In honour of my daughter's wedding this coming Saturday!

Confetti: Got a whole nother 2 bars of our free dance choreographed! And also ran through it to the music as far as we've got. It needs work, but is going to happen, I think. And I have an idea for the next two bars, which will leave only four bars at the end to do.

Husband had obviously taken jumping-powder this morning, as all his jumps were back after a dire week. This is actually apt to happen after a 20-mile walk, and the sooner he realises this, the better. And I saw at least one camel spin from him with 3 good revolutions, and another with nearly 3.

Cornflakes: The patch was packed out, so not easy to do things. And we're at a loss to know what to do at the end of our free dance - we've used up our allowed lift & spin! I do have a teeny germ of an idea, but I don't know if it will work.

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

Hey! I LIKE cornflakes!

Well, so do I, but I shouldn't like them thrown at me instead of confetti. I suppose you could make it "coal", if you prefer.....

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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!

Mrs RB, warmest regards and congratulations toyour daughter and her intended - may Saturday be the beginnng of a long and happy life together! (DH and I have clocked up 15 years this last week - so we have a while to go yet!)

Confetti and cornflakes all in together

DH has finally got his new skates and synchro blades - after 3 months of waiting! He tried them out this morning and thinks the boots are great. Stiff but great. He's not so sure about the shorter blade with the 8' rocker (his old freestyle blades had a 7' rocker). Most everyone else at the rink has advised me to wait until he's used to the short blade before dancing with him again...wonder why??

I like the title - it's interpretive. I like cornflakes more than confetti - easier to clean up when thrown! LOL

I am very thankful that I have 1 or 2 students in each group that actually remembers the program. I have 12 different programs bouncing around inside my head and I can't always keep them straight. Some of these kids are stellar as leaders. One group's pretty big, so I have one "leader" in front and one "leader" in the middle. The mid-leader is actually stronger and keeps the whole mid- and tail-section on track, even if the front end starts to lose it. LOL

In one hour, my most promising and stubborn skater and I put together her entire 1:40 freestyle program. She even let me play the music for everyone to hear. Unbelieveable what letting her use silk fans will do for courage.

Confetti:
Yesterday was such an exhausting day, but I managed it all pretty well.
We had to blow off going to the Auto Show due to an injury (dd, not me).
Mohawks were awful, for whatever reason, so I decided to just ignore them and not reward them with attention. So there!

Prel MITF Spiral Sequence - not perfect, but I'm not falling over, either.
Just can't keep the end of each FI spiral in check - my heel skids out as I change feet.

Cornflakes:
Prel MITF Power Crossovers were great - I remembered to LOOK, REACH, and CROSS. LOL
Prel MITF Power Threes were decent, but I really only tried them on the line.
Prel MITF Threes-on-the-Line: not half-bad. I only touch down on my right side now. The trick (for me) was to check shoulders square with the end walls before stepping forward. I'm still working on the proper FO edge, though.

Back spins were awesome yesterday. I did some recognizable back scratch and back camel spins, too. Even a little baby flying camel - how cute!

Jumps were great - waltz, toe loops, even salchows were good.

As tempting as it is to go to the rink today, I've decided that bad weather and a pending doctor's appointment are making me stay home.

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Confetti- I got new skates! Oh man, I sm so excited. They are about 2 inches smaller than my old ones. I have no idea how I fit so well into either with that huge difference, but whatever. I tried skating in them for the first time yesterday and there was an instant difference. My feet felt smaller, and lighter and everything felt easier to do(minus the not being able to bend). And my toepick is HUGE. Monstrous actually. I'm looking foward to seeing what I can accomplish in these.

Cornflakes- Breaking the skates in is going to be tough, since every time I bend, the skate presses hard against where I had a stress fracture, and it's really painful.
I'm also getting my braces put on again and I have separators in now and they're putting my mouth in unbearable pain.

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Confetti:
well friends, I finally have found the urge to skate again after about a month & 1/2. It felt awkward to step on the ice for the first time again. I felt like I had forgotten so many things but after about 20 minutes it all clicked. I worked on simple stroking, waltz jumps and spins and then more stroking. I also reconnected with a few of my skating buddies here at home. Even though a month may not seem long, from what I have experienced, "skating years" seem to calculate exponentially as if they were like "dog years"... well, I am rambling but my point is it sure seems like "forever" since I skated. I hadn't realized how much I was missing.I was glad to be back on the ice.

Corn Flakes:
brighter days are ahead here.

Me too! Especially FROSTED ones with banana!!! It's what my MIL has for me when I visit NYC!!!

