Final Choreo

My choreo session with Tammy on the 7:30 a.m FS at Chandler.  Okay ice, just me and Jillian (and Maria briefly).  This was our final chance to work on the dramatic program before Autumn Antics this Sunday.  I warmed up with stroking and then ran some chunks of the program.

For today's lesson, we ran the program once -- mostly okay.  Then we ran through some parts of it, ran it again, worked some more, and ran it one last time.

In general it's looking good.  I'm a little slow right now so I'm not having as much time at the end for stuff (I'm having to shorten a bit).  Hopefully on Sunday I'll skate faster.  The only other real issue is the salchow, which is being difficult (just like Tuesday).  Hopefully I can get my head in the right place and make it happen when needed!

Competition Prep

My choreo session with Tammy on the 7:30 a.m FS at Chandler.  I had time to warmup jumps and spins and spent a little time on the harder elements for me.  Before we started I also showed Tammy the two shirts I'd considered and we agreed on the royal blue one, so costume is set.

Today we ran the dramatic program twice and worked a bunch of the pieces, and made some small refinements..

• be sure to use both hands when carrying prop
• Moved the spin more to the audience side of the rink so there's better ice coverage and just more space
• Removed the RFI3 (or at least made it 'optional' lol) as it was just a bit too much.

All in all things went reasonably well, except that I'm still struggling with the salchow -- it was okay when I warmed up but in the program I had the same difficulties I had on Tuesday, I just rush the whole thing and my timing is all off and it just doesn't happen. Ugh.

Just over a week to go!

Choreo

My choreography session with Tammy on the 7:30 a.m. FS at Chandler.  I had a half hour to warm up,  I did some stroking, perimeter XOs, some spins and jumps.

We continued working on the dramatic program, and I was able to show Tammy my proposed prop.  It looks like it will work fine, so that's good to have out of the way.

 We were able to finish up the program, although the timing is still somewhat approximate and we have lots of refining to do.  I do have something I can practice now, so that's good.

• arms overhead (left)
• arms overhead (right)
• small dip and arms overhead (together) w/2-ft turn
• 2 chaine' turns to the left
• push into LFO swing roll to change of edge (LFI), swing leg back
• stroke, cross and hold feet with arms back to the right side.
• LFO waltz-3 (x 2)
• LFO3
• BXO into
• waltz jump
• 2 alternating FXOs with arms
• lunge with arms
• mohawk into
• back hockey glide, CW with arms
• spin w/arms on checkout
• RFI3
• salchow
• slalom left then right, "looking"
• LF attitude
• Skate to boards w/arms, pick up prop
• Back swizzles
• Turn, present prop
• skate to left with prop held high in R hand
• skate to center
• back pivot
• face judges & lift prop high w/two hands

 We added everything after the spin today.  It seems like a lot but it's only two jumps and one spin!

I realized just now I still don't have a costume for this!  ACK!  And no choreo for the next two weeks due to camp and my travel.  Urph.

Choreo

My dramatic choreography with Tammy on the 7:30 a.m. FS at Chandler.  Ice was not so great (it's really humid) but only 3 skaters most of the session, and then private ice the last 15 minutes :-).

I warmed up with stroking, crossovers, a couple of spins and waltz jumps, and then spent a little time on toe loop and walking through the choreo we already have.

We continued working through the program.  Here's what we have now in total:

• arms overhead (left)
• arms overhead (right)
• small dip and arms overhead (together) w/2-ft turn
• 2 chaine' turns to the left
• push into LFO swing roll to change of edge (LFI), swing leg back
• stroke, cross and hold feet with arms back to the right side.
• LFO waltz-3 (x 2)
• LFO3
• BXO into
• waltz jump
• 2 alternating FXOs with arms
• lunge with arms
• mohawk into
• back hockey glide, CW with arms
• spin w/arms on checkout

Good progress!  I think we are about half done, or maybe a little more.  Need some more jumps and much more footwork but we are making good progress.

