backspin
10-21-2004, 09:52 PM
I was cleaning out my skate bag & found judges' score sheets from 2 test sessions ago. At the end of June, I tested my American Waltz. It was, I freely admit, a terrible skate. I actually hit the wall & came to a dead stop at one point! Besides which, I had rushed this test, the dance wasn't great to begin with--the turns not really controlled, the expression stiff.
So the sheets from that test were, 2 fails, one pass. I was very surprised at the time that I even got one.
SO......fast forward to this past weekend, when I re-tested my American Waltz, having worked on ONLY that dance for the last 4 months. It's now totally controlled, we'd spent weeks working on softer knee action, better timing, better expression, not to mention control. I spent 2 entire weeks doing only 3-turn figures, not even dance patterns.
So, after all that work & re-tooling, I skated that dance like I never had before. I have it on tape--and it looks pretty good! Nice soft arm movements, perfect timing, good pattern, and that very definite rise & fall that they're looking for. NOW HERE'S THE SCARY PART......
The SAME judge that passed that first atrocious test----FAILED this one! (Meanwhile, the other 2 passed me, one of them actually gave me an extra point on expression!) What the.......????
I'm very glad about passing the dance; but it's frustrating to see how incredible arbitrary all this really is! :frus: :frus:
So the sheets from that test were, 2 fails, one pass. I was very surprised at the time that I even got one.
SO......fast forward to this past weekend, when I re-tested my American Waltz, having worked on ONLY that dance for the last 4 months. It's now totally controlled, we'd spent weeks working on softer knee action, better timing, better expression, not to mention control. I spent 2 entire weeks doing only 3-turn figures, not even dance patterns.
So, after all that work & re-tooling, I skated that dance like I never had before. I have it on tape--and it looks pretty good! Nice soft arm movements, perfect timing, good pattern, and that very definite rise & fall that they're looking for. NOW HERE'S THE SCARY PART......
The SAME judge that passed that first atrocious test----FAILED this one! (Meanwhile, the other 2 passed me, one of them actually gave me an extra point on expression!) What the.......????
I'm very glad about passing the dance; but it's frustrating to see how incredible arbitrary all this really is! :frus: :frus: