I know, I might be pushing things a bit, but it's just me... I can't stop thinking about Dune of Flanders Cup in December. I'm soooo tempted to enter Pre-Bronze FS.... madness.

I want to use the same programme we'll be putting together or Passport and level 1 tests, so I assume it will be in a decent shape by December if I start working on it now.

Hence, the question to the more "seasoned" skaters - how long do you usually work on your competition programme before it's ready to be skated "in public"? (Worst and best case estimates?)

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My other car is a Zamboni

It depends on the individual. Factors such as how many lessons you have, how much practise time you have and how quickly you pick things up all need to be taken into account.

For me it usually takes 4-6 weeks to choreograph a programme. I'm a bit unco-ordinated so we work on a small section at a time, I take it away and practise it then add a new bit at my next lesson. Invariably at some point during the putting together a new programme bit, I've suffered a nasty fall that's kept me off the ice for a time so that's delayed things.

I would say that if you are keeping your programme relatively simple and start now, you may well be ready to compete in December. I know some skaters can put together a programme in next to no time and take it to competition. I guess it all depends on the individual and the level of difficulty within the programme.

Nicki

For me, it depends on what elements are in the program and how long it is (obviously, a longer program requires more time). My coach and I can choreograph a program in a single hour-lesson.. but that's just putting in the jumps, spins, footwork and beginning and ending poses. The finishing touches (arm flourishes, head tilts, facial expressions) get added as we work on the program.

I went to US Adult Nationals one year with a program that was 3-weeks old and did OK (for me), finishing in the middle third of the standings. I kept that program for a few more months (I didn't really like the music after hearing it 500 times) and the difference in how I skated it the first and last times was amazing.. because of the "extras", it looked like a completely different program. Also that year, my coach did not put in anything I was working on.. just things I could already do.

The past two seasons, I've had programs completed and relatively comfortable 6 months before competing with them -- but my coach has also included elements I'm just working on (in the hope they will improve as I become more confident with them and the rest of the program and continue to practice them in the program). So far, I have yet to do a clean program in competition or practice (blasted camel spin!).. but the program is getting better.

I put together a 2 1/2 minute solo free dance in 6 weeks, from beginning of choreography to competition. We finished the last of the choreography the week before! Of course with more time it would have gotten better, but it was presentable & tons of fun to do. I say go for it! It's always great to have a goal you're working toward.

My freestyle programs are 2:10 long, and I skate between 4-5 hours a week. It takes me about 2 months to get a program put together, if I don't neglect other parts of my skating. That is to say, I work on my spin lessons and axel lessons, and I add on a choreography session once a week for 1 hour. I practice the choreography along with my other elements.

The last program I did, my first as an adult, was put together in about 6 weeks. But I utterly blew it the first time out. Really really bad. In the nine weeks or so until the other event I used it for, I worked at it alot, and it was much better. I even won my event!

So I think I need quite awhile.

I'm about to begin working on a new program, which I haven't done for several years. I don't expect to compete with it until the spring. I like alot of time, because I tend to get nervous about programs.

8 weeks and that's pushing it and not putting in much in the way of arms and stuff...

This year I AM putting in "artsy-fartsy" stuff in for my new artistic number. I'll let you know when THAT program is finished!!!

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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!!!

I'm most comfortable competing a program that is at least 2 months old. I have, however, competed programs only a week old!

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Champagne in 2005, 2008, 2009 - who's next out of the pre-bronze club...?

Wang chung!

My coach says it can be done in 3 weeks. I'm not sure I believe him - I do like at least 6 weeks, and ideally 2-3 months.

But it can be done in less - after all, many of us have competed in Improvisation competitions, where you hear the music in the dressing-rooms and then have to go out and skate to it. And many of us - not me, I had a disaster when I tried - looked as though it was a programme they'd been doing for years!

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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!

I let a boy (17 yrs) at my rink listen to my music and away he skated....putting all the right moves in at the right times, even though the music was cut. It was great! I need time, because I forget stuff... and it takes a while to beat it into my brain.

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

Tell me about it..I'm the classic goldfish, once round the bowl and I have forgotten everything. It amazes me how coaches remember everyones programme and I cant even remember my own and you know what, it gets worse as you get older

I would hold on to my programmes longer if I could but I get so bored with them after a few times.

Cheers
Grace

I had the worst time in sychro last year-it seemed that every week she changed stuff....and if you missed a week you really missed a lot!!! Yikes! I would just get one move down and it would be gone and replaced with something else.

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

My old coach put my 1:30 program together in say, 10 minutes. Seriously. This was about a month before the competition.

Too bad she didn't bother to help me with the little details as I prepared to actually perform it and I ended up leaving stuff out and feeling underprepared. My current coach and his wife do the programs at home so I have no idea how long it takes them to put it together, but they give their kids (and adult, possibly, one day) at least 3 months to prep for competitions, and they drill it over and over and over and are very nitpicky about making it a PERFORMANCE.

Do you remember me at Streatham this year? I forgot the opening piece of my programme. I swear I have to have my programme finished for months before it sinks in. Even at Bracknell in the summer, I was so shocked to have landed my jumps that I had a delay after each one while I tried to remember what came next. Never happens in practice, but when out there and under pressure everything feels completely different!

