Exhibition

I was down in Tucson this afternoon as the Tucson FSC hosted an exhibition for our PCAS and AN competitors -- myself, Jose and Brenda.  We had a half hour of ice to skate our programs.  We were privileged to have one of the Tucson judges join us for a critique.

We had a 5-minute warmup (I swear it's the fastest that 5 minutes has ever gone by!), then Brenda and Jose skated their free skates, then I skated mine.  It went pretty well, actually -- I got something resembling a toe loop, which I hadn't in practice.  Then off to change costumes while Brenda and Jose did their dramatic programs!

Next I did my dramatic program.  It went pretty well, and I actually ended on time.  Then Brenda skated her light program (it was really cute!) and we were done.

Afterward I had the chance to say hi to some friends that came to watch (my friend Tim and his wife, my stepfather and his wife, and fellow TFSC-er Lisa and her baby boy!).  Then I had my time to talk with our judge about my skating.

The three main points that I took away were all ones that I've heard before, or already knew; but it was good to hear them re-iterated and hear his perspective.  I'd summarize them as:

1. Spins are too short.  I'm usually getting 1.5 - 2 revs and I really need to have 3+ if I want to get credit.  I know this, of course.  In my free skate, for example, I might have gotten more revs in my first spin but I had to stop to align with the music.  Usually though my spins are just not that good.
2. Not enough air on my jumps.  I really need a bit more height.  I am capable of that on the waltz jump (need to be more collected), not yet on the sal or toe.
3. Slightly behind the music on the dramatic program.  This was a bit of a surprise to me, although JJ and I have discussed it a couple of times.  In general I need to really watch the gestures and be sure they are 'on'.
4. Presentation, presentation, presentation.  He said that I could be a winner (well, probably) if I could just "sell" it more, look up, look more confident.  Again, nothing I have not heard before.  He said I have great potential but I really need to get over this.

All really good feedback.  Only the last two are things I can really hope to fix in the next few days, IMHO.  Well, #4 I can't probably truly fix in that time but hopefully I can at least improve it. I'm tired of always being last.

After the critique I had about 45 minutes of ice time so I worked a lot on toe loop and sal and spins.  I was really tired though.