Steps 4-6 might be considered a back progressive as it is a BO (step 4), BI (step 5) and BO (step 6), and then yes, step 7 is a cross front. That part of the sequence is just like the part of the Killian after the choctaw. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to explain myself.

AS we've discussed in previous threads a back progressive is not really that much like a front progressive as it never even resembles a cross-over of any kind that I know of!!

Clearer than mud, I know!!

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

Uncut: Slept badly, and felt rough and disinclined to skate (no, Coach2, I was not hung-over!). But as we'd booked 45 minutes of lessons, I had to. Solo lesson a complete waste of time; couples' lesson not much better.

Side hurts where Husband keeps smacking it going into the spin.

No "oomph" to help him into the lift.

Not a good day! Ah well, they happen.

Cut: Did the dance to the music and survived! It could have been a lot worse.

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

Cut:
-Dances were decent tonight.
-Spirals were excellent
-Flip was good. 3rd try at lutz was good.
-Learned a trick to the outside mohawks to keep from scraping my toepick.
-We decided that I'm not going to test this month. This is a huge relief to me, since I'm not feeling very comfortable with some of the Silver moves right now. I'm glad I have more time to polish them up.

Uncut:
-Back cross rolls were awful tonight. Did a lot of work on them, and I think they were much better by the time I got off the ice.
-Need more speed on 8-step mohawk.
-Camel - this spin went all to h*ll while I was away. Spent a lot of time on fixing my arms, and I did a few good ones at the very end. I just have to remember to think about all the individual elements and the spin works much better. Legs are still bent though
-Skated way too long tonight. I have sore spots on my feet from where my too-big tights bunched up and rubbed on my ankles and instep, and I feel completely drained. Going to sleep well tonight

I'm proud of your willpower How is your back holding up? Does the gym workout help? I usually skip gym sessions rather than skating sessions, although it should be the other way around. I just wish I skipped Saturday because..

uncut: tweaked my back again on a double loop
cut: scratch spins were centered

My back is okay. I just didn't feel much of my legs though. I think I need to rest up my legs more! Resting is just as important as doing the workout itself... or at least that's what your trainer should be drilling into you...

Well, when I tweak my back, I usually ease off on exercises that may aggravate my back (usually core work), but it won't keep me from doing leg or upper exercises... or the elliptical trainer!!! I also do a lot of core work when I'm not injured, so it's actually helping me to not reinjure myself.

I also remember when I really screwed up my back I ended up adjusting my workout for a time by doing some swimming in the swimming pool. Of course, I ended up gaining back weight b/c of it, but it keep the weight gain to a minimum.

I should be asking you about how your back is holding up!!! Hope it's feeling better now...

Uncut: I am at the boards trying to learn FO mohawks... of course, the way secondary coach teaches it to me is totally different from what primary coach teaches me. (But I think I'll have a better chance at not having a "click of death" FO mohawk scenario if I do secondary coach's method, IMHO!!!)

Cut: Almost started getting the dreaded FO mohawks at the end. Or at the very least, I was at least "checking" on the foot switch when I'm near the walls. There's hope for me yet to get the FO mohawks!!! (Of course, I have to go thru a few zillion tries before I get it...)

__________________
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!!!

Cut ice -
Loops were on point today and the mystery of my inconsistent flip was solved. Apparently I was entering it with the wrong hand in front. Oops.
Bronze moves aren't as bad as I believe. Coach is pleased with the progress. I think we are 2 years out from testing them. He feels we are more like 3-4 months away from testing them.

Uncut ice-
Not only is my sit spin non-existent but it is taking my scratch spin and my back spin with it.
Where did my lutz go? Did somebody borrow it?

__________________
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

How about that! I was so excited that I forgot to post yesterday

Definitely CUT! Of all the gin joints in all the world.....

As I walked into the rink yesterday, I saw a young man partnering some of the dancers in preparation for tests on Friday - I knew they were bringing someone in. As I walked around the outside of the glass toward the coaches’ dressing room, I kept STARING at this young man and thinking, “That looks like ........ No, it can’t be.... What would HE be doing here?” (He lives half a continent away!) I continued staring and finally thought, “No, it’s my imagination!” and headed for the dressing room. As I passed by the bench, a man’s voice screamed “DIANNE!!!!” OMFG! It IS HIM! I dropped my skate bag and jumped over the bench - BIG HUGS at the boards, more exclamations of “OH MY GOD!” He said “I didn’t know YOU were here!” - I said, “This is my home club and my home rink! I didn’t know YOU were coming!!!” - More hugs!

