honors if I register as Adult. Okay, we're doing this! Aghghg!

Swing - I've been able to improve this quite a bit. His main criticism is expression. This is such an awkward dance for me because it's the first one where we are in waltz hold face to face. I either keep looking down or turning my head away from his when I look up. He told me to just look past his ears...and SMILE. We ran it again to try it out and although I didn't smile, looking past his ears was really helpful. I even skated better! Who knew? 

Cha Cha - This still has a couple of spots that need some polish. I need more emphasis on stepping on the inside edge on step 3 and again right after the slalom. Speaking of the slalom, I'm still picking up my right foot at the end of it. It doesn't feel like I am but he took video and there it is. I have to really concentrate on not doing that or else it's just going to happen naturally. 

Fiesta Tango - This is getting better but I'm still messing up that last step. We made some progress on it during our lesson, though. Turns out that I'm not holding the XF-LBI for the proper length of time so I step forward before Christopher is ready to (because he's holding his correctly). As a result, I push him away. Now that I know this, I can fix this. 

So yeah, I'm getting close to these dances feeling pretty good. Test day is Thursday November 18!