Does anyone have any tips on learning and practicing mohawks? I would greatly, greatly appreciate any ideas aly of you have!

Oh, I am so the queen of failed Mohawks! The secret is to come up in the knee as you change feet - your second edge should be on a virtually straight knee (going into the first edge on a deeply bent knee!). Then you rebend to push off on to the next edge.

The baby mohawk exercise I'm supposed to do each session (be fair, I usually do!), which every skater in the universe seems to master long before they take their level 1 (=pre-Preliminary) test, is LFI/RBI mohawk, cross to LBO, step to RFI/LBI mohawk, cross to RBO, step to LFI and repeat. And I so can't do it..... Actually, the Mohawks are relatively decent now, it's the step to the FI edge....

But if I only knew how to hold the entry edge long enough for the Swing Dance, never mind the Willow Waltz. Everybody says to me "You need to hold the entry edge longer!" Yes, I knew that! What I don't know is how to hold that edge longer - and nobody, not even my teacher, knows how to help me more! "You need to hold the edge longer!" Yeah, right.....

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Mrs Redboots
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Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

I'm guessing that you mean FI Mohawks, since they are the first ones anyone learns, and also the easiest, except perhaps for BO, which is just a step forward and a piece of cake.

So, for FI: On a hockey circle (CCW just for example), hold a RFI edge and bring your left heel to your right instep with as much turnout as you can manage. Hold for a count of three. Keep shoulders and arms over the circle and look towards your right hand. Keep looking towards your right hand as you transfer weight onto LBI edge and pick up R foot (very quickly, if you have poor turnout). Keep hips open, keep looking towards R hand, hold R foot (free foot) at heel of L foot for a count of three. Now step back onto RFI edge, again keeping upper body still. It's easier to go from B to F, but it is the same upper body orientation, so doing the F after the B is helpful. You can also practice B, F, B, F at the boards if you lack confidence.

Personal note on these: My RFI Mohawks have been very sloppy and I've been avoiding the LFI's altogether. My coach finally cracked down last week, so I worked on them quite a bit, seemingly without any progress. When I skated yesterday though, they were much improved, the R being almost totally in control, and I'm not so scared of the L anymore.

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One important safety tip: On a forward inside mohawk, when you bring the second foot down backward, always make sure you point the toes! Otherwise, you could end up planting the heel of your blade into the ice so your foot stays there while the rest of you keeps going. . . Trust me, this is not something you want to experience!

Also, watch out that you don't step on your skating blade with the tail of your free leg skate just before you transition. That leads to some NASTY falls.

Everyone told me how hard mohawks were, so I was determined to learn them. I practiced over and over and over and..........

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