Ice Dance Class #1 - Patch Blades!

Tonight was the first session of the summer ice dance class with Naomi at Chandler.  Unfortunately I didn't have my freestyle boots, but I'd already paid for the class so I decided (with JJ's encouragement) to go ahead and do it anyway.  It's an hour class.

We spent the first part of the class working through basic ice dance elements -- chassés, slide chassés, and cross chassés (a.k.a. the tuck-behinds in the Rhythm Blues).  All not too bad except for the cross chassés of course.  Yow.

From there we went on to review swing rolls and cross rolls.  Not too bad although getting on a flat in patch blades is kinda scary as once again we have the skidding problem :-(.

Next we spent the rest of the session working through the Canasta Tango, adding it together step by step until by the end we had run through the whole thing (including restart) a couple of times.  Yay!  Unfortunately we did not get to run it with music :-(.

I was really pleased that I was able to keep up reasonably well in my patch blades.  It was a bit scary at times -- I'm not used to going (relatively) fast in them, much less doing crossovers and swingrolls.  Yow.  But really it went remarkably well and I was pleased with myself.

There are only 7 people signed up for the class (6 of us tonight), and one other adult (my buddy Lora) so I'm not the only one.  It's smaller than last year's class, which is nice for us though maybe not so nice for the rink.

Preliminary Test

My lesson with Lynne on the Chandler Ice Cafe.  We had our lesson right at the start of the session.  We had a quick debrief of the competition, then on to work.

Today's lesson:

• FO8 -- Not bad.  My 2nd LFO was really wide as I had a hard time getting over the edge quickly that time.  Other than that it was decent.
• FI8 --pretty nice.
• waltz-8 -- ugh.  I have not done these in a while and it really really showed.  My turns were really horrible, cutting in on the L side BO edge and having a hard time with the R side BO edge.  Yuck.

After the lesson I stayed to do the patch class.  I spent most of my time working on the waltz-8 and especially the BO edge and step forward.  Ugh.

Ice Dance #7

Our final installment of the ice dance class at Chandler.

We started out by working on "pretty stroking", crossrolls, then swingrolls/crossrolls.  Then more crossrolls with the dreadful cones (eep!), followed by the lilt and the tuck-behinds.  Ugh.

From there we went through Dutch waltz, canasta tango and rhythm blues several times each both without and then with music.  I can't say they were perfect or even good but I definitely made progress.

I've really enjoyed this class and I felt it did improve my skating.  It was a lot of fun.  I wish it were offered all the time, I would definitely take it.

Ice Dance #6

Installment #6 of the Ice Dance class.  I missed last week due to travel.

For the first part of class we warmed up and reviewed some elements - we worked on keeping our arms still while doing swingrolls & crossrolls.  Naomi had us first hold gloves or guards in our hands, then had us wear cones (!) on our hands/arms to illustrate where our arms actually were.  Eeep.  It is tough to keep those arms straight and not moving when everything else is.  After that we learned inside swingrolls and the "lilt" from the Rhythm Blues.

After that we spent the rest of class learning the Rhythm Blues.  We didn't have music at this point, just worked through the dance, which was hard enough.  As usual I am okay on remembering the steps but not so great at actually skating them.  I do think I am skating a little faster, which is nice.

Ice Dance #5

Installment #5 of ice dance class at Chandler!  There was no LTS before us today so we had beautiful fresh ice :-).  We didn't have an assistant today, just Naomi and about 9 of us.

We started with the usual warmup of "pretty stroking" (mine is not that pretty) and then reviewed our chassés and crossroll/swingroll combo.  Next we went on to spend a large amount of time reviewing the Dutch Waltz.  It did eventually come back to us, for the most part :-).

From there we went back to the Canasta Tango.  Again, a lot of review including working to get our pattern a bit more correct.  Finally we finished up with a quick practice of the tuck-behinds from the Rhythm Blues and then we were done.

All in all.... it is getting better.  I am still pretty slow, but it's improving.  This morning's practice did help, too.  I just need to get more comfort/practice at skating faster but that will come, I hope.

No class for me next week as I'm traveling :-(. 

Ice Dance #4

Installment #4 of ice dance class at Chandler.

For tonight's class we were missing several people including all of the other adults in the class!  A little weird.

We warmed up a little, and Naomi reiterated that she wanted to see us doing "pretty ice dancer" stroking.  So we did a little bit of that, then revisited our chasses and crossrolls/swingrolls.  Then Naomi introduced the tuck-behinds from the Rhythm Blues.  Yep, I still can't do these.  Although I do think I probably can do them at some point if I work on them -- I'm hoping for next week with Lynne.  We'll see.

