mtj4500
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Below are the 10 most recent journal entries recorded in the "mtj4500" journal:[<< Previous 10 entries]
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14:29
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The Week Before Christmas
I had earmarked Wednesday 17th as Christmas shopping day but a 'phonecall from John Turner to say that my new boots had arrived meant I had to choose between getting boots or presents .... Sorry for the low present count this year everyone!
First skate after that was on Friday morning but as I had a lesson at 07:45 I skated the first part of the session in my old boots. Lesson was mainly on field moves which Mark was pleased to see progress with ... until we got to three turns that is. I still don't use my upper body enough which leads to much scraping .... The last five minutes were spent on twizzles, which were not going very well so we decided the next lesson (in three weeks) should concentrate more on them.
After the ice cut I tried out the new boots and blades (Wifa Dance with MK Dance blades). The boots are half a size bigger than my old Belatis and are the widest Wifa fitting to cope with my short square feet. Lots of room in the toe area (very comfortable!) but the heels felt a bit loose, so I laced them up firmly - first mistake. Managed about 10 minutes before the pain in my ankles and along the outside of my feet became too much and I had to get off. Relaced the boots much more loosely this time. Too loosely in fact as it felt like my feet were sliding around inside the boots. After another couple of relacings I think I have found the formula - tight over the toes, loose (but firm) over the foot (this is the most crucial bit as, even if it is only slightly too tight, it causes pressure on the outside of the sole which becomes unbearable after about 10 minutes or so), then very tight over the first hook to keep the heel in place and, finally, loose over the rest of the hooks otherwise it is too painful in the ankles. It doesn't seem to make much difference whether I lace the top hook or not and the elasicated cuff at the back doesn't seem to serve any useful purpose. By the time I had worked out the lacing there was only about 10 minutes of the session left and my feet had had enough so I got off.
On Sunday morning I had a lesson with Sarah at 07:30 and F and I had a joint lesson with Mark at 08:30 so it was back to the old boots to make sure the lessons were productive. Cocentrated on hold, posture and tracking with Sarah, and *almost* got to the first 3turn in the European ... maybe next time!
Mark started with the step sequence, which has been going quite well so far, and changed my LBI bracket to a LBI 3turn while F changes side to accomodate the exit edge. After that we change to Killian hold, LFO mowhawk, step forward LFO 3turn, step forward and LFI choctaw. That lot seems to fill a significant portion of the circular step sequence!
The European was having an even worse than usual day, so much so that Mark vetoed us entering it for BAC and said it would be pushing it for it to be ready by May for Oberstdorf. Not sure what, if anything, I can do at BAC in February as I am definitely in between levels for solo compulsories and have no free skate or free dance and none of our couples stuff is ready yet grrrr!
In OXIST I wanted to try out the new boots again and managed to get the lacing right on only the second attempt! The boots were more or less comfortable for the rest of the session so I could concentrate on the differences in the blades. My old blades are John Watts Dance (10") and the new ones are MK Dance (10 1/4"). Firstly, where are the toepicks?!!! The picks on the Watts blades are quite a bit more substantial than the MK ones and lower down. The bottom pick is quite large but round giving it lots of sideways resistance but doesn't dig into the ice if you catch it going forwards (also makes a very good brake when going backwards!). The MK picks are set much higher and are generally much smaller and also curve around the front of the blade so that you could not engage the full set at once. The main thing is that you can tip a lot further forward on the blade before the picks touch the ice. At the moment this is making my three turns and mohawks much quieter but it also means that you can get your weight even further forwards before your toepicks stop you(making recovery more difficult!). The blades *need* better technique. The second major difference is the rocker - 8' simple rocker for the Watts blade and 7' complex rocker for the MK. The smaller rocker makes the MKs feel more 'tippy' if your weight moves forward or back but you can feel it and make (or attempt to make) corrections. At the moment I am still feeling my way round the blades and testing each element to see where the weight should be. Finally, the MK blades are *quiet*! Just skating around on the Watts made quite a bit of noise, whereas the MKs are dead silent. I don't think this is an inherrent problems with the Watts blades themseves, more the mounting of them. the new blades are tracking properly whereas the old ones were not ... this, at least, should be a great improvement!