It was one of my DEAR friends, a fellow "Rat Packer" (or was that "Brat Pack"?) from Adult Nationals!

We went out for supper and had a wonderful time last evening.

Uncut: I stayed out WAY too late last night and am paying for it today

Cut:Yesterday I worked on upright spins, sit spins, and Waltz jumps.

If I step into the upright spin from a standstill, I can usually hit a really good centre and I think the form is good (it feels good!). The rotation isn’t fast but I think I am close to the required 3 revolutions A couple of the Waltz jumps at modest speed weren’t too bad - I can ALMOST get the 180 degrees!

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

Uncut Ice: Had a lesson for the first time in weeks. Since I'm competing in September we went through my program with music....first comment "Well I can tell you haven't skated this in quite some time"

Had to review the spin entry again...this time she told me not to try to get up until I see the boards and the visual cue was very helpful. And my spin in my program is exactly where I learned it so I will see the boards at the right time. I just get up too soon.

Lutz and mazurka are good but I am muscling the half flip so I have to work on gliding on two feet, then pushing on one foot and think only about the 3 turn. The jump is fine, it's the swingy flingy 3 turn.

And I asked her to help me with the tuck behind in the cha-cha- although she's not my dance coach, she's very good at breaking things down for me that I just can't get. She's got me working on just gliding on the two feet crossed together for a while because when I slam my foot down I lean way forward and she wants me to get comfortable on both feet before shifting.

Cut Ice - Power class. Different people. We did suicides and I was getting very discouraged because I was going as fast as I could and the other adult was just doing her power pushes so she could easily beat me with no effort and the 11 year old was beating me. I decided I was not going to be beat by an 11 year old who wasn't trying so I just hauled A and beat her by half the rink. Hmf. I may not be fast but at least I was working.

j

Cut Ice:
Overall flow of my FS program is stablizing and I'm pretty much where I should be in the program at the particular moments. I still feel a bit rushed but it's not that bad...

Primary coach says that if it stays this way all the way thru the end of this month that we'll start on my artistic program then!!! He just wants the FS to be especially good... (If icesk8eprincess is reading this... you know now...)

Uncut Ice:
Well, uncut ice!!! Or at least it seemed that way when I stepped on the ice.

Also, can't land any loops or flips! My body won't cooperate and won't let me land clean for some reason.

__________________
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!!!

Cut Ice: My MITF have improved a great deal in this past week. I have never felt this comfortable doing these patterns this fast. I can almost do them full speed. I like doing them that way because it makes the pattern huge and it makes it flow. It starting to look effortless. I wanna blow these judges away next Saturday when I test.

Double Axel take-off is starting to get a little easier for me. The muscle memory is finally starting to kick in. I'm starting to snap into rotation sooner instead of waiting until I get to the apex of the jump. My arms and free leg are finally working together. LOL

My flexibility improved by about an inch. Every little bit helps right?



Uncut Ice: Sit Spin still sux, double axel is still a quarter turn short when I touch down.


BlackManSkating

__________________
Proud to be one of the few black men out on the ice

Goals
Pass my Silver Moves Test
Finish Choreography for Silver Program
Land a Clean Double Toe and Double Lutz
Work on Double Axel and Rockers
Speed up back Camel

I haven't posted on a practice thread in a while; outside life has been something of a problem lately, though I try to keep it off the ice.

Cut Ice: I'm signed up to test prebronze moves (finally) next Friday, and my coach says that she's happy about everthing except back crossovers, which she's sometimes happy about. So, at least the rest of the moves are going.

Uncut Ice: I'm also signed up to test my Fiesta Tango at the same session, which I knew to be marginal. I'm trying to adopt the proper frame of mind to try hard but not be too disappointed if I end up doing it again...and, of course, there's those circles of back crossovers to keep me busy this coming week.

Rob

Cut Ice - I ran through my program without music and did my spin entry, waited until I saw the boards before coming up ....YAY. Of course, with the music, I rushed it...but we are getting there.

Worked my butt off in power. It was just me and the 11 year old who doesn't try. I think the prospect of being beaten by a 50 year old started to motivate this ultra mellow girl and we were racing doing swizzles - she didn't get much ahead of me. She kept ahead of me doing forward pumps and crossovers on the "circles of fire" but I got ahead of her doing them backwards. I also have better endurance.