Confetti:

• Just about everything was confetti. Loop and flip was there and in spades!!! I managed to get just a wee bit more speed going into it and so far it's holding steady!!! I managed a flip-toe loop too!!!
• I tried a catch foot spiral on ice for the first time in a while. (I've been doing it off ice at the gym a LOT.) It's actually not bad!!!
• Back sit from a FI3 entry is actually starting to get down a wee bit too!!! Can't wait to show it to Jay when I have the chance!

Cornflakes:

• Camel spin... well, it's still not in position but given the few tries I had I nearly decapitated some poor kid's head, I didn't have much of a choice.
• Tried for a loop-loop! Close but no go yet!!!

ETA: Sk8pdx: Welcome back!!! (What happened to you?)

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Cheers,
jazzpants

11-04-2006: Shredded "Pre-Bronze FS for Life" Club Membership card!!!
Silver Moves is the next "Mission Impossible"
(Dare I try for Championship Adult Gold someday???)

Thank you for the support, you guys!!!

Hey hey - where have you been?

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

Had a little "skaters burn-out" but I think it has passed now. too much frustration with loop and flip seemed disparaging. A little break away was helpful to determine what really matters in skating as well as life in general.

Cornflakes - I feel like I'm starting all over again with the back crossovers from Bronze moves... just a little thing like shifting my weight and everything feels weird but I know that I'm to be doing them much better once I get the hang of it.

Confettie - I seemed to have more control of my LO 3 turn, was holding it better. Power 3s go better now that my weight is on the correct side for the back inside edge crossover.

Freestyle lesson

Cornflakes - I can't reach to grab my opposite foot in a spiral but grabbing it with the same hand looks really bad and coach agreed it wasn't working so she suggested I grab my knee. I tried it and she said that has potential - just need to push my chest out (show that rack) more. She showed me how to sit on the floor which is the exact position the spiral is to get used to it.

We dusted off the old compulsary program that I did back in January because I'm going to compete it in June. I was going through it --spiral, half lutz, two foot spin and kept thinking something was missing. When I got in the car AFTER skating, I remembered - duh - Waltz jump

Coach said and I felt it - this is sooo improved from January it isn't even recognizable. I still need to lower my back more for my spiral- she had me try thinking about flexing my foot rather than pointing my toe and that might help me push down more. Seemed to help a little bit though it was counter intuitive after thinking about pointing my toe so much.

WORSE THAN CORNFLAKES -- I heated my coffee up this morning in the microwave and set it too high so that it was boiling. Tried to pour it into my traveling cup and spilled it on my hand. I think it's going to blister. It didn't feel so bad in the cold rink but afterwards I was nearly in tears. Rink guy brought me a little packet of burn cream - wasn't that nice?

j

All cornflakes today!
The loop that I cleaned up and the sitspin I got lowered were not at practice today. I think I got this wild notion in my head that now that I've got these elements where they are legit that they will autmatically come every time I want them to. It also does not help that rink management is too freaking lazy to ensure that someone is in the building that can resurface the ice when needed. The ice was soooo chewed when it was time for lesson that it was very difficult to get into edges and I moved with the speed of a turtle.
I just want to skate my Bronze test program cleanly, so I know I can pass my Bronze free next month!

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Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

Cornflakes, cornflakes, and more cornflakes... our rink has officially closed for the season. Sob!

Confetti: I get to sleep in to 7 am each morning now.

More Confetti: The annual skating show went well, and I did the usual photo duty. I'm uploading 102 pictures right now for parents to view and buy with proceeds benefitting the skating club.

Mixed confetti and cornflakes: They awarded me with a trophy after the show's conclusion for recent achievements. Yay! The crowd cheered, and I had to go over the boards to get to the ice (show decorations over the door of the hockey box prevented it from opening). I hit the ice and about fell flat on my face! I heard the crowd gasp, so at least several hundred people saw my skating at its worst.

I never did perform well for crowds!

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Bill Schneider

(((Bill_S))) I hope you're all right?!?! Our Pro Number in last year's skating show ended with our laying down on the ice. Guess what? You should always practice EVERYTHING in your costume. Wide-legged velvet pants are very slippery. I went to get up at the end and take a bow and plopped right back down! I sympathize.

Congrats on the award, sorry about the seasonal rink closing. Hope you find some ice this spring/summer.

My Monday students are split with a half-hour of free time in between. I keep my first student company (she's shy and will get off unless I coax her to practice) and work out a bit.

Cornflakes:
Loop was weak - I'm still playing on or near the wall.
Stupid Tango stop - not that anyone's MAKING me work on this, but arrrgh...
Back Outside Threes - I'm right-footed, for sure!

Twizzles on my right foot are good, but my left is eh. I've gotten to the point where I can almost turn all the way around, but I can't quite figure out how to get my right free foot to stay in place out front. The beginner hockey guys (in their 20's) are fascinated by this move, though. LOL

Confetti:
Back spins - dead on great and my exit "kick" is getting very strong and effective.