Tuesday night was very quiet. Not many dancers and not many public either. I think Mark was going to skip the dance interval until Penny cornered him and he gave in. Nice session to try out as much as possible in the new boots - went through most of the L1 and L2 field moves. Back edges still finding the balance point of the blades, forward crossrolls the same. 3turns and mohawks working but have to be extra careful not to pitch forward after the turn. back crossovers really smooth and fast (no toepicks!) - quite scarey. Could just about manage LFO counter. Twizzles not completely gone away, haven't dared to try a spin yet. Teapots and hydroblades almost back to normal. 3jumps a little tentative as the landing edge is not as stable in the new blades. Solo European waltz just about doable but have to manage the 3turns much more carefully or it all goes to pieces very quickly. Low level dances ok with care.
Verdict on boots and blades: In the short term a lot of things are more difficult and tentative and require a lot more concentration but in the longer term I think the new blades will be good for my skating as they will force me to use better technique to get the best out of them. I am starting to like them already :-) .
Current Mood:  determined
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14:30
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Starlight and Twizzles
With no lessons for the last two Fridays due to competitions and rink maintenance and with F away for the weekend I was looking forward to an extra long lesson on Sunday morning. I managed to get on the ice by 0730, which is a little late for me but I needed the extra sleep! Did the usual warm up of field moves and European waltz and then decided I would try learning the steps for the Starlight waltz, so I spent the last 10 minutes or so of patch, skating round with step sequence in hand!
After the ice cut Mark asked me what I wanted to do in the lesson so I replied that we had better continue with the field moves but I also wanted to spend some time on spins and twizzles. He then asked what I was learning as he had spotted me skating round with piece of paper, so I admitted I had been trying to memorise the steps to the Starlight and we decided to work on that after the dance interval.
Field moves are a long slog. they are improving, but slowly. I have to lean back into my edges more to stay off my toepicks! Three turns are not clean enough and need better checking and I need to be able to hold the back edge better before stepping forwards, and then step forward by opening my hips rather than rotating my whole body. Not much more to be said about L2 FM except practice, practice, practice!
We then moved on to twizzles and Mark showed me where I needed to put my weight for them to rotate cleanly. He also pointed out that I was tending to go onto too much of an inside edge which is why the edges bite sometimes. keeping the blade upright and the weight right over the back (when I could!) resulted in some smooth single rotations. The next thing was to try to break the 360 degree barrier. At first I used my free foot to help the transition into the second rotation but eventually managed to rotate a couple beyond the elusive 361 degrees, including one which went round about one and three quarter times! Mark was very pleased but I was elated - my first proper twizzle!
We spent the last five minutes on spins which were working slightly better this time, but I need to counter rotate my body even more in the wind up and straighten up smoothly at the start of the spin.
After the dance interval it was on to the Starlight - I had just about memorised the steps enough to demonstrate a sequnce with out missing any of them out or getting them in the wrong order! Mark decided that it would be a good idea to put the music on so we could work at the right tempo (I was going quite a bit slower as I was trying to remember steps while going round!). After Marks initial concern about going into the three turns I managed a sequence to music (phew, it's fast!). I then asked about the change of edge before the swing going into the three turns as it was not clear from the pattern how this was achieved. I had just been keeping by free leg extended backwards for the first bar and tucking it under for the second. Mark wanted something a little more positive - a half swing followed by a tuck behind. My first attempt didn't go well as I rocked too far forwards, caught a toepick, and laid my length on the ice, sliding quite a long way. Unfortunately I landed on my elbow which was quite painful (and is now sorely bruised and still a little swollen) but I was determined to carry on and make light of it. We finished off by looking at the lilted back edge before stepping forward. It's great to learn a new dance!
In OXIST I managed to do a full two revolution twizzle (only one foot so far and I hope I can still do it on Tuesday!). I also got some help from MP on three jumps - I can usually get moderate height and travel but my technique is poor. I need to point my toes on the swing through and keep my arms in a circle in front of me on take off. Both these things immediately helped make the jumps feel smoother and more controlled.