I like having someone closer to my skating ability in power. When I was up against the Novice teenagers, there was no way I was going to get even close to them so I didn't really try. Someone closer to my ability gets my competitive nature in gear (even if it means kicking a 10 year olds butt) and I work harder.

Uncut Ice - I've been ordered to practice my program to music twice every session. Both times today I finished behind my music. Doing the spin with the crossovers entry takes a little more time but I think if I wouldn't take so much time with my waltz jump (I have to think about it for awhile before I'll jump) I could get it back on time.

j

Don't forget that the back crossovers will help you with the end pattern of the Fiesta - nothing like practising keeping your weight into the circle! Good luck! I shall be very jealous if you pass, my coach is doubtful that I will ever have this dance at passing standard. He could be right, at that....

As for us:

Cut Ice: We have diagnosed what I hope will be the final serious problem in our step sequence.

Uncut Ice: However, we have yet to solve it!

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

Cut ice-
Landed a nice waltz-loop and began a salchow-loop.
Starting to make progress on fixing the entrance to my back spin. This is of course after spending 15 minutes of a lesson on it.

Uncut ice-
Bronze moves- Power 3s (I suppose the judges really want power?) and 5 step mohawk are offensive.
Lutz is still MIA.

__________________
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

cut - entirely deserted 6am session this morning, I brought my video camera and aimed it at center ice to tape myself working on things. Kind of get a different perspective.

uncut- watching the video.

Cut:
-I think I made real progress on fixing my back cross strokes today
-8 step mohawk was so-so, and 3-turns in the field were good.
-Sit spins and sit-change-sits were good. Layback attempt wasn't too bad.
-Jumps were all good. Flips were nice and I landed about 5 out of 6 lutzes
-Canasta Tango and Rhythm Blues were in good shape.
-Going to eat Indian food tonight! (okay, that has nothing to do with skating, but I'm excited!)

Uncut:
-Stupid camel spin. Okay, I did a couple that felt good, but the rest were sloooow and awkward and I'm sure my knees were all bent up. This spin is taking FOREVER to learn. It's taking longer than the backspin, and I felt like that one took forever.
-Re-aggravated the sore spots on my feet from Wednesday. I think I have a full-fledged blister on one ankle now. Need to find some band-aids so I can skate tomorrow...

Uncut: I'm starting with uncut cuz I had a less than stellar practice - moves are ok, probably passing but the ice is always so crowded that I've never been able to complete the whole pattern. More uncut: somehow I ended up registered for silver moves on the schedule and I hope I didn't accidentally check the wrong box or something and this can be corrected by next week! Emailed test person. Attempted backspins and continued to throw self off back of blade. Lame sit spin. Annoyed that blade keeps coming loose. PMSed. Quit smoking again cold turkey. Want chocolate. Grumble, whine, grumble

Cut: I think I fixed my crossover at end of the pattern issue with smaller yet faster crossovers (I watched people practicing power circles today and it helped me). Very motivated to pass moves because I am so sick of moves and want to get back to jumping and spinning! OK scratch spin today, OK waltz-toe.

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

And I had Indian food last night! Yum!

I skated on a freestyle yesterday with 4 or 5 high level skaters and at first could not decide if it was motivating or discouraging. Decided it was motivating, and was able to ramp up my performance of several elements from watching them done at the higher level.

Cut:
I am comfy with Pre-Juv F and B power XO's, but find them boring lately. Per above experience, I tried them at (what for me is) breakneck speed, with small lobes and fast strokes. It was a blast! Also noticed high level skaters doing B cross strokes a bit differently than they are done on Juv MIF. Maybe someone here can shed some light on this. I imitated it successfully and enjoyed them that way, but don't know for sure if it's just a difference in style or something else. On the B cross strokes, instead of placing the free foot behind the skating foot, one almost does a swing roll in getting the free foot back. I found I gained speed doing them that way, but have never seen that done on a Juv MIF test, and it definitely not the way I was taught. May have to wait for a lesson to find out more.

