Too Pretty

I didn't update this past week again but here's what happened at my lesson on Monday.

Christopher had me start with a 4 minute warm-up for Free Dance as I would do on competition day. When I was doing this, it felt like I had plenty of time so I skated up to him for a time check and he said I was over time. Oops. Anyway, we went right from this into my Free Dance. 

Solo Free Dance - I thought it went well. When I skated back to him, his main criticism was "it's too pretty." Since the music has some attitude to it, he wants me to be expressive in that way. He wants my movement to be "harsh" and powerful. So I ran the footwork with that in mind and he was pleased. Christopher has been my coach for 6 years (!) and I love that he has taught me to "be pretty" with my movements so it really takes some thought to move a different way. All part of the process, I suppose. 

Next up was a warm up of my jumps and spins to get ready to run the Free Skate. 

Free Skate - This went mostly well except I two footed the salchow because I was getting tired. When I compete with this in a few weeks at Nationals, it will be on fresh legs so I'm not worried. This isn't a typical mistake. Christopher said he liked that I skated it a bit more harsh like the Free Dance and he said he didn't hate the camel spin but would like one more revolution and a bit more speed. Three revs is the minimum but of course I should always shoot for more. So we worked on that a bit before moving on to Axels on the harness.  

Axels - So, my biggest problem with this is the pull in into the backspin position. Seeing as how that's a problem for me when I just do a regular backspin, I'm not surprised that this bad habit has carried over into my Axels. I had a couple that were landed but they were still really open. I really need ankle to ankle, not ankle to mid-calf. I'm at least crossing my legs which is good. I just need to bring it in tighter. He said I have enough height for the Axel, I just need the snappiness to bring it all together.

Nationals - The schedule it out! Looks like there are 11 of us in Bronze Ladies Free Skate II and 14 of us competing in Bronze Solo Free Dance I/II. Aghghghghggh! Once Nationals is over, I'll retire my Bronze Free Skate (again) and get back into getting my Silver Free Skate ready to test. I really want to test this summer and become "official" with my levels for Free Dance and Silver FS. It feels pretty dirty to compete at the Silver level this season except for Nationals where I'm skating Bronze. Sigh.