Current Mood:  excited
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17:38
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Oxford Adult Dance competition 2008
The alarm went off at ten to five, which was a bit earlier than intended but I knew I would need every bit of ice time I could get on the morning patch. And anyway, it was too late to do anything about it once I was awake! The previous evening had been spent packing, making sure the medals and trophies were in the car, and checking through the scoring software on the laptop to ensure it was set up correctly for the competition. Somehow all that had managed to take until about half past midnight and, what with waking up a couple of times in the middle of the night for no apparent reason, I felt a bit short on sleep.
On ice for morning patch, my legs felt like lead and my body really didn't feel like it wanted to push any limits today thank you very much, and it took well over half an hour before I felt even remotely warmed up. By this time F had arrived and was warming up so we spent the last few minutes of patch going through our competition stuff. In our lesson we went through everything, with music, one final time. Mark reminded us to hold our extensions in the fiesta, particularly on the back steps in the end pattern, make sure we did correct waltz timing on the runs and chasses in the Willow and to keep our heads up in the free dance. I am amazed at how little Mark has said about our Willow in the last few weeks since we started working on it for Oxford, almost all of the time has been spent on the Fiesta and free dance!
Skated rather less than usual in the dance intervals, partly to conserve energy and partly to collect guest fees (which is one of the big disadvantages of being treasurer of the dance club!). But it was nice to see so many guests enjoying themselves and sampling the Oxford ice before the competition, although we were markedly down on regulars!
After Dance club there was just time to nip out for a bacon roll and coffee (probably that last chance to eat anything properly for the rest of the day) before the manic task of setting up the competition began. F and P were busy organising helpers and coordinating all the jobs that needed to be done so MP and I set to work on setting up the scoring computers, printers, photocopiers, etc. in the pro's room (just about the only warm room in the rink at the moment!). As we had only been able to extract one IceCalc dongle from NISA (at an outrageously inflated price...) we had to borrow a second one to enable us to run both computers (thanks Bristol!). The set up turned out to be a full time job and by the time F returned to announce that the competition was just about to start, five minutes late, we had only just finished.
MP and I took first session in the results room as neither of us were skating until later. One thing to be said in favour of IceCalc is that the results entry is pretty slick and ran very smoothly. It's just a pity it is so painful to set up the competition in the first place and that it is fundamentally unsuitable to run the sort of competitions we usually run in the UK. After the first couple of classes we started to introduce the software to our replacement data enterers(!) who quickly picked it up and shortly afterwards evicted us from the results room :-).
After finding a cup of tea and something to eat I went in search F who was getting ready for her solo compulsories. She couldn't have looked less like wanting to get on ice, with a cold starting to take hold and the stress and tiredness of organising the whole event weighing heavily on her shoulders. After going through some warm ups and stretches she started to look more like a skater and by the time she was rinkside was more or less back to her normal self. On ice she rose to the occasion brilliantly and skated a terrific Fiesta and an almost as good 14Step - good enough to win both dances against stiff opposition. MP was skating in the same class and also did a magnificent job to come a close second in the fiesta and third in the 14Step, giving her third over all.
As soon as the class had finished I rushed back upstairs to warm up, running several lengths of the rink to get some circulation going and loosen up stiff muscles. A quick change and some stretches later it was back to rinkside with F for our compulsories. Now it was my turn to feel woefully underprepared and not wanting to skate! But on with the Fiesta warm up and after a lap of the rink in Killian hold I could at least feel my legs again. Our first attempt at a Fiesta pattern was well out due to another couple in front of us and then, on the change edge swing, F disappeared and, just as I was wondering what had happened, I was suddenly falling on top of her! We think she caught a toepick or boot hook on one of the lace bows on her boot, taking out first her own skating leg and then mine.... Luckily neither of us were badly hurt and we got straight up intending to do at least one full sequence before the warm up was over. Unfortunately, though, we ran out of time. After tucking Fs laces in as best we could it was our turn. We skated it reasonably well although the end pattern was a bit flat and my mohawks were a somewhat scratchy. The Willow Waltz was much less dramatic, thank goodness, and we got through warm up and dance without incident. Good points - remembered extension and waltz timing. Bad points - back edges round 'bell' were a bit flat and our hold was a mile apart. We knew that two of the other four couples were very strong and we were hoping for third place, so we were absolutely stunned when the final results put us first!
