The Bracket Bar

Alright, I've been practicing all week but haven't updated for each practice so here is a synopsis of each day (as best as I can remember). 

Sunday - My phone was doing some weird things so I wasn't able to plug it in and play any of my music. Just as well, I had Gold Moves to work on. My Backward Circle 8 is making it around almost every time but I would still like a stronger push to make the circle bigger. Forward Power Circles felt pretty good today even on the bad side. My real issue is that I can either make the circle bigger as I go or I can make it faster as I go but I am struggling to do both at the same time. Backward Power Circles seem fine. Forward Double 3s are still icky (it's mostly that damn LBI3 where I put my foot down every time, ugh). I worked on Backward Double 3s. Those are trash. Speaking of trash, let's talk about my Brackets. FO and FI seem fine (although the FO brackets tend to scratch sometimes coming out of the turn). I tried the BO brackets at the wall and I just feel kinda hopeless about them. I couldn't even get them to work at the wall! That's so dumb! To round out my practice, I dabbled in some jumps and spins and worked on knee slides and the step sequence for my Free Dance. 

Monday Lesson - I asked Christopher last week to look at my Brackets for this lesson because I'm struggling so much with these. So he brought out "The Bracket Bar!" It's just the end of the pole harness that he holds onto in the middle and I hold onto at the ends. It's like training wheels for brackets! This was so helpful for the backward brackets because it turns out I can do them (neat!) but I have a huge fear block. They feel so unnatural (as brackets do) and it really helped to have something to hold onto for safety. And I think that's why I was struggling at the wall with these! With the forward brackets, I can practice them at the wall easily by skating toward the wall and at the top of the lobe where I turn, I can grab the wall for a little extra support. However, backward brackets are tricky to do at the wall because you would almost have to reach behind yourself to grab the wall at the top of the lobe. It's too awkward to work properly. I won't have a bracket bar with a coach attached during my practices so I'm really going to have to grow some balls about this and find the courage to work on them on my own. Sigh. We finished up the lesson with the rest of my step sequence for the Free Dance. I complained about the knee slide (because of course I will, I'm not a fan) but I told him I wanted to keep it in. So, after the knee slide, I push under, ballet jump, RFI3 into a backward stop thing, LFO waltz 3 into an illusion, progressive, RFO swing roll into a RFI single twizzle. So, the only thing left for this program to be complete is a transition into my final pose (which we didn't have time for). So yeah, I have a lot to work on. 

Tuesday and Thursday Mornings - I'm just gonna lump these two together since I basically worked on the same stuff each time. On Tuesday, I was brave enough to try a RBO bracket and it sorta turned? But then I couldn't do it again because fear came back. Stupid brain. My attempts on Thursday morning were terrible (but at least I attempted them!). Double 3s were as they are. Same thing with the Power Circles. The step sequence feels better (with the exception of the knee slide). Both of these sessions were at the Promenade and Christopher was on the ice each time so I know he sees me sliding around trying to make these knee slides work. I'm trying so hard on these and I'm just not getting them to work right. I get the first part of the slide (the LFO3 from forward to back) but then I need to switch directions and get back up and that's where it just stalls. It's embarrassing to have it fail so often. Sigh.