The title comes from our Artistic Pairs piece, which is Anderson's Waltzing Cat, and which we worked on this morning before our lesson.

Purring: We got there before most people, so were able to have a couple of good run-throughs to the music. I had bought our masks, so our second run-through we wore them. At least all the choreography is finished now! We don't need it for the Mountain Cup, thank heavens, but do for the Bracknell Adult Opens, which are only three weeks later! So we will have some hard work to do after the MC, and perhaps even during it, if we get some time.

In our lesson, we worked on sensible starts to the dance - for pre-Bronze dances, I never think you want a very involved start, but just something to "get you in the mood", and, of course, a few pushes to give it a bit of welly! We have some nice starts now for the Dutch Waltz and the Rhythm Blues, but our start on the Canadian Cha-cha needs work. As for the Swing Dance, well, that'll just have to take its chances - like several other skaters I know, it's all I can do to do the intro 3, which is always feeble, and we need the two pushes after it to get a bit of welly into the dance!

Mewing: Robert can't remember the steps of the Waltzing Cat, and we are not yet accomplished enough not to end up missing a few steps because we lose it! I can't for the life of me remember what we said we'd do to start the Dutch Waltz..... the start of the Cha-Cha is (at the moment) impossible.... Other than that.... oh, we can't do our pairs spin yet, but it is coming, thankfully.

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

It was *hot* at the rink today! You can never guess the temperature. Yesterday it was freezing cold and I was wearing a short sleeve shirt, and today I wore a sweatshirt and it was hot!

Purring:
Twizzles! At least CCW ones were quite there! And I just learned them yesterday. CW need more work but they're getting there.
Figure 8 was better after about 10 minutes of doing it. I still have trouble switching edges with out putting my free leg down and my circles are too big but its better than yesterday.
Back spin was better I guess. At least I didn't fall once. I could get 2-3 sometimes 4 revs and I felt that outside edge. Maybe I'll get this move by the time I'm 50!
I'll put spread eagles in this category too. Inside ones were workign pretty good and I sorta did some outside ones. At least something resembling an outside spread eagle.

Mewing:
Forward scratch... I'm really not a spin person, spins suck! Actually, I probably just need to work on them more but meh...
Jumps in general were all iffy. Probably because it was so hot. I ran through the waltz, sal, and toe loops, and then tried some loops but gave up.

Purring My run through of my interpretive program yesterday was the best yet, according to my coach. It did feel really good to me, too! I'm looking forward to the competition this weekend (May Day Open, in Laurel, MD); is anyone else going to be there from this board? Anyway, after the run throughs we worked on posture in some basic skating, which was quite challenging!

Mewing My back is stiff from all the work we did on posture! Actually, I started feeling it as soon as we got off the ice. My coach tried to rub some of the knot out, and I'm sure that helped, but I still feel really stiff. Oh well, I'm sure I'll be better soon.

Debbie -- If you're reading this, I sent you a PM.

Happy skating everyone,
Pat

Mewing:
I've got three lovely lumps on my body from falls last night. I guess the upside of that is that I didn't fall 3 times on the same place. Mewing again, all the falls had audiences but I laugh harder than anyone else when I do a splat.

Purring:

My husband came to watch and saw me do one of my better spins. He said it looked like I could pop off a spin anytime and that it looked like I'd been spinning all my life. Well, OK, since last year. I'll take that compliment!!

Litter box:

Cross rolls, don't want to talk about them.

Purring: Got to the rink early this morning, in time to run through the artistic pairs programme with Robert, which is now just at the stage of being about-to-come-together. It has need to - although the Mountain Cup is in the way, there really isn't very long before we have to do it! Then went and sat in the pros' room chatting for half an hour, which isn't really skating! Then went back out and did various exercises and ran through my programme a time or two.

Mewing: Nothing really, except that I should have been on the ice more!

I was down at the rink this evening to look at the Show Number our coaches are working on, and to see if I had any input, as they had got to the despairing stage. Was able to suggest one or two ideas. when I got home, my DH had cooked spaghetti bolognaise, which was really, really nice, and really, really nice of him!

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

Purring: It wasn't really a scratch spin, but the intent was there. I've been working really hard on these, and today, I got close. I still can't cross my leg over, but I was able to get it to the 1:00 position my coach has me aiming for to start, and do three revolutions!! Doesn't seem like much, but it was huge to me. And, my half flip and half toe loop felt big today.