Then we were back to reviewing the Canasta Tango... ugh.  Most of us (including me) had forgotten some part of this (not all of it, just pieces here and there).   I'm always surprised when people can't find or keep the beat though.  As a musician it's very natural to me but I guess a lot of our kids don't get any music at all :-(.

Ice Dance #3

Ice dance class with Naomi at Chandler, session #3.  Tonight we were on the east rink, instead of the west as we were for the previous two sessions.  That meant that we were after the previous LTS sessions and we had torn-up ice.  Yuck.

Tonight's class:

• Russian stroking -- Naomi admonished us that for dance we always needed to have good form, so she had us practice our perimeter FXOs (Russian stroking) with pretty arms.  Since I am doing this for Bronze moves it was not too hard for me.
• chassés review -- we reviewed the chassé, slide chassé and cross chassé.  Urp.  The first two are fine for me.  I really need to spend some time working on the cross chassé (cross-behind). I feel like I actually have the right position I just need to be braver and try it on the boards a few times, then someplace where I won't get run over by someone if I fall...
• swing roll/cross rolls -- we practiced our swing rolls again and also learned cross rolls.  I can actually pretty much do the cross roll okay. The swing rolls are getting a little better so that is good though I really need to practice them more (I don't see that happening until I'm done with the Bronze moves test, though).
• Canasta Tango -- we learned this dance bit-by-bit.  I didn't really remember it from before so it was a (re-)learning experience but really it wasn't that bad.
• Dutch Waltz -- just at the end she had us go through the DW without any review really (it was a test to see if we remembered).  I mostly remembered it so that was not too bad.

I'm really enjoying this class.  I was afraid I would be intimidated by being in with the kids but really it's been okay.  I think I'm a much better skater than when I took the previous classes so that is probably helping a lot.

Ice Dance #2

I didn't feel well this morning so I did not skate, but I'd already paid for my ice dance class... so off I went.  Naomi was there today along with another coach I had not met (Sarah?).

Today's class:

• stroking -- emphasis on good posture, bent knees.
• swing rolls -- we worked on these down the line, emphasis on keeping the arms in a strong position and moving under them.
• progressives/crossovers -- more work on these, trying to keep the beat.
• Dutch Waltz -- a number of times through this. It's getting a little better.  I am skating faster but still kinda wimpy on the swingrolls ("springrolls" as Cami calls them, lol!).
• chassés, slide chassés and cross chassés -- introduction (review, for me) of these. I hadn't done the cross chassé before.  It's basically the same as the little tuck-behind in the Rhythm Blues except the exit is different.  Really scary.  I didn't quite manage one but I came close.  

All in all it's going okay.  I had hoped to work on swingrolls with Lynne this morning but I didn't get that.  They are really the weakest point for me right now.

Ice Dance Class #1

Tonight was our first Ice Dance class at Chandler.  Alas, while Naomi Lang was supposed to be teaching, airline difficulties meant she was not able to be there tonight.  Ice Den found us a substitute, our very own Lynne Petta - AND - they are going to add a free additional session 7/22 for us.  Nice!

Tonight's class:

• stroking -- emphasis on nice lines, pushing correctly, and holding each stroke on a 3 count.
• swing rolls -- ugh.  Of course my swing rolls have not magically improved with disuse :-).  Although they were better than I remembered them; but still the same problem, I either need to skate a lot faster or have smaller lobes (ideally a bit of both).  Meh.
• progressives -- well, not really progressives, just crossovers, but done in rhythm.
• Dutch Waltz intro --  we pretty much learned the pattern (again, for me) for the DW.  It seemed easier than I remembered (though really it was never that hard).  If I had decent swingrolls I could totally do this dance.  Well, solo, anyway!

Class was an hour, and I was pretty whupped when it was done.  We had about 15 people in the class (!) with just Lynne and Tammy and Danette helping (I think Danette did not stay the whole time, but I'm not sure).  We had 5 adults and 10 kids, some of them relatively high level.  I was not the slowest, but I was close :-).  Lol.

It was fun!

Ice Dance Class #3-6

The final ice dance class (for now) at the Ice Den.  The time for this was moved up to 4:30 from the usual 5:30.  We were on the south rink.  It was just me and the 2 girls who've been there the whole time; Veronica, Don, and Katie.