Uncut:
Still cannot properly check F threes in the Prelim alt threes. L side of Prelim Power threes is not cooperating on the Choctaw. I positively feel deformed trying to do it. Where did it go? Was supposed to have a lesson yesterday on that freestyle session, but my coach called me as I was leaving, to say she hadn't heard yet if she was cleared to guest at my rink, so we had to postpone the lesson. Well, what's another week, when it's already been 6 or 7 . OTOH, it looks like she's going to be on staff at my rink. Of course, I would rather not have my lessons in the same rink where I work , but it will do for summers and other inconvenient seasons.

__________________

Uncut ice: Found out on Friday that my main rink is ending it's early morning freestyle sessions and will have hockey instead. They really want to be a hockey rink. It won't affect me directly because I rarely go to those sessions but a lot of the local adult ice-dancers and some of the competitive skaters use those sessions, plus my coach teaches a lot of lessons on the early-morning sessions.

She is close to retiring, but still she is disappointed, as usual, in the rink management. The basic problem is she is one of the only coaches who will teach on the morning sessions and so the sessions are really lightly attended, which is great for the dancers but not so good for the rink. The two "head-coaches" are basically part-owners of the rink but they do not skate on those morning sessions and they won't let any other outside coaches teach there because they think they are taking business away from them, which is totally ridiculous since those people wouldn't be taking from them anyway...

It's a pretty ridiculous situation, but it doesn't surprise me considering the dunderheads of management there. It's too bad because I like the rink, the people that skate there are friendly and it is usually not at all crowded in the morning. I guess we'll just have to see how it all sorts out.

Cut ice: Well, I hope to get a dance lesson tomorrow morning as this will be about the only time in the next months that I will be able to go to a dance session and hopefully my dance coach will be there and have time for me!!

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

Cut:
-Had an a-ha! moment with my camel today. I told another skater how frustrated I was with it, and she said that remembering to look over her left shoulder helped her. My coach has said that millions of times, but I never remember it. So I tried it and - voila! - camel was so much better. I did 3 or 4 before the end of the session and they felt like they did a month ago (which was good!). Legs are still bent, but that's another story.

-I played around with the back camel and think I succeeded in getting my leg higher and getting more spinny than usual.

-Worked on back cross strokes and 8-step mohawk and think I did okay with the corrections I'm supposed to make.

Uncut:
-Nothing much - a good session!
-Except for the blisters which were angry even with band-aids and the Bunga gel disk thingys. Oh well - I'm not skating again until Wed, so they should have time to heal.

Cut Ice- I convinced my dad to take lessons! YES! I'm so extremely excited. Now he'll be able to understand how much work I put into my skating and be able to experience it with me.

__________________

Uncut: My coaches normally arrive first on a Sunday, and they hadn't told anybody other than their skaters that they weren't coming in today, so we all had to wait outside for half an hour for a keyholder to turn up.

The ice was very busy once we were all on, and we didn't get to run through our free dance to the music.

Cut: Did manage to run through all our dance in bits, but not to the music.

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

That's great!! My mom skates with me sometimes & it's a lot of fun

Cut: pretty good practice for moves, I think I've fixed the crossover at the end problem though the second one feels awkward, therefore looks awkward. Oh that should go under uncut I guess. Well, it's better than it was.

Back perimeter crossover stroking is really fun at near-top speed!

Uncut: backspin, backspin, backspin. Starting next Monday, if I pass moves, this thing WILL be conquered.

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

Uncut:

Lost my FS program CD at Coffee Club last Thursday. Coach is making me another copy. I'll probably make two copies out of that at home and keep this new copy somewhere in my CD collection so if I lose one, I lose the copy and not the original that he made.

Cut:

BUT.... I did have my ARTISTIC CD with me!!! So we started on my new artistic program! One skating judge and another older skating both were telling me that I need to "shake it" before they started shaking their booties too!!! And *sigh* yes, icesk8eprincess... there will be a wee bit of "shaky-shaky." (And I do mean a LITTLE bit!)

Oh, dear!!! Now why did I pick this music again?

Uncut:

Even though my program has a t-stop, I now have a HUGE incentive to start learning a "show stop" if I really want to bring it out. Oh, dear...

Cut:

Well, I'm having a great time with this program already. I hope you guys like this new program when I debut it at AN as much as I'm gonna enjoy putting it together and doing it. It's gonna be a FUN program!!! Not intended to be comedic, but given how "booty shakin' " adverse I am... it's gonna look comedic!!!

A teenager gal came up to me after the session to tell me that she liked my program music.

__________________
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!!!