Mewing: Crowded session--there's a competetion in 3 weeks and everybody has to get their time in. It seems like I am always getting out of someone's way and noone is getting out of mine. Must be because I am the only adult and they know I won't get in their way? (Only adult other than coaches)

Mewing: OW OW OW. I keep falling on the same spot near my hip/thigh/butt and it is bruised and swollen tonight. I am dreading skating tomorrow 'cause I will probably fall on it and the thought makes my stomach hurt.

Back spin was such a pain in the rear. Literally, as I fell down once on my bad sore spot doing it. My coach is trying to get me to lift my free leg higher so that I can get faster rotations, but I then lose my balance.

Purring: Did a camel sit/back sit for the first time ever. It actually was good. I was so happy that I did it. Camel spins are starting to get a little better. My stretching seems to help though I still find it hard to find the ball of my foot right away and takes me a few rotations to get settled.

Working on salchow technique so we're back to square one, but coach says its much better than my nasty whippy one before.

Most of my single jumps are pretty solid. Lutz needs working on now and again but the technique is coming along. I guess at the end of spring school we'll sit down and talk about starting doubles come fall

Purring: My forward spins... well, maybe except for camels, but my camels never really purred anyway!

And a BIG surprise -- my BACKSPIN came together!!! WOW!!! My primary coach was doing a forward scratch spin, then he did a back scratch spin. Then he sees me watching his back scratch spins and says "C'mon, jazzpants!!! Do one!!!" (And I did a forward scratch just to annoy him first! It did! He says "I did a BACK SPIN, not a FORWARD spin! Now do a backspin!!!) Sure enough, my first attempt I did two in a roll!!! Of course, coming out of the second one was a bit weird, but both backspins were PUUUUURRRRING!!! Primary coach says "Now THAT was a good one!!!" YEEEEEEEAAAAAAAH!!!!!! (Let's see if I have it on Thursday though.)

Mewing: Everything else...especially....

Litter Box: My LFO3!!! It's TOTALLY GONE!!! I have to go to my secondary coach and have her go over LFO3's with me again!!! Oh, WHY, oh, WHY can't I do a SIMPLE STINKIN' LFO3 but can do backspins!!!

__________________
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 skated yesterday and the day before - yesterday was better though, as I thought it might be.

Purring:

I passed another element on the gold Skate UK Star dance test - the prelim foxtrot (although it's now called the novice foxtrot).

At the beginning of my lesson, we started with some stroking/basic technique etc. My coach told me that I can get good speed without really trying, and that if I improved my knee bend and pushing on strokes (which is what we were working on), I'd be whizzing round! Maybe speed will end up being a strength of mine? I never really thought of that before though (apart from when I used to do group classes, and I was the fastest skater in the class - when we did back crossovers on the hockey circle, I went on a circle outside the others because I was faster). Woohoo though!

My jumps were still there. I did waltz, toe, salchow, and each of those in combo with a toe. It's strange (but very welcome) how they're all now so consistent compared with how they have been for ages, and how they all feel so much better, especially and toe and salchow. I did a couple of slow set-ups for the flip, but didn't attempt any - chickened out. I think I'll wait till I do it in lessons, I don't want to get bad habits (although when I used to do it, it came to me pretty easily, so hopefully it'll come back nicely when I get back to it).

My turns were all better too, including BI3s on the BI double 3-back crossover exercise thing. Also I worked on the remaining two elements in the gold dance test, and I think they would both be passable.

Mewing:

Spins. So what's new. I fell on one of the entries (didn't totally splat, but put my knee down), and they were just not good - travelling etc. Even the 2foot spins just didn't feel balanced properly - I felt like my body was rocking about. Hmm.

Also, on Monday, I did one waltz jump but the landing (which was fine) hurt my ankle so much that I couldn't do any more, and got off the ice a few minutes later. My left (landing) boot has been doing that recently - starting to really hurt when I bend my knees, kind of on the area between the ankle and foot on the front. It's ok most of the time, but then something happens and it just starts to really hurt. I might have to get some bunga pads or something.

__________________
"It’s never too late to skate at any age." - Alexei Mishin.

This morning's lesson. Mewing: goofy teeth don't work on ice. I didn't even take them to the rink, realising, as I tried them on at home, that no way in the universe would I be able to skate with them in my mouth. What a waste buying them! Back to duct tape, or something....

Arrived at the rink to find that (a) Robert was just leaving (since he left the house about 5 minutes before me, he can't have had that long on the ice - mind you, he does cycle down there while I have to trail along on the bus, which takes ages) and (b) one of the other coaches had had a nasty fall and broken her wrist.

