hi everyone,
I am on my Sr.silver dances im not really sure what that is in the States, but i am working on my Blues. I am having majour problems with it because I have absolutly no sense of timing, my dance coach has tried everything and i still can't get the timing of it. My partner even counts it out for me and i can't get it, I either go too fast or too slow... does anyone have any suggestions on how i can fix my timing of my dance because me being off time is throwing my pattern off. Please message me back

listen to the music off the ice and learn how to count. Listen for the "1" as it will give you the strong beat to know when to start counting.

Walk thru the steps in your living room with the music every night for at least 10 min. so your brain can get used to moving your feet at that speed.

Since you are already on your Blues dance (and you have passed all those dances prior to this one!), I am assuming that the problem isn't really the "timing", it's more the "comfort level" of doing the steps on this dance. It sometimes takes a little bit of time to get comfortable with the steps vs. how your weight shifts throughout the dance, how your shoulders move, etc. Make sure when you are walking thru it, that you use proper ice dance technique in that you bring your feet together after steps, bend your knees, etc. just like you do when you are on the ice.

Over time, your brain will do things in "auto-pilot" and you move your feet at that speed on the ice without even thinking about it! Good luck!

Try it with another version of the music. Sometimes, specific music just doesn't "work" for one person...There are different versions out there to be used.

Sara

Why not take a few music lessons?

The key to getting your timing is musicality. I did music from an early age so was quite lucky that I can identify beats quite well. It's easier if there is someone to show you how beats, bars and phrases work

In the meantime you can listen to different pieces of music and see if you can figure out the beat and also the first beat of the bar.

__________________

The best whisper is a click

I've no idea if thsi wil be of any help but had no clue about timing either until I started teaching aerobics. All the moves are done with the beat and following the phrases of the music. In aerobics it is often sets of 8 reps over 2 bars with 4 beats to the bar. You always work with the beat so maybe you should try a class like that - or Jazzercise if there is one near you which is more dancy - just for some general practice in moving in time to a beat and being aware of the beat while dancing.

Maybe also try looking at the Blues dance in terms of the bars or phrases - eg get a picture of the pattern with the steps marked and then mark in the start of each bar of music with a line - so for example you put a line at the start of the first step and then a line across before whicever step starts on the 1st beat of the second bar. From this you can see which steps start on the 1st beat of each bar all the way around. then listen to the music while follwign it and mentally visualise doing the steps in time to the beat - the lines across help you to notice the beats in the music.

Do you count while you skate? - I used to count the beats as in 1,2,3,4, 1,2,3,4,....etc but now I find it is better to count the beats per edge, so crossover or run is 1,1; a 4 beat swingroll is 1,2,3,4; two two beat edges I count 1,2,1,2

I still can't always keep time though!!!

__________________
'skating is not just a sport - it is an obsession'

Do you have trouble with the timing on the whole dance or just the choctaw? I find that on my solo of this dance, I want to take an extra beat or two on the LFI step of the choctaw... I know that I'm just not setting it up right and that it's not a counting thing per se.

__________________
Is Portland the only city with it's own ice-dance website? http://www.pdxicedance.net/

i have timing on the whole dance but ya ive never had timing cuz no one taught me it like i play the piano but i still cant find the timing

Try doing the dance to the music all the time. Put the CD on repeat for your entire session. It really annoys people, but they'll understand.

I agree with Kristin -- the problem probably is with your comfort level, not your counting. If you got this far, you must have at least a decent grasp on timing. I've been doing dance since I was seven and playing an instrument since I was eight, so I know how to count, yet I have some major problems with the timing on the Rhumba. The problem isn't my counting ability, it's the fact that I just recently learned the dance and am still figuring it out. I ahd a similar problem on the Yankee Polka where I took the whole dance too fast. My coach started half counting, half singing when we didn't have the music, or while I was doing it to the music. I haven't had a problem since.

Thanks alot for the advice, at my club we do a rotation of music, which kind of sucks because sometimes we only get the music once, My coach always counts the music out to me but i always seem to find the weak beat, i havent been on the dance that long but i can never find the strong beat in the music. We have a dance pair at our club and so they have different music, so when they are there i skate to their music but they never come anymore and my coach doesn't have a copy of it so ya i don't kno wut to do but thanks for the advice

Caitlin

I used to drive my dance coaches insane with my bad timing.......thankfully it got better. But you could always just get the coach to count it for you when u partner, it gets drilled into you after a while...

__________________
Hurrah for Desert Skaters! YAY for Jeff Buttle and Virtue and Moire!