We warmed up with swing rolls, progressives, etc., then moved on to work through the 6 dances for quite some time.  Don worked with me on my swing rolls and slide chassés for a while, which did help.  After that we then ran through all the dances one more time and just did them (Veronica helped me with the ones I couldn't remember).  After that we had about 10 minutes left so we worked on "fun stuff", in this case twizzles and loops (not loop jumps).  I actually made some slight progress on the RFI twizzle.  As for the loops -- I can see why they are hard.  It's really hard to do that and not wind up spinning, or doing a 3.

And with that we were done!  Hopefully they will offer this class again next year.  I did definitely learn some things.  I would like to work on dance more at some point, though when I will actually find the time (and ice time) is hard to foresee.

Ice Dance Class #3-5

Ice dance class at the Den as usual.  We had 3 instructors (Veronica, Don and Katie) and 5 skaters (2 adults, 3 kids).

We warmed up with pieces of the various dances that we've tended to practice before -- for example the slaloms from the Cha Cha, the last chunk of the Fiesta Tango.  Then we went on and worked on each of the 6 dances, although we spent considerably more time on the first 3.  Then we were done!

I am at the point where I actually more or less know the steps for the first 3 dances (def. not the second 3!), although I do have to quickly review.  This 45 minutes is a good workout!  It was fun but tiring.

One class left, next week.

Ice Dance Class #3-4

Tonight's ice dance class at the Ice Den.  We were on the Ice Den rink instead of the RJM (a.k.a. South) rink.  We had 3 kids and 3 adults.  Instructors were Tim and Veronica -- no Don nor Katie.

We ran through some warmups with FO swingrolls, FI swingrolls, slide chassés to swing rolls, slaloms (from the Cha Cha pattern) and BO swingrolls (eep).  Then on to the DW, CT and RB (lots of time on each of them) and just a little time at the end on the Swing Dance and Cha Cha.

I am feeling relatively comfortable with the first three dances, as in, I pretty much know the steps now; so I guess that's a positive.  I thought my FO swingrolls were slightly improved tonight and I was skating maybe a smidge faster.  Of course there's still the usual litany of things I am not doing, or not doing well, yet:

• my progressives are just crossovers, and they are too slow
• my swing rolls don't curve enough and are too slow
• I can't do the RB cross-behind

Still..  a good day.  Only two classes left!

Ice Dance Class #3-3

Ice dance class at the Ice Den.  We were back to the back ice for class.  Freshly surfaced ice, but the Coyotes had been practicing on it right before so it was still a bit bumpy.

I got my blades sharpened right before class (I was way overdue).  As it turned out that was a pretty dumb thing to do!

We ran through warmups -- swing rolls, chassés, slaloms, etc.  I keep feeling like I don't know what I am supposed to do in these warmups.  Then we went on to work on DW, CT, RB and later a bit of the Swing Dance and Cha Cha.  Geez.  Don't think I made any really progress from last week, although I am remembering the steps on the DW and CT a lot better.  But my swing rolls still stink, my progressives are just crossovers, and I can't do that nasty cross-behind in the RB.  Bleah.

Ice Dance Class #3-2

Ice dance class at the Ice Den... we were on a different rink today.  I can never remember the names, but it's the one on the right when you walk in.

There were 5 of us, three kids and two adults.  Tim was not teaching, just Don, Veronica and Katie. We warmed up with slaloms, swing rolls, and chassés.  Then on to the DW, CT and RB for most of the time.  The last few minutes we looked at the Swing Dance.

I've noticed that when I'm going fast (for me) I'm really not getting on a good outside edge, which is a large part of my problem.  I think it's probably fear, as my toes are kind of gripping the bottom of my boot and I can't seem to put my weight into the side of my foot for the edge.  Grrr.   Stuff to work on.

Ice Dance Class #3-1

(N.B. I am labeling this #3 because it's the 3rd session they've done.  Even though I didn't enroll in the 2nd session (just dropped in to half of them) I think it's clearer to label this way).

First class of the new ice dance class at Ice Den.  Two kids (they've been there all along, but I don't remember their names :-(), Patti and myself ; and the same instructors as last week, so a skater-coach ratio of 1:1!

We worked on Dutch Waltz, Canasta Tango, Rhythm Blues, and a little bit of Swing Dance and Fiesta Tango.  I really don't know those last ones hardly at all :-(.  Don and Tim and Veronica all spent quality time with me, mostly working on swing rolls and trying to get me to bend my knees more :-).  I am doing somewhat better, I think -- slowly.  I'm feeling reasonably comfy with the SW and CT, though until my swing rolls improve I'm not going to be able to do them on time.

Now that the class is only 45 minutes it really flew by!  I had a good time.

