So this morning Robert had his solo lesson on the Swing Dance as he is to compete it solo at the Mountain Cup, and oh, but I'm meanly glad that it proves that our disasters at it aren't all my fault. Of course, he blamed me, saying "Oh, but I'm used to holding back just here for Annabel," but then he would say that, wouldn't he?

Anyway, in our couples lesson, our coach was wise enough to leave it alone, and made us run through some of the other dances we are going to need in competition this season: the Golden Skaters' waltz was fine with a couple of tweaks; the Canasta will be fine when we've practiced it a bit - I don't really like that dance, and don't do it if I can help it - but the Fiesta was a disaster, largely because there were just too many people on the ice, and that end pattern scares me enough as it is. And when we did get to an end where there weren't too many other skaters, Robert messed up the change-of-edge (his skates badly need sharpened, which is probably why; in fact, he'd put them in to be ground but the coach who does them hadn't had time, and had sent his apologies)..... oh well, we'll get it back up to speed with a bit of work.

So not a bad lesson, all in all. Slighly annoyingly, there are tests on Wednesday, so I have changed my solo lesson to Tuesday night (my coach has a gap this week as two of his skaters are away, sadly, due to a family bereavement). I shall, of course, go to the rink to see whether I can skate on Wednesday, and if not, I'll end up going on Thursday to the patch - but there is no dance club this week, so Robert and I have agreed to skate together on Friday morning, and then the dance club has ice on Saturday afternoon..... so I shall be skating almost every day this week! Oh well, it can only do me good (I hope).

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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!

Terrific and Torture (all at once):

I think I may have landed a couple of loops yesterday. At least, that's what the instructor watching me said. My regular instructor was sick, so we had a sub that looked like she was about 16 - who couldn't find her pen, dropped some show notices on the ice, and looked rather confused, when the skating director, who teaches some of the group lessons, came over and volunteered to work with our group. She only had one student, so she sent her off to practice a couple of the things at her level, and then she worked with us on our loops. Teenage helper stayed and moved from skater to skater to try to be helpful. Sigh. She watched me and told me she thought I was landing on my toe pick (duh!) and that the takeoff comes from the leg. Gee, why didn't I think of that?

Anyway, the skating director watched me and said she thought I was landing some - it was hard for me to tell if I was rotating fully (which is actually only a half turn b/c the regular instructor said to stay on the takeoff foot until you are facing forward). I think I'm going to go to practice twice this week to ensure that I can actually land one next Saturday - my last lesson in this lesson session b/c I'll be at Worlds on the 29th. And I really don't want to have to take FS4 a third time.

We worked on sit spins for about 10 minutes. For some reason, mine disappeared since Wednesday. I felt like I had stepped back in time about 2 months. Ugh! I felt off-balance the while time. Maybe it was the choppy ice? It did improve toward the end of the lesson.

OT, but also terrific: I think spring has arrived! Temps in the 60s today, as well as tomorrow. For those coming to Worlds next weekend, it looks like it'll be more of the same. No word yet on the weather during the week - too far away. Maybe all the snow will be melted by then, although that's probably wishful thinking - I'm thinking it could take until June for it to completely disappear.

Terrific - I have FINALLY gotten the mechanics to doing a correct scratch spin, I can't do it, but I'm FINALLY entering it right!! Took me long enough. Went through the group performance we're doing in the spring show and it went fine.

Question for Mrs. Redboots or other skaters from Great Britain. Could it be that your National ice dance team is training in the Washington DC area? Today during my private lesson this amazingly fast (and young) ice dance team (whose coach had Great Britain on his jacket), were whizzing around the ice and I was trying to jump and spin and not get in there way. Apparently if I got in there way I was going to get yelled at by the big Pooh Pahs at the rink so I thought they must be "somebody". :-) Anyway, they were fast and light she had lovely extension he needs to work a tad on his. They did almost collide with a number of people, we're not use to ice dancers who are that fast, we're used to free stylers who are that fast but we can stay out of there way.

Torture - My stupid tendonitis is still acting up but beyond that I'm okay. I did take the last two weeks of this session off to rest my feet.