Purring: Did a dress rehearsal of my Interpretive in case anything needed to be changed so I'd have time to do it before next week. It is fantastic! Everything needs to be a little grubbier. Arranged with my friend that she would do my make-up, which has to be designer stubble and dirt..... should be great fun.

After that, removed wig, apron and benny-from-crossroads hat, and settled down to exercises. Everything went relatively well, even my backwards stroking and back edges, although they could have been better. Only corrections I got on my changes-of-edge were posture! Ice was good, which helped.

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

Mewing: Managed to put my foot down TWICE on the 3 turns on my Adult Silver test yesterday.

Purring: Got a reskate, and passed Silver. AND passed Intermediate as well, first try. I am so happy! On to Gold and Novice Moves.

__________________
"Where are we going and why are we in this handbasket?"

Mewing - Nearly got run over three times by a bunch of the "hockey boys" as they sped along, threw themselves down on the ice and slid on their stomachs. My feet were also killing me today (I'm flatfooted) so I think I'll try my orthodics in my skates on Friday. My friend who fractured her ankle wasn't able to come so her brothers could skate so I didn't get to give her her get well card (it has a girl in a skating dress, on crutches and a cast with one skate on). I think I'll mail it tomorrow.

Purring - Landed lots of toe loops today! Still think I'm rotating a bit before I push off but it's getting better. My half flips and waltz jumps felt very high today. AND....we did get a homeschool number together for the ice show! Five of us are doing it, it sounds like it will be a lot of fun. The reason we were hesitant to join other numbers was because all the kids at our level are younger...we only discovered skating the past year or year and a half. I hope my mother is ready to sew costumes!

__________________
Working on:
NOVICE! MIF
Juvenile FS
Bronze Dances

Yay Stormy!

I went to a stroking session led by Scott Davis today:

Mewing: My cardio stinks! I have been off the ice for two weeks, so I'm a bit out of shape. My cardio isn't great to begin with, and I forgot my inhaler. So I sat out some of the power-stroking warm-up.

Purring: I surprised myself with a lot of the things I was able to do. I don't jump, so while the group was working on singles and doubles, I worked on my loops. I was really happy to see they haven't completely disappeared in the past two weeks. When we worked on edges and turns later, I was really happy with how I did. Lots of it involved multiple turns on one foot, which I never would have even attempted at this time last year, but I had no problem with tonight. I'm going back on Friday, and expect the session to be more of the same. I hope to get through the whole power-stroking session this time, and stay confident about the multiple turns again.

__________________
~No thinking, breathing, or hesitation!~

Purring: Blues went better yesterday. Coach said that the beginning stretch of the dance was nice and smooth.

Did lots of cardio/stamina in my lesson.

Mewing: Not much. Intro 3 wasn't quite there but almost. 3-turn into the repeat was a challenge but that's because I'm not in the right spot. Which is partly because as I hold the 2 edges before the RFI, my left hand hold is slipping off my coach's shoulder to be almost a left forearm across the shoulder to the neck. And I'm not providing any serious pressure back (to help myself).

Whoa! That is weird jazzpants! Youv'e a decent backspin but lost your LFO3? Truely weird!

Brigitte

__________________
"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

Singerskates Sports Music Editing

Had a make-up lesson on Tuesday. Two more group lessons to go before I start private lesons, yay! I can't wait to get back to my regular Saturday class. I really like the Tuesday instructor, but therea a young man in class who has absolutely no concept of sharing the ice with other skaters. As in the instructor asks to see all of our back inside edges and he not only refuses, but the goes about reying to set up for salchows in the middle of everyone's pattern. I was so irritated after 20 minutes of this that when I went to do my waltz jump (not a jump, I know) he says "Well, that wasn't a jump." I could bear it no longer and said to him "I realize that, but it's not nice to tell adults something like that, especially when we're trying really had to learn skills that don't come easily to adults." Like I really needed a ten year old to tell me that I wasn't jumping! Grrr!!!

He's the only kid I've run into at the rink who has been a snot like that to me. The rest of them wave and show me what they're working on an compliment my spiral and are generally nice kids. Honestly! I understand that an eight-year-old learning something new doesn't always pay attention to what's going on around them, but I've never had an issue with anyone deliberately cutting people off and being a stinker like this kid was doing. Even our most advanced kid skaters are polite and unassuming. And in a group lesson!! The instructor was clearly aggravated by this kid, but wasn't able to find a way to make him pay attention or at least not get into people's way. I think part of the issue is that he's seriously bored. He does sit spins and salchows in his private lessons, but can't control his edges well enough to pass out of Freestyle 1.