Next class was MP and A's solo free dance class. Both skated really nice programmes which, barring a couple mistakes, went very smoothly. A did a tango with attitude and MP's was 'Summertime', both very effective!
As soon as that class was over F and I had to rush off to get ready for our free dance. There was just time to get changed and do a quick off ice run through before heading back rinkside. The warm up went well (apart from not rotating the lift) and we managed to fit most elements in. We were first to skate and it went pretty well, although we did almost hit the barrier (again!) at the start of the step sequence - I guess the extra adrenaline of the performance must make us push that bit harder! The step sequence worked as well as it has for the last few weeks and I even heard the camera click as we did the assisted teapot at the end of it! We came out of the step sequence on time and I made the decision that, as we did not rotate it in the warm up, we would do a straight line lift and just try to push it really high. The spin went pretty well too and then it was over, our last competition outing for 'Cabaret'! We were also pleased to get second place with it.
After that we were free to watch the last few classes and then the presentations. Unfortunately I was busy in the results room dismantling computers and missed the fd presentation so apologies to the winners of that class for the incomplete podium shots.
Finally it was time to pack everything up, which is still about an hours work after the competition is over, although the rink staff were marvelous, both before and after the event and helped out where they could. Fourteen and a half hours in an ice rink with just a short breakfast break is enough for anyone!
It was great to see so many friends and even catch up a little with some of them! I regret not being able to watch more people skate but it is quite difficult - part of the time being in the results room and most of the rest of the time trying to focus on my own skating. I have learned from bitter experience that if I am not very selfish at competitions I soon loose the plot! So if you were there and I didn't see you or say hello, I apologise!
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15:24
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Sunday
This was always going to be a long day, with morning patch at one end of the day and Bristol RIDL at the other. I was slightly late leaving home but still managed to be on ice by 0730 in spite of thick fog on the roads.
The patch was very busy with extra people in to practice for the Solo Dance Championships and Dance Club was *really* busy. In our lesson we continued where we left off last week with the step sequence and finally finished it off (yay!). After my bracket I now mohawk to backwards then F 3turns to get into open Killian hold and we both do a complicated series of steps involving mohawk and cross in front on both feet (I can't help it if I'm step dyslexic!). Finally F does two drop 3s and we end up with the assisted teapot that MP and CB have christened 'the lobotomy manouvre' (can assure you that there is no risk of contact between toepick and forehead!). We now just have the final 20-30 seconds to choreograph but much of that will be taken up by a lift and spin.
In OXIST Mark offered me an extra half hour to make up for missed time on Tuesday night. I decided to take half of it solo and half to continue the mornings good work on the free dance with F. After a couple of runs through of the step sequence Mark decided the next thing to go in should be a lift so he asked us to demonstrate some. We started with the stag as that is easily our most reliable lift although, even with this lift, by the time we have finished turning we are stationary. We worked on how to keep it moving during and after the rotation (with some success) and then moved on to the leg wrap, which I think Mark prefers even though it is less reliable and we can't get into it at more than a snails pace. By the end of the lesson we had gained a little speed into the lift but still need to work on getting more height.
Straight on to my solo lesson, Mark wanted to work on compulsory dances for the next competitions (Bristol and BAC) which, for me, will be Canasta Tango and Dutch Waltz. He decided that my CT didn't have enough tango feel to it and immediately set to work on better edges. I need to bring the swing rolls round so that they finish at 90 degrees to or from the barrier and the slip chasses round to finish parallel to the (side) barriers. The run at the end needs to finish on a really deep LFO edge so that I am traveling back up the rink parallel to the barrier before stepping on to a really deep RFO (he demonstrated with collapsed ankle for both LFO and RFO but I am not sure whether I can do that!) to bring the crossroll swing back through 180 degrees directly towards the end barrier. This is a real challenge, even though the steps are so simple....