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Too many people miss the silver lining because they're expecting gold.
Maurice Setter

The British ice dance team going to Worlds is Pamela O'Connor & Jonathan O'Dougherty, she has long blonde hair. Not sure if its them though, maybe someone else knows?

Terrific:

The second day of the seminar started off well, we had more footwork things and jumps and practised the danse thing that we learnt off ice, on ice. So know we know how off ice dancing can be choreography for on ice things. I worked on the double toe in a group but didn't get anywhere, the coach said I had one that was close though. Didn't land any double salchows in the morning. Did plenty of axels... all the axels from the ( I think its called) pull-back worked very well. I didn't land any double sals though...

The later part of the day we had another ice session. This one was at an even smaller rink less than half international size. The ice got quite bad after a while so you lose the flow if you fall.
First we continued that piece of choreography we were working on and developed it into our own finale, because the lower-level skaters were leaving first.
After that, I did double sals and landed two. And also worked on flying camel.
At the end, the coaches requested us to do our programs for them if we would. I decided to try and went with it.

Torture: (more like TERRIBLE)

And I fell so badly on my axel I couldn't stand up straight away. Its the first time I fell so badly... I think my landing leg was on the inside edge (wrong edge for landing) and I was still falling towards the outside, that made my ankle twist so badly...
I felt so stupid... i don't know why I went for that axel at that time when I knew I was tired and bound to make mistakes...
Anyway... I got up with some help and tried to put some weight on the injured ankle... luckily after awhile the pain subsided a bit so it was painful but tolerable...
One of the aunties was very nice and gave me a ride home.
I went home and iced the ankle ... wonder if its the wrong move now because it is just as painful as last night... but it did make life better last night though because it numbed the pain.
And I was so looking forward to practising everything I learnt during the seminar...

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Tidesong

Re the ankle... sounds like a possible sprain or twist.

Rest
Ice
Compression
Elevation

in the short term.

If it keeps being tender I would get to a doctor and have them take a look at it.

Just a quick question, i see these types of threads quite a lot... what are they for?

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Sk8ing is a way of life. Live 2 sk8

this thread is for skaters to share their weekly lessons and practices or competitions.

Twinkle - no she definitely had brown hair as did he. I'll ask my coach tonight who they were.

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Too many people miss the silver lining because they're expecting gold.
Maurice Setter

Congrats, JDC1! I know how you feel. It took me forever to get the scratch spin, and I still struggle with it. I get very proud whenever I can do it successfully, which is more now than in the past. It may take you a while, but it's definitely worth it. Now, if I could just stop my annoying tendency to drop my right shoulder and twist around the other way!

Here is a link to photo's of GB ice dance team. He is v. good lookin' ...
http://www.icephoto.co.uk/british/co...=4&L=3&comp=18

Was the coach by any chance Jimmy Young? He moved to Denver, Colorado last year. He may have some international couples. Here is a link: http://www.skatepro.f9.co.uk/

I went to skate in the Nottingham Ice Centre today. I was amazing! I really wanna go again! It looked really big and was really nice compaired to the rink I skate in.
Terrific:
I think everything was terrific!
My 1-foot spin is coming along really well. It felt really fast today! yippee!
I did try my 3-jump and it felt quite good, but also felt a bit weird coz I haven't been doing jumps or been at an ice rink for about a week and a half. But it did feel good.
I did my salchow, my first attempt was pretty crap coz I nearly fell over but my other attemps were really good. I can also do this in combination with the toe-loop, but my 3-jump, toe-loop feels weird!
That is all the skating I am doing at the moment until I go back to my normal ice rink. I have to come to the Nottingham Ice Centre again coz it is soooo good!

I found out that it was a try out and I the coach is from Great Britain. :-)

I'd love to see the other team in practice, they look great even in their pictures.

J

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Too many people miss the silver lining because they're expecting gold.
Maurice Setter

The coach in question is Gary Shortland, who is a former 2X GBR dance champion when he skated with Charlotte Clements. Jimmy Young was his coach.