Choreo!

My choreo session with Tammy on the 7:30 a.m. FS at Chandler.  Ice was pretty beat up.... about 5 skaters.

I warmed up with stroking, did a couple of spins (one was good) and a waltz jump and a toe loop (actually came around but landed 2-footed).  Next I did perimeter XOs and BXOs to BO edges, then on to work on some elements that we had worked on last week (waltz-3s, chaine' turns etc.).

For today, we started with listening to the music and talking through concepts again, then we started working through the opening.  Actual starting position on the ice isn't really firm yet.  What we have now is roughly:

• arms overhead (left)
• arms overhead (right)
• small dip and arms overhead (together) w/2-ft turn
• 2 chaine' turns to the left
• push into LFO swing roll to change of edge (LFI), swing leg back
• stroke, cross and hold feet with arms back to the right side.

That's like 15 or 20s.  eeep.  Some of this stuff will require a lot more work but that's why we're starting early!

Choreo - Elements

My choreo session with Tammy on the 7:30 a.m. FS.  Nice ice, 4 skaters and 4 coaches.

I had a half hour to warm up so I did some stroking and slaloms, then worked on toe loop and some spins.

For today's session we started by listening to the new cut of my music that I got yesterday.  It's terrific!  A number of changes but now a much stronger ending and some real variety in the parts of the song that are included.  Yay!

We talked through the "story" of the program and agreed on a rough outline.

From there we worked on looking at what's in the "toolbox" and worked through most of them.  They include:

• waltz-3
• a little pattern of RFI3 - step forward - crossover - LFI swing roll
• swing rolls in general
• half flip
• chaine' turns (from the Years program)
• hockey glide/slalom also like I had in my Years program
• half flip
• the dreaded bunny hop - lunge
• BXO with extension
• spin w/arms on entry
• 5-step mohawk or some variation thereon

All in all there's some stuff to work with -- I had never really thought about it before.  

I still need to find a prop!  Urph.

Choreo Elements

My choreo session with Tammy on the 7:30 a.m. FS at Chandler.  I warmed up with stroking, crossovers, and a very few jumps and spins.

For today, since we don't have an updated cut of music yet, we worked on a number of choreographic elements that we might want to use, including:

• swing rolls
• waltz 3s 
• slaloms with fancy arms
• attitude with fancy arms
• back pivot with fancy arms (sense a trend?)
• lunges with fancy arms
• back stroking

There might have been a couple of others, I'm not sure.  Anyway the issue with most of them is not whether I can do them, but whether I can do them in a confident and artistic way.  It's going to take some work.  I have to say the swing rolls and waltz-3s both did improve with some work, so yay!

Choreo

My choreo session with Tammy on the 7:30 a.m. FS at Chandler.  Ice was a bit crusty (it's humid), 7 skaters and 4 coaches.

I warmed up with Bronze moves (except power-3s) and then did some spins, a waltz jump and a couple of salchows and a toe loop. Eeep.  It's been a while.  My L ankle started hurting somewhere in the middle of all this -- the same shooting pain along the inside that I've occasionally had on and off since I broke it.  Yuck.

For today's session we first spent some time going over the music, the original and the cut I have.  I'm going to ask for some changes as we agreed the intro is to long and the fadeout is as well; there's a short section that I'd like to include in their stead.  Hopefully we can make this happen.

From there we spent some time talking about concepts and motivations in the program.  I think we've got some good rough ideas.  I think we will have a (small) prop.  Eeep.  Movements will need to be very flowy and edgy and that will take some work!

We have another session on Monday (I'm out most of next week for Showcase) then we'll settle in on Thursdays.

Trial Figures Lesson #2 - Tammy

I had my second trial figures lesson today on the Chandler Ice Café, this time with Tammy.

I warmed up pretty much the same as last week -- scribed circles, edges, FO8 and FI8 and a little waltz-8.

