LOL . . . I did it . . I signed up to do a solo in the spring show. So yeah, I've never done a solo before, and I may well be the only adult participating but I'm tired of just sitting in the audience and watching the kids during the shows . . . so I signed up!! (Plus, just doing elements all the time gets kinda boring!). My music (one of many GREAT suggestions that I got from posting a plea here) is "Boogie Shoes" (K.C. & the Sunshine Band) and we finally got everything choreographed tonight. And I'm just ridiculously tickled to finally have my own "program" . . . had so much fun tonight doing the run-throughs. The music is really working out well, it's the perfect speed, has a great beat, and I can just relax and take my time doing the elements.

Highlights of the lesson tonight . . .

(coach) "OK, now you're going to need another spin towards the end"
(Me) "But . . . I only HAVE one spin!" (the forward upright . . . so, yeah, I'm doing it twice . . .who knows, they probably will look different anyway!!).

(me) "wait . . I'm supposed to be doing a TOELOOP there? I was doing a half flip!!" (is it really impossible to distinguish between my half flip and my toeloop? let's just hope she was looking the other way on my 1st runthrough).

(me) "OK, now after I do the spin and I'm totally disoriented, which way am I supposed to be looking and what do I do then?"

(the end result) "OK . . . spin . . . dance . . . (until I get reoriented) . . . head for the blue line . . ."

(coach) "OK, now do the spin now . . . HEY! that was actually a pretty good spin!" (hey!! it does happen from time to time!).

(Coach) (imagine tiny light bulb lighting up above her head) "Hey! Salchow! You can do a salchow! We need to put that in too!" (um . . .yeah! We've only been working on it for about 8 months now! In her defense, my salchow IS pretty forgettable . . . LOL, just kidding . .. it actually has gotten to be at least RECOGNIZABLE through our joint intensive efforts).

(me) (after landing waltz jump . . . in the wrong place) "OK . . . that was a salchow . . . moving on . . . "

(me . . . recapping the routine) "OK, now, I do *something* to get over to the blue line, then I do the forward inside spiral, then do *something* to get into the back inside spiral . . . right??"

It was a pretty fun session, all things considered! Now I just have to figure out how to sneak out of work early to get some more practice time in . . .

First of all, it's okay to do twice the same spin, second of all, maybe you can do one very open, and one with pull in, depending which spin feels the most centered from the start? If the first one isn't centered you can always pull in on the second one, if that one isn't centered either, just don't pull in and do twice the same one.
Or, if you can pull this off, you could try doing something different with your arms once you're already spinning. I always feel pushing them down to a position in front of my crotch is a lot easier than pushing them up, but I know a girl whose preference is exactly the opposite of that.

What one of our skaters is doing, as he only has one reliable spin, is he's doing his second spin with a different free leg position - his first spin is normal, but then, for his second spin, he is lifting his free leg up so his thigh is parallel to the ice, and turning it out a bit. Makes the spin look quite different, so it ought to count....

Have fun with your programme! You may find it very strange at first - especially when you have to keep at a similar sort of speed. There are ways you can lose speed, though, if you need to, without being obvious about it.

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

Way to go! Hope you have fun with this program and have a clean skate in the show.

You can vary the arm positions to make the spins seem different. I had a little skater who did a regular upright spin, then did it with the arms front-to-back. It took some practice, but all her friends wanted to know what "that other spin was called." lol

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Hey, great minds think alike!! I was thinking last night, maybe I could try pushing my arms straight up (I usually do bring them down) . . . the last spin is at the very end of the program so I could end up in a "ta da!" pose!

I will have to try it out next skate and see. I'm not too worried even if I have to do the same exact spin twice, this show is just basically for friends and family and they will be all like . .ooohh .. . ahhhhh. . . spinny things!! As long as I don't fall over, I'm sure they will think it's amazing that I can actually DO a one foot spin!

Come to think of it, even *I* find it amazing that I can do a one foot spin.

I love doing shows and exhibitions. I'm sure you'll have loads of fun!

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