Terrific: Started back crossovers tonight! They were a little....rough, but by the end of my lesson I managed a few decent ones. It was really fun!

ooo... ok...

today, on first session, i couldnt land a 3sal to save my life and all i had was 3toe and 3loop and i even rotated a flip (4 the first time) ...

then second session, i coundnt do a 3toe or 3loop but my 3sals were bang on,... but thats all i had...

confusing sport isnt it???

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Sk8ing is a way of life. Live 2 sk8

Lol, now i understand the idea of these things, also!!

Sounds as if i had the same type of skate today, and i agree, very confusing sport!!!

I normally have my solo lesson on Wednesday morning, but there are tests tomorrow and we don't know how much time, if any, will be left on the patch when they are over, so, to be on the safe side, my lesson was moved to this evening (if there's plenty of time tomorrow, I'll probably have an extra one and pay cash for it).

We had decided that we would start work on my various programmes for the competition season this week, so we did! And my goodness, how a winter's hard work has paid off - I'm skating them much better than last year! On the other hand, I'm seriously stiff now - shows how rare it is to skate hard for 2 minutes and/or 1'30"!

I hadn't skated my Interpretive programme since December, and I hadn't actually skated that version (the longer, UK version) to the tweaked steps, and I had trouble remembering the beginning, but once we started, it came back to me. Although I was rusty, and there were several places where I just twirled around on two feet because I couldn't remember exactly how I'd transitioned from one display bit to the next, my coach said it was very good and needed no more than regular run-throughs to be at its best! So I was very pleased.

We then moved on to my solo Free Dance, which I hadn't done since October! Again, I was able to skate it far better than then, but again, I was very rusty and could barely remember the steps, especially at the end. We still can't remember how I used to end it - it will need a bit of work in a rather less crowded rink! We've tweaked the middle, slow, section a bit, and included a spin and a spiral in it - I had to put in a spin at Oxford, as I accidentally did my double-3s too early, and needed to fill time! We've taken out the double 3s on the left foot, as I really do want to do a 3-jump (waltz jump) just there, and I kept starting the double 3 sequence on the wrong foot. Besides, it was too slow. So I do double-3 into a 3-jump (surprisingly difficult - I must practice that!), then two pushes, a RFO spiral (the only one I can actually do!), LFO, RFI3 into a spin, spin exit, and then down into a curtsey! It's rather effective, if I do say so myself as shouldn't! I just wish I could remember all the final section, and I also wish I could turn slightly faster, even on 2 feet. My Mohawk into the slow bit is infinitely faster than last year, though!

So all in all an excellent lesson, even if I am exhausted! My coach says we will work on some free skating elements in my lessons - my spin is still only 2 revolutions on a good day and I tend to bottle out if I hit the sweet spot. Also I need a bigger 3-jump, and some other elements, especially if I'm to do an Improvisation class this year, which I'd like to.

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

Terrific - my camel was really good as were all my jumps and other spins and i did really well on skills and i did well on dance too lol

Torture - i couldn't do any jumps towards the end of the session and i fell super hard on my left hip...it was the weirdest thing i think my skates need to be sharpened because i was going into a spin and fell off the outside edge...might just have been the ice though

thats my report!

Torture: Very hard catching my breath since I've had this horrid virus for weeks. Plus I still am struggling with the piriformis syndrome that had kept half of my right foot numb for months....sigh...

Terrific: After a very "rigorous" massage, by a new therapist I will refer to as "the big guy".....I regained feeling in my heel! Hurray! And to celebrate I skated. Scratch spins were fast and centered and just plain fun Toe loops were high and easy, not toe waltzy at all. Went into my salchows yelling "check" outloud and the appropriate time. I think this helped. Did a fast Canasta Tango to the motown music we were playing and that worked out fine. Had two minutes to go, and went for the lutz. Yep...landed that lutz for the second time in my life I've been smiling ever since. I may not ever do it again....but I can die happy now

*Torture* this title is right on for last week's lesson lol
I dunno what it is with me and mohawks...all the other people in my group got them pretty fast, but whenever I try I can never get the stepping on the BI edge part. It's like my foot is like "umm..no!" I practiced them over and over and over Sunday and I went from totally not being able to put my foot down to doing some scratchy but *completed* mohawks. Still, they feel so akward even when I get it right...and I'm not even talking about my harder side lol I don't think the problem is in my hips, they're pretty open. Anyone have any tips?