Anyway, I'll be glad for my regular class on Saturday. There are fewer people in lessons that day and my class doesn't have a maniac dive-bombing kid to be disruptive (he really made working on edges HARD). I was tested on Tuesday and didn't pass (waltz non-jump, big surprise) and will be tested again on Saturday with my regular instructor. It will be interesting to see what she passes compared to the other instructor. The Tuesday instructor used a 10-point scale with 5 as passing. Here's how I ended up (if I remember correctly):
Forward Inside Pivot: 7 (highest in class)
Two-foot Spin: 6
Spiral: 9 (highest mark for anyone, any element)
Backwards outside edges: 6
Backwards inside edges: 6
1/2 Flip: 5
Waltz Jump: 4 If I could get the darn thing in the air, I'd pass...

Mewing: backspin just won't get spinning. Coach wasn't there again. Loop and flip just short on rotation and two footed. Loosing time in my program not finishing on time. I think it's because I'm getting more revs in my spins, too many before I get out and then I'm late. I've had about 4 or 5 sessions where my coach has shown up to coach me in the last month and a half where I show up 3 days a week. I think I definately will change coach for Sept. I'm basically coaching myself now getting ready for Ann Arbour Spring Skate.

Purring:
watlz, toe, salchow, half flip, split jump, sitspin, forward stratch spin, layback starting to come (just need to tip my head back now and bring freeleg up a bit more), LFO spiral starting to get high and deep.

__________________
"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

Singerskates Sports Music Editing

Meow - ouch. Skated last night after laying a new kitchen floor. Tired, sore, adn I have glue all over me.

Purr: Things went relatively well. I'm working on elements for my interpretive program. One is an outside Bauer into a lutz. The RF outside to LB outside before the lutz as great potential for crashes.

Nice sharp blades.
No jumping (through choice).
Spins only.
Mewing: The backspin.....say no more.

__________________
MEL
Absolute Skating

Many congratulations!

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

quarkiki2, I feel your pain! I, too, suffer from the waltz-non-jump affliction. My coach says "It will come!"

*stands patiently waiting for the Waltz Jump Bus to arrive*

Bend your take off knee as you glid on it and as you then swing your right (CCW skaters only... CW reverse) leg and arm through from behind you, suddenly go over your toe pick as you make your skating leg spring straight to jump.

Brigitte

__________________
"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

Singerskates Sports Music Editing

Purring:
Finally got back on the ice Tuesday after 10 days off with a really nasty virus thingy. Still coughing (exertion and cold air do not help) and unfit but at least I am there and could finish choreographing my Rhumba OD. All I have to do now is
a) remember it!!!!
b) actually be able to skate it!!!!

Today we concentrated on my Free skating programme; the salchow -toeloop combination is looking better but doing the toe-loop on its own at the end of my step sequence seems very difficult. Coach liked the fact I was building in arm movements - the programme actually seems easier if I add arm movements in. The music is probably a bit more powerful than I can live up to just yet but I am not a floaty/spirally sort of skater. We talked about the possibility of changing the 3-jump towards the end into a Flip or loop but the chances of me landing either of those cleanly by the time of the competition (6 weeks) is slim to none!

I even managed a sort of sit spin today. I find it really difficult to bring my free leg around to the front but I can get quite low and spin quite well if I leave it in a 2 o'clock position (relative to my spinning leg) and leave my arms there too and sort of lean sideways. Very odd but it works! It will be fine If I decide to do the Improvisation class where one of the requirements is an 'original spin' but I'm not sure it will count as a clean sit spin in a proper competition.

Mewing:
Loop and Flip, proper sit spin!

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

CONGRATULATIONS! and CONGRATULATIONS!

__________________

Quarkiki2---When I first moved up to FreeStyle 1, there was four of us. Me, an early teenager (or maybe even 10-12), and a 5 and 7 year-old brother and sister. Neither of us older skaters could get any time with the instructor because as soon as she turned her back on them they started fighting. She wound up spending most of the session separating them. Then their mother had the gall to say she wasn't spending enough time with them! Uggggh!

Purring: Says my coach of my waltz and half flip today--WOW! And my compulsary program that she hasn't seen since early April is much better. She says if I tape it at Dogwood next month, I'll see a big difference. We spent most of my 45 minute lesson working on crossovers--and man oh man are my legs telling me about it! At least it's a good ache.

Mewing: Still that scratch spin, and I lost my lutz, such as it was.