Pre-Bronze Freestyle and preliminary dance

[dani]

I am testing on 7/29. What should I expect? I am taking my pre-bronze freestyle and the first three dances.

I am nervous and curious!

Thanks and Hugs!
Danielle

[dbuckley]

Good luck. I just passed my pre-bronze freestyle last week. It wasn't too bad. There were 4 of us testing. The first had us do 2
circles of forward crossovers. She had the first skater go and when the 1st skater was 1/2 way around the circle for the 2nd time, she had the next skater start. She did the same for backward crossovers. Next she asked us to do our lunge or spiral.
That we did one at a time. Jumps were next, followed by spins. I lost my one foot spin the day before the test so the first attempt was awful. She had me then do a practice spin. It was pretty bad too so she told me to go on to my 2 footed spin. That was okay. She then had me redo the one footed spin. I was about 2 1/2 revolutions. A bit on the short of revolution side, but I got brownie points for my spiral so I passed. After all it is suppose to be an encouragement test. I am test my preliminary dances this coming Sunday so I will let you know!

[dani]

[quote:eb1d437f7d="dbuckley"]Good luck. I just passed my pre-bronze freestyle last week. It wasn't too bad. There were 4 of us testing. The first had us do 2
circles of forward crossovers. She had the first skater go and when the 1st skater was 1/2 way around the circle for the 2nd time, she had the next skater start.[/quote:eb1d437f7d]

Thanks!! I am nervous, but I *should* do ok. The crossovers are in one direction, right? The rulebook says "either direction". What jumps did you do? Will I get brownie points for a toe-loop and salchow instead of waltz and 1/2 flip? My one foot spin is good and goes about 6 revs, but has a tendency to travel. My spiral is barely acceptable. My crossovers are really powerful in the "regular" direction.

Thanks!
Danielle

[MissIndigo]

[quote:66fd08800c="dani"]
Thanks!! I am nervous, but I *should* do ok. The crossovers are in one direction, right? The rulebook says "either direction". What jumps did you do? Will I get brownie points for a toe-loop and salchow instead of waltz and 1/2 flip? My one foot spin is good and goes about 6 revs, but has a tendency to travel. My spiral is barely acceptable. My crossovers are really powerful in the "regular" direction.

Thanks!
Danielle[/quote:66fd08800c]

Hi!

Yes, the crossovers are in one direction. I would try to do at least six in row, and exit with a nice straight edge--really present the move. Got good comments back from the judges when I did this.

When you say your spin travels, does it travel no more than three blade lengths from its starting point? I kind of use that as a guide to whether or not my spin truly travels. If you're having trouble with traveling, check your entry edge, and keep shoulders and hips square. Make sure the entry edge is nice and tight as this helps snap the spin into place and generates good speed.

As for jumps, I did a waltz and a salchow. I'm not sure if the difficulty of the elements is really of that much matter to the judges as long as the minimum requirements for the test are met and the moves are performed with control. By all means go with the jumps that are most comfortable for you.

Good luck and enjoy your testing experience! Pre-bronze isn't meant to be stressful and it won't be!!

[sk8pics]

I actually took my pre-bronze test last month and failed. Now, I'm not saying I deserved to pass because my spins were really bad, but I thought the judge was a bit harsh. I also heard that from my own coaches and some other coaches. This judge gave me the impression that you really DO have to get all the revolutions on your spins, although she later told my coach basically that better elements can help to offset weaker ones. I really think if you don't have all your revolutions on the spins, you shouldn't take the test. But my coach and I are going to work with this judge this weekend, and we'll see what she says.

Don't get too stressed, but do take it seriously! For my test, there were 2 kids taking their pre-pre free skating test and me on the ice at the same time. We each had our own judge. I went through the elements one at a time and she let me do the two-foot spin before the 1-foot spin. When I only did 2 revolutions (kind of wild revolutions, admittedly) and she didn't ask me to try again, I knew I had failed. Oh well. Oh, and the judge didn't let me practice anything at any point. Just one thing after the other, and she seemed to be trying to hurry me along.

Good luck!

Pat

[skatesnrides]

Good Luck Danielle. I haven't taken my pre bronze freestyle yet because I have been concentrating on dance. But last year I did take (and passed) the first three prelim dances. I definitely did not skate them as well as I could have, my timing was off here and there, but they were good enough to pass. The judges at that level gave me a lot of encouraging comments as well as good constructive criticism. At this level sometimes all you can think about is remembering the steps and just getting through the dances as best you can. The one comment that all of the judges expressed to me was that I needed to convey the feel of each dance a little better. Nervousenss is to be expected and is totally normal. You'd be suprised how much better you feel once you're out on the ice and start skating.
Good luck to you too dbuckley!

[Mazurka Girl]

[quote:4c724c55a1]Oh, and the judge didn't let me practice anything at any point. Just one thing after the other...[/quote:4c724c55a1]

Normally the judges only allow a practice element once before a retry & skaters are not permitted any other practices once the test begins. Before the test begins, they will usually allow the skater to skate around a little while the judges are still writing comments for the previous tester. But not once the test begins.

They do count the number of rotations in spins. It is better to be sure the number of rotations are regularly equal or higher to the number needed before signing up for the test. I have known skaters who put out a terrific overall FS test at practically every level who have ended up with a retry because they are short on the spin rotations. It's something to be mindful of from the beginning because it follows you up the ladder.

Preliminary dance tests are usually pretty low key. Sometimes they put two tests out at the same time (each at a different end of the rink), depending on the size of your club.

[dbuckley]

I agree with the comments that it is important to have all the elements consistently. In my case I actually had the one foot consistently for over a month. Each and every spin was predicable at 4 1/2 - 5 revolutions. That was I had it until the day before the test. It just vanished. I had already paid for the test and was scheduled so my coach told me to go ahead and take the test. She said it is good experience. I took it and I passed. Interestingly the very next day at the rink - the spin was back!! As for me - I have now completed my freestyle career. I just wanted to pass that test so I could get grandfathered into the bronze MIF. From now on it is moves and dance.

[Mrs Redboots]

[quote:6c7606c541="dani"]I am testing on 7/29. What should I expect? I am taking my pre-bronze freestyle and the first three dances.

I am nervous and curious!

Thanks and Hugs!
Danielle[/quote:6c7606c541]

Best of good luck to you! Can't be of any help as to what to expect, because our system is quite different; all I can say is, you would probably have been seriously discouraged from entering for these tests if you weren't ready to pass them, so as long as you don't allow your nerves to get the better of you on the day, you should be fine. Just treat it as yet another run-through.....

P.S. You [i:6c7606c541]will[/i:6c7606c541] let us know how you got on, won't you????