Today's lesson:

•  Background -- We had some discussions about goals and what I've done in the past, competition-wise.
• FO8 -- a random layout.  Mostly okay but a little burble when I lost sight of center coming back on the R foot.  Like Danette,  Tammy commented that I tend to pass my foot very late.
• FI8 -- a random layout again; pretty good except I hit some weird rut that slowed me way down so I didn't make it back to center on one of the LFIs - I had to push.  Yuck.
• waltz-8 -- after a runthrough, we spent some time working on 3s.  Tammy suggested that instead of thinking "down-up-down" I try thinking "down-PRESS-down".  This did help some. 
• 3s to center -- we did a few of these to explore my 3s.  They were about the same as before.

All in all it was a good lesson.  I'm not sure how to decide on this as both Danette and Tammy are good coaches and I wouldn't go wrong with either one.  It's nice to have options!  But difficult too.

In other news, I haven't skated this week as I am skateless -- I've been concerned about my R blade placement on my freestyle skates and so I gave them to Kelly on Saturday (he was at the competition) and he is going to move the front of the R blade a little to the inside, which should fix the skidding/chattering issue I've had when trying to do my circle-8 on that side.

Also Tammy mentioned that the 5:30 p.m. Tuesday FS is going to go away in the fall as it's been sold for hockey.  WAAAH!!  The one session I could reliably make it to as it was after work AND I am awake.  Oh well.  Also only two Ice Café sessions left before the summer break :-(.

Final Choreo

I skated the 7:30 a.m. FS at Chandler this morning for final choreo (final Jeopardy?! :p ) with Tammy.  I warmed up with stroking, perimeter XOs, BXOs to BO edges and 5-step mohawk; then I warmed up my toe loop and bunny hop.  I wore my costume today... boy was I cold!! Urph.

We started by running the program with music.  I did something weird on the bunny hop, then the lunge went awry on me and I wound up bringing the free leg in but it was still okay -- apparently I skipped the side toe hop though.  We worked through some of the program chunks and Tammy made a small change to the arms as I pass the judges -- left hand up higher.  We also worked on coming out from the curtains, and the bow.  I need to remember to hold the closing pose just a smidge longer so it doesn't look abrupt when I move.  We also went over what I want to warm up when I'm behind the curtain -- mohawk sequence, then bunny hop, then lunge->toe loop, then waltz jump.

After that we ran the program with music again and it went pretty well all in all.  By that I mean that the spins were no worse than usual and I didn't fall, and I did all my elements :p . I finished about a second late.

In the last couple of minutes we did some more toe loops and I actually got a couple that were okay. Yay me!

Program Polish

My choreo session with Tammy on the 7:30 a.m. FS at Chandler.  Decent ice, 4 skaters and 3 coaches.

I warmed up with Bronze Moves (yes, I made myself do all of them, even the power-3s).  Really, the only weaknesses now IMHO are the circle-8 (still can't get over how bad these are when I can do them so easily in my patch blades) and the power-3s.  Everything else is... okay.  Not sure about "passable" but okay.  After that I warmed up some elements of the program (mostly bunny hop).

We started our session by running the program with music. Still finishing a little late.  Then we spent some time working on the mohawk sequence -- Tammy added arms on the BXOs before the side toe hop.  From there we ran just that part with music and it was better.  Then we worked on the bunny hop->lunge->toe loop section, mostly to get the transition into the toe loop better (but, it made me do more bunny hops so that's probably just as well, actually). Then we ran it again with music.

So, the good news is I am definitely skating faster, which makes me happy.  I'm still getting behind early in the program -- I think it's in the mohawk sequence. 

Only 1.5 weeks left before Autumn Antics... eeep!

Choreo Polishing

I skated the 7:30 a.m. FS at Chandler for choreography with Tammy.  Only 4 of us on this session and 3 coaches. 

