im in a class called "creative moves" and we learn differnt moves that are creative and then do a routine to music.
I SUCK AT MAKING UP ROUTINES.
does anyone have advice on what to do if you cant think of anything?
i have a hard time remembering to keep my arms high up. i just let them hang there. I DONT KNOW HOWWW TO BE CREATIVEEEE. does anyone have any practice advice also?

I've never been in a Creative Moves class before, but I've done PE at school, and we had to do a gymnastics routine once. If you have a bunch of skills they let you choose from, try "connecting" moves so that they flow together, and string them to good beginning and ending position.

As for your problem with keeping your arms up, maybe... Try to "fool" yourself into thinking you're about to warm up on ice with crossovers? Might work... =P

Your program/routine doesn't have to be perfect either, so remind yourself that everytime you get stuck. Good luck!

When you say "making up a routine" it's more like choreography than improvisation, right? That is, you have time to prepare & practice a piece? I haven't done on-ice choreography, only a bit of dance choreography, but I think about things like:
+ Covering the whole space in the course of the routine
+ Using "levels"--some moves like jumps, or with arms overhead, some moves down low
+ Making sure the movements of your body suit the movements of the music

Thinking about things like that might give you a framework in which to fit the moves you're learning.

I'm afraid I can't offer much advice about arms as I have the opposite problem: I land a jump, catch my reflection in the glass, and realize my arms are practically up around my ears.

We dont get time to prepare it. the coach plays the music and we make it up on the spot. Then we get to do it a second time.

The most important part of improv is to find a way to feel the music- let it carry you, speak to you. Find some way to relate to it and to try and express it through your movements on the ice. Everything else is secondary. Sometimes when I'm practicing and I put some warm up music on, people wait til the song is over before putting their program on because they think the warm up song is my skating music, just because I cannot help myself from skating in rythmn and with the mood of whatever is playing at any given moment. So if you can relate to the music, you'll look like you know how to choreograph.

Of course, I wonder what kind of competition would allow me to skate to Jay-Z's "99 problems", but that's another story.

You could always find a nonvocal version, and it would be an easy track to cut to whatever length you needed.

I'm surprised you can use that as warm-up music though, because it seems like somebody would get offended by such lyrics.

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"What matters is not experience per se but 'effortful study'."
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I did my first choreografy on ice workshop yesterday and the day before and found it one of the best things I had on ice since I learned how to do a proper 3-turn. The coach played McCavity song form The Cats and I discovered: a. I'm much more limber than I thought; b. I can do quite unexpected things on ice as long as I think of it as "dance", not skating. The latter is, in fact, my piece of advice: try to find an off-ice place with enough room and a big mirror (e.g. a gym studio when no one is there), put on some music (I use my i-Pod), and just dance your butt off. My favorites are Broadway tunes: Cats, Chicago, Cabaret. Keep checking yourself in the mirror, to make sure you are performing, not just moving around. Add some attitude. Then you had enough fun with it in the studio, try to repeat the same stuff on ice. It's the same stuff, maybe a bit trickier to balance high kicks, but it can be managed.

thanks for all the advice!
do you know any movements i can do when im just stroking? i usually just keep my arms up and it looks.. very boring and weird... lol

Depends on the music, of course, but you can always add arm movements like ballet-type port de bras: imagine holding a beach ball in front of you (that's 1st position), then sweep your arms out to the regular stroking position (a.k.a. 2nd) or go from 1st to 5th (beach ball overhead), then down to 2nd. Arabesque arm positions are pretty too: one arm straight (more or less) in front of you, one to the side, similar to what you'd do for a spiral.

(apologies if you know ballet arms already and I am recklessly overexplaining)

You could also do Russian stroking (alternating crossovers) in place of regular stroking, and even add arms along with that.

we usually dont do classical songs. We skate to songs like "Respect", and "do you belive in magic" , and fun songs like that.

This is my favorite part in skating, Choreography. Watch a lot of dance performances (i.e. Ballet, Latin, Jazz, or even Hip-Hop). Download all your favorite pieces on a cd. Pick a time during your practices sessions when you are done with your usual runthrough of jumps and spins. And just play around with the music. Let the music guide you.

When you are in the car on your way to work, washing dishes, in the shower, just pop in those prospective skating program cd.

Before you know it, you will have skating routines in your head and ready to be transpired on the ice.

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