Ice Dance Class

I dropped-in to the ice dance class at Ice Den tonight.  I'd not been in 3 weeks due to travel.  Skate buddy Mary from Chandler also came and gave it a go.  We had 5 adults (3 women, 2 men) and 2 kids; we had Veronica, Don, and Tim coaching and Katie assisted as usual.

Format was pretty much the same as the last time -- we spent quality time on the Dutch Waltz, Canasta Tango and Rhythm Blues, and then practiced the end pattern from the Swing Dance and also a bit of the Fiesta Tango.

I am definitely skating faster. It's kinda scary but I know I just need to keep pushing it, keep working on it.  I'm still frustrated but I do think my elements are improving a bit.

Looking forward, it looks like I should be able to make all the classes for the next session so I'm going to go ahead and sign up this weekend.

Ice Dance Class

I dropped-in to the beginning ice dance class at the Ice Den.  Some changes -- we had 3 adults, one older teen, and 3 kids (they've been there the whole time pretty much); also instructors were Tim D as before, Don B. and jr. coach Katie as before.  I'd seen Don skate before (really amazing) but hadn't ever really met him.  Also hadn't realized he's a "grownup"... he's 34!

Format for this class was quite different, we spent about 15 minutes each on DW, CT and Swing Dance with the instructors running around giving people feedback.  I really liked this as I had time to actually repeat the dances enough to feel like I at least know the steps (for DW and CT -- SD is a whole 'nother ball game).

I had some really good feedback from Don -- I really appreciated that he spent what seemed like a lot of time on me.  Most of his feedback was that I really, really, really need to bend my knees more.  Not surprising but still I had an opportunity to put it into practice right there.  Also for some reason I'd never really internalized that I need to bend my knees going into everything, then straighten when I bring my feet together.  Except for swing rolls -- I never quite got before that I need to straighten up as I bring my free foot through (top of the lobe).

Anyway, it was a good class and I'm glad I went.  It was *really* tiring though!  An hour of solid dancing.  Yow.  Due to travel etc. I won't be able to attend this again for 3 weeks.  Oh well.

Ice Dance Class

I dropped-in to the ice dance class at Ice Den.  Since I am going to be traveling a lot during the next session I decided it would be better to drop-in ($20) to the ones I can attend rather than pay for the whole session and have to try to get some kind of credit for the ones I can't.

3 (!) adults and 3 kids today -- another adult man showed up.  He looked vaguely familiar, but I didn't catch his name, so I assume I've seen him skate here in the area before.  Of course he's much better than me.

We worked on the pre-bronze dances (Fiesta Tango, Cha Cha, and Swing Dance) including some time on the waltz hold for the SD.  Since these dances now have mohawks and backward skating in them, they are a lot more challenging.  We went through them at what seemed to me like warp speed :-( and I was quite confused.

For the last 15 minutes we did a quick review of the Dutch Waltz, Canasta Tango and Rhythm Blues.  Eeep.

Ice Dance Class #1-6

Final ice dance class for this session... 5 kids and two adults.  We spent about 15 minutes warming up with swing rolls, progressives, chassés, etc. then about 30 minutes working on DW, CT and RB.  After that we spent a little time being introduced to the Fiesta Tango (we'd learned some of the steps already, specifically the backward part).  Finished up with a little bit of partnering, I went ahead and worked a little on waltz hold with Patti C, just doing some swing rolls.  Eeep.

Still haven't decided whether to enroll for the next session or not, I need to decide by next week.

Ice Dance Class #1-5

Ice dance class at the Ice Den... 5 kids, 2 adults.  At class time there were only 3 kids and me out on the ice so I thought I was going to get an individual lesson! (we have 3 coaches and a jr. coach).  Alas no, the other 2 kids and adult showed up ;-).

We warmed up with swing rolls, slide chassés, progressives.  Then continued woodshedding DW, CT, and RB... ugh.  It is maybe getting a bit better but I find it soooo frustrating.  I know I'm skating faster, so that is good...  and I am doing a better job of remembering the steps, so that also is good.

At the end of class we had a couple of moments so we worked through a sequence from the Fiesta Tango... RFI mohawk, slide-slide-slide,  cross in front, step forward, repeat.  Eeep.  I think Anna taught me a modified version of this like 8 years ago.  Hmm.

Next week is the last class of the session.  I've not decided how to proceed.  I will be gone 2 of the 6 Fridays for that session.  I also tend to think I would do a lot better if I had time to actually work on the elements I can't do -- swing rolls, progressives, the cross-behind in the RB.  Right now I feel like I'm learning the dances but I can't learn how to do them *right*.  Not sure what to do.