*Terrific* I'm loving 3-turns...I think they're so fun! I do have problems with putting my free leg down too soon sometimes, but other than that I luv them! Also, it finally hit me how to lead in with your toe on forward x-overs. I've always had a problem with that and I realllyy tryed to fix it but I just couldn't do it..well Saturday I did it!! I dunno what my coach told me or showed to me...it just clicked all of a sudden!

To: AstarZ41

For Mohawks, what helps me is to remember to bend the knees. But I often forget and scratch it :p

To: Everyone who's scratch spins been getting on well

Yay!!! Scratch spins are fun!!!


I won't be skating this week, not after I did something to my ankle... I don't know if its a sprain or a twist or whatever...
but I iced it until it was numb last night and I think together with wearing the ankle guard the whole day helped, the pain has faded to a dull ache except when I accidentally rotate my ankle too much.
The swelling is still there... I think its gone down a little but still there.... I hope it will be gone in a few days so I can skate in one to two weeks time.

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Tidesong

Speaking as one who is seriously mohawk-challenged (I can do FI Mohawks, but they are not beautiful!), the secret is to go into the Mohawk on a very bent knee - yes, more bent than that, even! And then, before you bring your other foot in, straighten up so that your legs are practically straight as you change feet, and then bend again.

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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!

As mentioned in my earlier post, I started learning back crossovers in my lesson Monday evering. So yesterday and today I went to the rink to practice...back crossovers. CCW is decent, CW is just plain awful! There were two older, more experienced skaters at the rink today who offered me some tips. One was very surprised when I told her I had just started on back crossovers and said I was doing very well! Of course, that was in the ccw direction, cw is going to need a LOT more work!

On question...When doing back crossovers, should I actually be picking up the foot that crosses, or just letting it slide in front? I see people doing it both ways, and wonder which is correct. Also, if anyone has any tips on doing back crossovers, I'd love to hear them!

Russians and many Americans teach them without picking up the crossing foot, but ISI requires that the foot be picked up in their early tests. I think picking up the crossing foot looks just plain clumsy and hate it. Tips: before each crossover, get into a real back lunge position, with all your weight on the inside leg (BO edge) and the crossing leg straight out in front and to the side. When your crossed foot comes off the ice, the blade should be parallel to the surface, not pointed down. That way, you will avoid a toe pick scratch and also get a good push. Hold each stroke the same amount of time. Finally, keep your knees bent, meaning don't rise up as you cross over. If you do, you are likely to hear "the click of death" as your crossing blade knocks the skate you are standing on right out from under you.

Torture
The last two weeks I've been suffering from a severe loss of confidence, most likely brought on by all the anxiety about the upcoming war. I've completely lost my center on spins and am even having trouble with the two foot spin. Mohawks also went south, and three turns have been playing hide and seek.

Terrific
Not really terrific, but I had a lesson today, and my Mohawks came back. I managed a little more self confidence and my FO three turns came out to play. I was able to just skate around and do a FO three, something that has eluded me for a long time. My coach worked her magic this time, and I came out of my lesson in much better spirits.

BTW, my coach is now seven months pregnant and told me today (big sigh of relief) that she plans to continue skating until her water breaks. She is actually more comfortable on the ice than walking, which is now in the waddle stage.

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RE: Those back crossovers.....my coach insisted on teaching us to lift the foot over when first learning back crossovers, as this forces you to learn the proper weight shift. I see some skaters who do not lift the foot who look like they are working very hard at back crossovers but don't generate any power. I think part of the problem is not shifting the weight correctly. After we could lift the foot over properly, we then learned the other where you glide the foot over. I hate lifting the foot over, and even now my coach makes me do it when I develop bad habits on my back crossovers.....