Finally it was down to Bristol for the RIDL where, on arriving in the car park, I realised that I had left my skating trousers with Sarah for some alterations after a fitting at lunch time (hadn't occurred to me at the time!). I ended up having to skate in tracksuit bottoms and t-shirt (thankfully all black). I skated a Rhythm Blues with MP and a 14step with F and lost both matches. Thankfully both MP and F had better luck with their other partners (S and TOM) and won the other RB and 14. Unfortunately M&V had to pull out at the last minute so F and TOM had to skate both Starlights (which meant that F skated 2 Festval Cha Chas, 2 14steps and 2 Starlight Waltzes consecutively!). Overall I think Oxford managed second in the junior competition and last in the senior. Didn't really take part in the social dancing, other than to warm up a few dances before the competition, so retired to the buffet before the crowds got there.
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17:33
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Sunday - no Dance Club
A short day with ice only available until 0845 due to an all day hockey event. To make the most of the day I made sure I was on ice by 0700.
Did a thorough warm up and run through of solo dances for Bracknell before starting on the 14Step and Foxtrot with F. This was the first time I have felt properly at home on Oxford ice since getting back from Europe (and the nicest the ice has been since getting back!). Even so, after having to abort a 14Step to avoid a close encounter with D&J I found I could not seem to get onto an inside edge for the mohawk on the next go. It took a few attempts to work out what the problem was and I hope it will be ok next time I skate!
Finally have our lesson back with Mark! While Sarah has given some very useful help and a different perspective, it is great to have Marks more technical approach back. Unfortunately he had to take the lesson from the barrier having hurt his foot a couple of days before. We started off with the foxtrot, knowing that it would take the whole lesson. After a couple of sequences Mark introduced pauses after the cross behind at the start and after my forward run (before the second crossroll 3) which helps us to keep together. He also got me to do a *really* deep edge after the first 3turn followed by a 'flat outside edge' before the step forward. Finally he made us do proper (deep) inside edges for the start/restart, all of which improved the pattern a great deal. Unfortunately there was no time to practice any of the improvements as we had to get off the ice straight after the lesson so we will have to make sure we go through it thoroughly next time we skate. Worryingly, F seems to be experimenting with new forms of 'encouragement' if I get the steps wrong .....
Very strange to leave the rink by 9am. Took the opportunity to spend a very relaxed Sunday. But I don't think I could do that every week!
Current Mood:  relaxed
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16:40
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Late update for last week
More or less caught up at work .... now for LiveJournal!
Starting back in Oxford last Tuesday (Oberstdorf and Mountain Cup will follow).
Less than a day after arriving back in the UK it was back on ice for the usual Tuesday night free for all. Having been spoilt by two weeks of really good ice (or at least one week of superb ice and one week of not quite so good bit still very nice ice) it was a bit hard to get back into Oxford ice. It was hard to warm up properly and I found myself stopping to chat to people quite a lot. The difference in rink size is also much more apparent when coming back to a smaller one. The dance intervals felt a bit more tentative than usual and we attempted the Foxtrot without much hope. In fact it survived remarkably well (although that was not to last ... see Sunday!). I couldn't really bring myself to do much dance practice so I practiced some spins instead and was still doing so when Mark came over for my lesson. So we spent the fist part of the lesson on spins (yay!) and he picked up on a couple of things that really helped. The rest of the lesson was spent on the Fiesta Tango, which he was mostly quite pleased with but put more emphasis on bringing the edges round further. I really hope I can get this dance together with enough reliability for Bracknell. I worry that I know I can generate enough speed to make the mohawk scary and it's that knowledge, rather than the actual mohawk, that could cause me problems. I guess I just need to practice it more going faster and faster. After the second dance interval F and I left early for much needed coffee.
Friday 8th June.