Toe loops - I can do them one after the other and even do them from a BO edge. Now to start working on the Waltz-Toe Loop again without kicking myself.

Waltz jumps are really going well. I've added a new exercise - the "Cabriolet" Waltz jump. (Waltz jump, delay the rotation until the top, bring feet together, then turn and land.) I always loved doing "delay" jumps, so this is making me very happy.

Ukrainian Cross Rolls were very good - I like them very much and I don't care if they're legit or couterfeit. (Good title for a practice thread...)

Did a nice sit spin at the end and my Ukrainian coach friend was very impressed how good the position was and how low I "sat." He even told the director about it later in the evening.

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Confetti: I have my music cut for the new season - looking forward to it, very intense.

Cornflakes: no word on my new skates.

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Recycle Love - Adopt a homeless pet

Confetti: No corrections on our Fiesta Tango today, or only cosmetic ones. It's far from perfect - I doubt it would pass, were we to test it - but it's obviously as good as we're going to get it for now.

Cornflakes: Willow Waltz is still a bit iffy. And "Your Swing Dance is worse than your Willow!" said the coach. I think this is partly due to the fact I've no idea what tempo to practice it at, and also to the fact that Husband simply can't do back swing rolls!

My 3-turns are broken! I canNOT control the timing on them - I mean, how many years have I worked on Push/extend, foot in, turn (1-2-3 turn), and now I can't hold them and they turn almost before my foot has come in? Sheesh! Fine going round the hockey goal, I can turn when I'm ready there, but not in (say) the Prelim Waltz or even Waltz 3s round the circle.

No lessons from Coach1 now (apart from my solo lesson tomorrow) as he's away next week at a seminar and then at an Open. Coach2 will be in next Wednesday, so probably will have 30 minutes with her, especially as we're missing out on Sunday.

In fact, we only have two more lessons before Tallinn, as the coaches are on holiday the first week in May!

Didn't get my stretch class today as the trainer realised she'd promised to give another skating mother a maths lesson. How eclectic is that?!

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

Pretty much ALL cornflakes recently . . .

My regular lesson got canceled last night (hockey tournament) so no ice time at all . . . did the treadmill instead . . . boooorring!!

Then took DS to his early a.m. lesson . . he did his lesson, couldn't get him to get into the groove afterwards for the rest of the freestyle session - would do ONE spin, then come back to the boards . . . so finally I stalked out to the car & got my skates and joined him (attack of the psycho skater mom . . . watch out!!). No seriously, we just kind of fooled around, he did get a few good waltz/loop combos in . . . nothing like having mom on the ice to boost one's confidence, I guess. I really have no business being on Freestyle ice, but it's not like I was going to bother anyone . . . only 2 skaters (one of them being my son) and his coach on the ice this a.m., that early morning ice has been a hard sell!!

My own skating?? Spins were *yucky* . . . don't quite know how to describe it, I'm just not getting any SNAP into the spin, the 2nd half of the 3 turn entry just doesn't feel secure and I end up coming out of the spin . . . I hate to always make my blades the culprit, but just got them sharpened (?) and they just don't feel right . . . wondering if the ROH needs to be deeper. (I'm in "reputable sharpener wasteland" btw - only hockey dudes at the rink - this one "off-site guy" was recommended to me, but not 100% sure about him - don't know if I'm just being paranoid?). :::: sigh ::::: on the plus side, my boots are actually feeling pretty good!

Cornflakes: An old nemesis has come back to haunt me... the BACKSPIN!!!

In this case, it's in the form of trying to STAY on the current edge, instead of doing little 3turns like I'm doing now. Unfortunately, this will be my NEW goal for the year. OY VEI!!!

Thankful that spins were all I was doing... my lower back is bothering me again.

Confetti: Well... I didn't die yet...

("Never was a cornflake girl... thought it was a good solution... hangin' with the raisin girls...." Let's see if anyone recognizes what song and artist this is from...)

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Cheers,
jazzpants

11-04-2006: Shredded "Pre-Bronze FS for Life" Club Membership card!!!
Silver Moves is the next "Mission Impossible"
(Dare I try for Championship Adult Gold someday???)

Thank you for the support, you guys!!!

Confetti:
The rink I've been going to mid-week had fabulous ice today! We stopped at the cashier on the way out to ask a question, and one of the men who works there asked me how the ice was. When I told him, he said "we took your advice" . I don't actually remember giving them any advice, but it is a very hopeful sign that this place may yet come round to being well run and welcoming.

Backspin is definitely coming along. I got another two of one rev each. I absolutely refuse to ever allow myself on that FI edge, as I've seen how hard it is to correct (thank you, Jazzpants ). Got some very nice one foot spins and one really good one from a T push. Last week, coach told me that dropping my R shoulder is what's making me list in that direction, and I seem to be able to correct it when it happens now.

