Yay! I know this will make doubletoe and coskater happy, as I shouldn't be able to injure myself quite as easily (ahough I nearly broke my elbow doing RFO loops and smashed my hip up doing crossovers...). I'm really excited! I have my first lesson on Wednesday. Also, since I just started coaching (see the "on ice, coaches" section if you wanna hear the story), it'll be great for helping me move up in my moves tests! My only problem is that I think I threw out my old coronation aces. The rocker was terrible, but I'm sure I could find a sharpener to fix them. I planned on sticking those blades on my broken down Harlicks with a dance backstay, but I don't know if I kept them or not. Anyways, I'll let you all know how my first lesson goes!

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Youtube Videos

Glad to hear you are starting dance, it should help your overall skating skills. It also helps you focus on basic skills and timing. I find dance very relaxing and good for focus.

Good luck, soft boots are best!

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

Do you skate in or near Maryland?

I would love a dance partner (though I admit you will soon pass my level, and break my heart).

Come dance with me?

Unfortunately, I don't. I live in southern california.

(and I caught your heart-breaking joke, but I don't have a witty enough response lol)

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Youtube Videos

Yay! Dance is so much fun (even though I'm not so good at it! I look like a freestyle skater trying to be a dancer. ). It's helped a lot with my edges, posture, toe-pointing, etc. I just use my regular freestyle boots and blades, but then again, I'm only on the Swing dance & Fiesta Tango.

Welcome to the best - and in many ways the hardest - discipline!

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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!

Congratulations!!! I'm loving ice dance so far. I'm still doing free but loving danice. Just learned the Dutch Waltz and coach thinks I'll test soon. Very exciting. And I agree ... it is very hard. Jumping I think is harder (4 me) but otherwise dance is very difficult.

>>Do you skate in or near Maryland?
>Unfortunately, I don't. I live in southern california.

My heart is forever broken.

Wait! All we need is an internet connection, on-ice holographic cameras and projectors, and a way to simulate the dance hold. Star Trek holodecks will do the trick.

Any other gals in MD/DC/VA want a dance partner? I'm permanently stuck on pre-bronze, partly because I've no one to practice with, but partly because I'm just not that good. If you are about the same level, I would be glad to share my lessons with you, at my cost.

Why don't you test solo?

j

Yay! Welcome to the club. You'll find that it REALLY helps your singles skating. In watching freestyle, I can typically tell right away if someone does dance or not by the way they skate (and honestly, I'd rather watch a strong overall skater with a little dance experience whose jumps/spins maybe aren't quite as strong as opposed to a freestyle skater with strong jumps/spins but the in between stuff isn't as good).

You'll probably find it fairly easy at first...I started dance when I was 16 and by that time was on novice MIF and had been on a senior synchro team. I got all the way through the pre-silvers in a year, but then had to stop when I went off to college and there were not any male coaches to take lessons from or test with (that problem continued when I was in grad school)....so I just picked it up again last year (8 yrs later). The most challenging thing may be getting used to skating in close proximity to another person if you're not used to that.

Plus the nice thing is that if you have a knee or some other injury that keeps you out of freestyle for a bit, but not off the ice altogether, you still have something to work on.

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2010-2011 goals:
Pass Junior MIF test
Don't break anything

Wish I did, but I live in New York. Someone mentioned testing solo? Or test with your Ice Dance coach to move up.

I'm in that situation at the moment. My landing knee is really giving me problems, so it's strictly spins & dance for me at the moment.

Mind you, I really don't like dance. Probably only because I am not a very neat, precise sort of skater. But I shall persevere and I believe I shall come to respect it, if not enjoy it.

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Katz

Saved by Synchro!
I was over it, now I'm into it again !