What better way to start your Birthday than getting up at 5:30am to go skating! The ice felt a little better but still somewhat alien ... at least there was plenty of room to warm up properly with plenty of edges and crossovers (just like the training camp!). Spent a little time on spins and think they might actually be starting to feel like spins at long last (whether they look anything like them is another question). Spent most of the rest of the time practicing dances and chatting to MP.
Sunday 10th June.
Opened my eyes to see the clock showing exactly 0600, an hour later than it should have read. One thought - "S**t"!!! Left the house at 0618, which included shower, shave and quick breakfast (just fruit and a biscuit, but I can't skate on an empty stomach!). A slightly liberal interpretation of some of the speed limits meant that I made it on ice with seconds to spare before our 0700 lesson. Not the best way to start a lesson, especially as I usually need about 20 minutes to warm up properly. We decided to start with the 14Step (there was a time, not so long ago, when I could not have contemplated using the 14Step to warm up!). It was well short of perfect but but went round. I am still not standing up straight enough. Sarah wants me to imagine I am skating inside a toilet roll so the body has to stay straight within it. Now I am familiar with having to do some Pilates exercises imagining you are between two very close walls, but a toilet roll?!!!
On to the Foxtrot and Sarah asked us to do 3 sequences. She stopped us after the first sequence (yes it was that bad) and after tweaking our hold a bit decided that we needed to go right back to basic stroking in hold ... a whole week of outside edges. Slowly rising on the skating leg and sinking into the ice for the next push in a continuous sine wave motion. We did work on it for the rest of patch and it must have been doing something because the backs of my legs ached a lot more than usual afterwards.
Last Gala practice. The routine is more or less finished but rather fewer people than I would have hoped seem to know what it is. I keep getting asked 'what are we supposed to be doing now?' 'Um, I haven't been here for the last few rehearsals - you tell me!'. I hope it will be somewhat better in the dress rehearsal next Saturday. But I hold out little hope.
Sarah has finished Fs dress for our free dance and it looks great. My waistcoat is also being fitted but I will have to wait until July before it is finished :-(.
In OXIST we tried some couples spins and managed a few decent ones. It seems to work best if I treat F as just being along for the ride. Lifts we going well. Was a bit worried that we haven't tried them for the last month or more.
After playing around with some solo spins and three jumps F asked how my Salchow was. I said that I didn't know how to do one so she showed me. I tried it and it worked! I can now do two jumps! Very pleased - Thanks F!
Rounded off the day with a late birthday lunch in Oxford. A very nice way to end the weekend.
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15:33
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Friday Morning
This will be my last journal entry before leaving for Oberstdorf on Monday and until I return form France on June 4th.
Arrived in good time to get on the ice just after 0730 but spent too much time chatting and didn't actually get on the ice until 0750. Then after a quick warm up MP arrived and spent more time chatting! Actually, the session (and much of the chatting) proved very productive as the ice was good and not too busy.
In practice I was a bit selfish in my use of the ice and did many patterns of Canasta, Swing, Fiesta, Foxtrot and 14step both with and without the music. I wouldn't normally hog the ice quite so much but as it was my last Friday patch before the competitions I did make the most of it.
The CT was going quite well (much better than Tuesday). The pattern was quite large and fast and I remembered to let the edges run, make the swings and slips snappy, and even the xroll swings didn't feel too out of control.
SD was not too bad and I am happy I can get round it ok with enough of a warm up (mainly on the forward chasses and swings as I find it hard to lift my foot high enough on a deep edge). The back edges were a little too toe scrapy but at least that reminds me to lean back and keep my hip up. I did continuous sequences through all four of the US tunes I had with me (yes, even *that* on) so apologies to everyone else at the rink for the earbashing!
After I had got fed up doing sequences of CT to MPs music I moved on to the Fiesta and did a few laps of that. Not bad but will have to start serious solo work on it after the Mountain Cup (for Bracknell).
Put some Foxtrot music on so I could practice it solo (which should help when we come to do it in Oberstdorf). My patterns are smaller and slower than with F and I tend to pull out at the 4th or 6th xroll3. Managed all other parts of the dance including the long back edges and the restarts. Tried to gradually inject more speed at the start but will need to practice that more on Sunday.