Nicki

As long as you don't need it to be "perfect" by December, just "presentable", you should be okay if you start now. But make sure you have a plan for recovering after missed elements. For example, if you miss a spin entrance, what will you do? Will you just do a few turns and wait for the music to signal that it's time to move on, or will you stop and start the spin entrance again from a t-stop position? It's things like that that people end up thinking about only after their first competition with a program, especially in Pre-bronze and Bronze. So make sure you practice recoveries for every element in your program and practice the recoveries in your run-throughs.

I decide my music/choreography the final 2 weeks of the competition

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Tim David's Website

At Bracknell a few people told me that my Improv programme actually looked a lot more flowing and comfortable than my 'real' programme that I'd had (in varying formats mind) for a year!

Probably the shortest time I've had to put something together in, was an original dance which was less than two months from learning what the tempo was to be to performing it and that had to include finding and cutting the music too.

2 - 3 months should be a comfortable amount of time providing you take easily to doing the elements in a programme to music which is a very different thing I find to being able to perform them in isolation.

My kids of course once put together a very creditable pairs programme from scratch in less than 3 weeks (about 4 or 5 half hour lessons) having barely skated together before.

Basically all you can do is try it and see.....

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

If comps are anything like ice shows, then the choreo for ice shows are started in October for a show in December. That is with rehearsals on Sundays and maybe another evening in the week (if everyone is available for a group number). For the spotlight pieces for the shows, they work on it 2x a week for about 30 minutes each time; of course we are talking young persons here not adults. (have you ever seen 10 groups on the ice, all working on different numbers at once???? madness!)

For the exhibition in December, we have started with the "can you do this" bit during lessons. And I've got stuff to work on in between....she wants to add this or that

So we are talking several months here, and I think Skate Annapolis is the first competition I will do (isn't that in late November?)

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

I usually start my program in the summer, shooting to be ready for the fall competitions. i started my choroegraphy in july this year. I am in the same level as last year, but the music was a totally new style for me, and I took
the challenge of a new choreographer. It took most of july and part of august to do it. then it take sme a while to get the endurance and consistency with the jumps. We planned to have the program acceptable for the brewster comp. knowing that we would be aiming for it to peak by sectionals and hold steady through obertorf. I was doing full run throughs but scratched the comp on injury.

interp takes a lot less time. i can ususally do the program in two or three consecutive days and be ready to compete it in 3 weeks.

pairs takes longer to hit consisitency and endurance simply because you are dealing with 2 peoples muscle memory. also at gold that program is longer, so the enduranc takes longer to build.

my way of dealing with nerves is to make the program feel like a second skin so to speak. since i adopted that policy i have handles the nerve issue fairly well in comp.

hope that helps. to me judging weather a program is ready or not depends on how important the comp. is. i will go into a fall invite in a condition that i would never go into sectionals.

Two weeks for choreography, 3 months from start to finish. Mostly 2:30 back when I was doing programs. I wanted to feel comfortable - wasn't so much about remembering everything, but feeling like arm movements were 'natural' etc.

Lots of off ice with the arms too. Arms were my big problem.

I'm like blisspix: 2 weeks for choreography, and 3- 4months to get it together. But my programs are between 3:40 and 4:00!! So part of it is simply building up the stamina to get through it. I need lots of time!

You are clearly not normal! :p

How long do u have to prepare a program before a competition?

Well, I am not very good with this, but I know that the fact is the longer you have had a program, the more comfortable you will feel putting it out there in competition. It also depends on how the elements are coming along, and how your stamina is getting through the program. You have to think about all of these things when preparing for a competition. It's tough, but if you prepare, you will be happier with the result.

I put together a new program while at AN's skating. We kept a majority of the same patterns and just changed the order of things. It worked well w/ the change of music and the program was much better recieved. I will still use that music for the rest of the year I like it so much.

In general it takes me 2-3 months to get comfortable w/ the program and the footwork. Then getting all the jumps and spins to flow easily which sometimes never happens, of course the longer the program the more difficult it is.

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Who me? Couldn't be....
http://www.youtube.com/bouldersk8r

My most successful program in competition as far as results was done in 5 days (3 sessions) before heading out to Adult Canadians and won a Bronze Medal from cutting the music to choreographing it and practicing it. On the other end, I had spent 5 and 1/2 months on my 2nd Adult Canadians' freeskate program only to get injured a month and 1/2 before it and not be able to jump properly or check any of my jumps, turns or spins and came in 7th out of 8. I'm still injured from the work place accident and I haven't been skating since.

It's not so much how much time you spend on your programs but on whether or not you are healthy, fit and emotionally ready. If one of those isn't in the picture, your program will suffer no matter how little or much you work on it before competition.

Then there's nerves as well.

Brigitte

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"It's not age that determines but the heart." "Skating is not just a sport for the young but it's a passion for the soul of the young at heart." Brigitte Laskowski

I am a nomadic adult skater who is a member of Windsor FSC (Skate Windsor) WOS SC again since Sept. 1st, 2008.

http://eastcastlemusic.tripod.com

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