Interesting observation: Twice while I was just starting a spin, someone I knew came a little too close to me to talk. Both times I continued with the spin while listening to my friend, and it was excellent both times. I think having a face to look at kept my eyes and head up! Now I try to imagine that.

Cornflakes:
Everything else was just mediocre today, and I could not get another good spin from T push after the first one.

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Cornflakes - All cornflakes. My coach is going on a two month sabbatical at the end of the month. My favorite rink is shutting down for two months. Waltz-8 looked like crap.

Confetti - Ummm....I didn't break anything.

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Happily defying the laws of physics when I skate...and not in a good way

If I could meet ole Axel Paulsen, I would kick him in the teeth

President and Founding member of the I hate Toe-Loops Club

Still a member, but trying to get out of the Pre-bronze peanut gallery.

Visit my skating journal

Confetti...I can get my foot with the broken toe into my skate....

Cornflakes...I can't do any jumps because I can't get up on my toepick without my toe screaming bloody murder..

I can at least work on my figures but will have to put off the bronze elements until the pain goes away...

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Keeping School Figures Alive!!

(Long post tonight!)

In practice tonight I worked a lot on backward edges, mostly outside, trying to get down in the knees enough to reach over for the cross-over - definitely getting better. Worked on 3-turns, both feet, and trying to get the feel for alternating inside/outside 3-turns (as in what may become a twizzle one day). Also worked a little on two-foot spins.

In lesson coach asked how the turns were going but, of course, by then they had pretty much deserted me. She asked if I had been practicing two-foot spins - I said two-foot spins feel “funny”, kind of draggy.

Confetti: She said try the spin on one foot if two footed spins feel strange, so I DID IT!!! Got at least one full revolution on one foot but had to put my foot down to finish the spin.

Then she asked me how the back outside edges were coming. I explained I was practicing for enough reach to do a cross-over.

Confetti: She asked me to show her, so I DID A COUPLE OF BACK CROSS-OVERS!!! (good edges, proper weight transfer, change of foot and everything!)

Cornflakes: CCW BXO worked but CW didn’t quite make it.

Holy sh##! First one foot spin and first back cross-overs on the same day!

On the drive home I was thinking about how my skating has changed since Nationals and I realized there has been a MAJOR change - I am not thinking about my skating now, not analyzing the sequence of body and foot positions I need to do a move - I am just FEELING IT.

Somewhere through the months of developing and learning my program for Nationals, there was a change in the mental process. I went from thinking about every move to thinking about the music and letting the moves “happen”. Now I am still not thinking about my skating, just DOING IT. When coach asked me to try a one foot spin, there was no thought involved, just movement and it worked!

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Dianne
(A.O.S.S.? Got it BAD! )

Confetti:

hm, I'll come back to that

Cornflakes: as soon as the coach wanted me to make the flip bigger it totally disappeared and I two footed every one. Can not bring myself to actually try a lutz for some reason. Am sure I drove the coach up the wall yesterday. Sit spin is on vacation.

Confetti: Well, my waltz-1/2 loop-salchow combination is really good.

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Revised Official 2010 Goals checklist
Skate __
New boots __
(lowering the bar for 2010 as I haven't skated in a year)

Cornflakes: Like Jazzpants, I have a backache today, but luckily it wasn't bad enough to stop me from skating. But I didn't help it by jarring myself at least twice, both times on a Mohawk (once in the Willow Waltz when my free leg went down before I meant it to, and once in our free dance when I turned before Husband thought I was going to).

Confetti: Did some good work with Husband today; we went through all our compulsories (swing dance still appalling!) except the Willow as we stopped after the Mohawk fiasco and never completed it! Then worked on our free dance, trying to choreograph the end. Discarded my idea from yesterday which doesn't work. Needless to say, I only thought of steps that might work once Husband had gone!

Friend gave us a super photo of our podium at the British Adults last year.

Cornflakes: In my lesson, my 3-turns worked perfectly when done slowly, but when done to tempo deteriorated. And don't try doing waltz 3s (or, in this case, 2-beat 3s) to the Rocker Foxtrot music! Not fun! Actually, great fun, but not exactly elegant!

Changes-of-edge okay in one direction but not the other. Extended Russian stroking still not quite what my coach wants.

No lesson with him for 2 weeks now, although I think I'll get ten minutes or so with Coach2 next week.

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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!

Uploaded two of my practicing video's from after the competition (mom will, hopefully, provide me with a video of the programme itself in actually more than 30x20 pixels in time, LOL!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlxI1B2gsVw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiNxqYMgWlQ

So judge for yourselves! And feel free to give me all the tips in the world!