After three tracks the music changed to the 14step so I thought I might as well practice that as well. Side steps ok but rather scrapy end steps. I need to build up my speed into the mohawk - I can do it fine if I start from the swing and run but if I try from the first run I don't always manage get the edge into it.
Hay fever season is really starting to kick in today - really itchy eyes, sore throat and feeling pretty groggy. At least I don't feel it so badly on ice!
My last skate before leaving for Europe will be on Sunday morning. Not sure if I will be able to stay for OXIST as I will have to finish packing and go and pick up F from the airport.
Current Mood: satisfied
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14:47
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Tuesday Evening - Last Lesson!
well, unless I can blag an extra one on Sunday ....
As ever on a Tuesday night I was too tired to skate very productively even though the session was very quiet (only a couple of skaters not taking lessons of some sort or other) and the ice was good. The fact that there were very few novice skaters had it own problems though and the whole ice pad was taken up with people practicing elements making it hard to do patterns or warm up properly.
F and I had a final run through of all our dances. The Foxtrot held together but was less than spectacular. I think it is, at least, on the mend and another few sessions would have improved it. Unfortunately we don't have another few sessions so it will have to do as it is.
The 14step was ok but we need much deeper edges on the swing. We can do it in the Swing Dance but it doesn't always happen in the 14. My mohawks are always the first thing to suffer when I am tired and they were a bit scrapy - not enough of an inside edge.
The Fiesta still needs quite a bit of work - we are starting to achieve more depth of edge in the CoE swing but I was stepping round into the mohawk rather than letting the edge run round, which was putting the end steps out a bit.
The Willow was ok but I still need the occasional reminder from F to let the RBO edge after my 3turn run round and not step round on to the LBO.
The Swing Dance is still going pretty well although we are apt to get a little out of time with each other on the end steps if we don't concentrate. I also managed to do a completely silent mohawk, probably for the first time ever in a dance! And it felt very smooth. I wonder whether I will ever be able to do such a thing again ....
After that we decided to call it a day on the dances as we didn't want to break anything due to overtiredness with no chance of fixing it before we go to Europe.
With TOM on holiday Mark took me for my lesson straight after the first dance interval and as I had only sat out the Riolado Samba, I was pretty exhausted to start with. It showed, firstly in the Swing Dance and then in the Canasta. Same problems in both really - too fast, not enough control, need to keep my free leg straight and keep the timing on the swings snappy. Mark says that the speed is good but not if I look out of control. I think I am going to have to decide on the day (for the MC) how much speed to put into each of them but after the training camp I am hoping that I will be sufficiently acclimatised not to have to hold back too much.
Decided that more dance practice was going to be counter productive so tried a few spins and discovered that I can make them rotate with quite a bit of speed, if only I had the balance to keep them going.
F and I decided to call it a night and left early for coffee at the station where we filled in our Bracknell paperwork.
Current Mood:  pensive
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16:08
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Sunday
Another marathon day.
With D&J not in, Sarah had put back our lesson to 0730 which meant an extra 'lie in'. But I woke up at about 0405 and could not get back to sleep again. I gave in a 5am and got up anyway so I was on ice by 0650. I think I was dreaming the 14step! Probably a good job I was not dreaming about the Foxtrot as that would probably have been classified as a nightmare ....
I had the rink to myself and it was nice to warm up and be able to identify all the marks on the ice as your own. Some of the Swing Dance patterns even seemed to match pretty closely, at least in places. Eventually Sarah came on to warm up and then F.
In our lesson we all wanted to work on the Foxtrot. Sarah was reasonably happy with what she had seen of our 14step last week so we left it at that. We rejigged the Foxtrot start again so that we do two pushes in open hold and then go straight into Foxtrot hold on the first run, followed by two more pushes in hold and another run. This gives us both time to get the hold sorted out and stable by the time we get to the two inside edges at the start. I still need to concentrate on a shallower edge before the xroll3 and Sarah wants us tracking nose to nose on my back edges with a shallow, almost flat edge before Fs 3turn. And I need to stay behind (in front of!) F right up to the xroll leading into my second 3turn before moving to her side. We didn't look at much more of the dance but I am still sticking my hip out to the side on the long back outside edge (which is even worse than sticking my bum out apparently!). It was certainly going better today than it was last week but, frustratingly, is not as good as it was two weeks ago after our first lesson with Sarah.
