Moves & Spins

Today's lesson was in our new 5:30 p.m. time slot:

• stroking -- Once again looking for extension. Also Anna was looking at the end crossovers, which were not too bad. On the other hand we only did these CCW, so I really need to try to practice this CW tomorrow or sometime soon if I can.
  
• forward crossovers -- I am SO tired of working on my crossovers... Anna says she can forgive a lot if I would just give better extension on the first push. I'm trying... She also wants me to think about bending the skating knee as I'm bringing the crossing foot around. They are improving, really they are; they are hugely better than they were a couple of months ago. Still, when I look at Nicole's (for example), my FXOs leave a lot to be desired.
  
• spins -- just some brief time on these since we had not looked at them in a while. I was having some weird problems today though -- actually I've been having slightly weird problems on these for a while. Partly it's just sloppiness, I think. I'm not pulling in very well, and I tend to go into the 1-foot spin before I've really established the 2-foot. We decided to move on for now and let me work on them a bit.
  
• spin entrance -- I was really glad to get back to these since we've not touched it in a while. These had decayed a little too; Anna reminded me not to try to step forward too soon, and to be sure to get the wind up complete. Once I do step forward, I need to get a bit more push than I am getting now. Anna says I've got almost all the pieces together and I'm putting them together most of the time.
  
• FO3/back 2-foot turn pattern -- we'd not touched these in a while. This is on the hockey circle, do an FO3, then a back 2-foot turn, repeat ad nauseum. My FO3s on the circle are getting better, especially when I don't rush the preparation or force them. I can do them a bit faster than I used to, too. The back 2-foot turns are improving as well. Strangely enough the CW ones are better than CCW. I think it's remnants of my shoulder injury from last year that keep me from checking well in that direction and/or turning my head to the left well. I should probably considering going to a massage therapist that I met at a party at Christmas; she thought that some of the stuff she'd learned might be more helpful than the PT I had. It's probably worth a try.
• Mohawk combo -- This is the infamous FXO, FXO, Mohawk, cross step, step forward pattern. These have improved quite a bit, actually. Even the cross step, which is still rather stinky, is at least not scary anymore. I've spent a fair amount of time just practicing the cross step, going around and around the circle. Anna reminded me I should be able to do these with the upper body fairly "quiet". Not yet...
  
• Alternating forward/back Mohawks -- Anna asked me if I'd ever just gone around the circle doing FI Mohawk, step forward, repeat, repeat, repeat ad nauseum. "Of course!", I replied, "I do that obsessively all the time!" She seemed surprised by that. Anyway, I demonstrated and she seemed relatively pleased. She says I need to work to keep the position on the forward Mohawk more open -- especially, I think, on the LFI since I tend to "lead with my butt" more on that side. Anyway, when I do these I tend to end up with my back perpendicular to the circle, instead of facing out of the circle. More stuff to work on!
  

That was all we had time for... Anna said on Thursday we'll work on waltz jumps and also spins if I'm still having problems with them.