In Gala practice, after the ice cut, the routine was choreographed up the end of the music, although it is a bit free form and depends on who is there at the time. We now have airport arrival, boarding the 'plane, a quick circuit of the rink and a landing. It is still quite short (less than three minutes) so Mark is going to add some 'summery' music to the end, presumably for when we reach our holiday destination. More to be revealed next week ....
Mark had a 15 minute slot free in Dance Club to make up for the missed lesson on Tuesday which, although it was pretty busy, was still better than my usual time. We worked on the Swing Dance and Canasta Tango which were ok but could still benefit from deeper edges and I am not committing to the xroll swing nearly enough.
Not enough people stayed around for the mid morning dance interval, which was annoying, especially as we had even though it would have been nice to go straight out for breakfast (we needed it by 10am!). We came back before OXIST so F could have the second fitting for her dress. Am looking forward to seeing the end result!
In OXIST Mark had a spare lesson slot so F and I were able to have a final lesson together before F leaves for Tallin on Thursday. We asked if we could do some spins but Mark had other ideas and went straight on to the Fiesta Tango. We spent a lot of time on the CoE swing and making sure we crunch to the left for the inside edge. In the Swing Dance we worked on getting the end steps more together and a more relaxed hold (need to bend my elbow more as F has shorter arms than me!). in the Willow we worked on the two edges after my mohawk and into Fs 3turn, the first one deep and the second on shallow, almost flat. At the end Mark found time to look at our spin which has stopped working recently. The main problem is that we are not getting enough push into it, or rather that I am not pushing into it enough as I have to 'swing' F round. We both need to lean right into the spin to counter the rotational force which is pulling us the opposite way.
Another long day with 1.25 hours of lessons. This time next week (as I am writing this) we should be in, or in the vicinity of, Oberstdorf, and hopefully getting ready for our first taste of ice there. We even got a lovely good luck card from one of the kids (her solo 14step dwarfs even our very best efforts!).
Current Mood:  sleepy
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16:47
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Friday Morning
Slightly later start than usual as F had taken my blades to be sharpened, but still on ice shortly after 0800. The regrind was just about perfect and I could stop normally straight away but edges felt more secure. Still took my time to warm up slowly to get used to them though.
MP put some US CT music on so I took the opportunity to do a few ccts of that which were mostly ok except for the xroll swings. Then progressed on to the Fiesta Tango as it looks like I will have to do this solo at Bracknell. But it takes a bit of getting used to without a partner! I think it will be very useful to work on the FT solo for a while and should help when F and I have to come back to it for BAC. Finally, the Swing Dance was reasonably ok.
After the resurface I tried a few spins, which are slowly starting to actually feel like spins rather than a method of drilling through the ice using a toepick. Then F and I spent the last half hour working on the Foxtrot, 14step, Swing Dance and Willow. The foxtrot is gradually recovering and we think we have worked out why the starts are so awkward - we start facing the end of the rink and do two pushes, a run round the corner and two more pushes followed by another run, with change of hold from open to foxtrot. Because I am on the inside for both runs I hold back so that I don't leave F behind. On the other hand, F also holds back so she doesn't get ahead of me. The result is that we lose any speed into the start and we both end up in the wrong position anyway. If I don't hold back, F is perfectly able to keep up anyway and we start the dance actually moving. And in a much better position for the first 3turn.
The 14step was going pretty well. We went through it several times alternating between 3 and 4 sequences. Could do with slightly deeper edges on the side steps though. The Swing Dance was also going very well so we moved straight on to the Willow with just enough time for a couple of sequences before the end of the session. Again, it is going fairly well but we still have a tendency to roll off the edges on the end steps.
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