I warmed up with Bronze Moves, which went better than I expected.  Still having issues with circle-8, and I don't think 5-step or power-3s are passing level, but it's coming along.  After that I had about 10 minutes so I warmed up some elements from my program.

We started by working through some of the chunks of the program -- first, the bunnyhop, then the mohawk sequence.  Then we ran the program with music -- I finished considerably late, in part because I came out of the first spin forward and had to change to backward and that took me too far down rink.  Ugh.

We worked to take some of my "thinking" time out before and during the mohawk sequence.  I just need to DO it... bam! bam! bam! no thinking! Also, working to "s" the flow after the side toe hop into the waltz jump so that it's more curvy and I will not go to close to the curtain on the waltz jump.

We added some arm movements and changed some others:

• changed the opening arms to have my hands behind my back at the beginning
• after the very first crossover, added an arm movement similar to the later one after the chainé turns.
• added/changed an arm movement in the lunge -- now it's arms extended in front and then lifting up during the lunge.

We finished with another run through.  Still finished a little late, but closer. I need to skate a little faster!

Choreo!

I skated the 7:30 a.m. FS at Chandler today to work on choreography with Tammy.  I warmed up with Bronze Moves -- in general not bad except circle-8 :-(.

We started off by working the problem areas for me -- the waltz jump->bunny hop->lunge->toe loop sequence and then the mohawk sequence.  Really good progress on both, really.  After some brief bunny hop review on the wall I was able to do the whole sequence and it was fine.  The mohawk sequence is still kinda rough but it has improved (I think the 5-step mohawk progress I've made was helpful).

After that we worked the end sequence a bit, then talked through some of the "where" for the program, then we finished by running with music.  The good news is that I was able to do the whole program more or less correctly; the bad is that I was probably 15s late!  Eeep.  Well, that will improve.

Pursuing The Dreaded Bunny Hop

I skated the 7:30 a.m. FS at Chandler today to work on choreography for my dramatic program with Tammy.

For my warmup I ran through all of Bronze Moves!  Ugh. I was tired after.  Circle-8 is still an issue, the others still need work but are improving.  After the moves I had a couple of minutes so I worked on waltz jump.

For our choreography we reviewed the opening, then ran the program without music.  Urp.  Then we spent time working on the dreaded bunny hop-lunge-toe loop sequence.  Ugh.  I really hate bunny hops! We worked them on the wall and then I did manage to do a few off the wall, but they were very small. I need to work them some more in my practice.

After that we walked through the mohawk sequence.. I am too slow and I spend too much time thinking!  Grrr.   Then some discussion of placement of the mohawk->BXOs into the waltz jump so that I'm not too close to the curtain.  We followed that with a review of the end of the program.

After all that we ran the program with music (cue the scene from Young Frankenstein "Give my creature... LIIIIIIFE!" lol ).  Very rough (I didn't do the bunny hop) and I finished very late  -- although there was some weird glitch with Rink Music where it repeated the last 10-15s for some reason. I thought Tammy had hit the back arrow on the RM unit but she hadn't.  Since I needed more time I didn't really complain :-).

After that we reviewed the very ending pose as I didn't remember it.... and we were out of time.

Choreo

I skated the 7:30 a.m. FS at Chandler to work on choreography with Tammy - brushing up my showcase dramatic program that I competed only once, at PCAS in 2016.

I warmed up running through Bronze Moves.  Circle-8 pretty stinky (how ironic!).   Power-3s meh.  Reasonably happy with the rest.  I still need to get down in my knees a bit more and push the heel down on the BXOs though.

For our choreography, we walked through the program without music, then worked on some of the elements.  We went over the chainé turns and these came back more easily than I expected.  Reviewed the mohawk sequence and that is a bit rough.  Went through the side toe hop that I left out when I competed (oops).  Somewhere around this point we realized that I've never done this at Autumn Antics before and we need to move things down in order to accommodate the smaller ice for that event.

All in all we got a lot done, actually.  I was really pleased with our progress.

Final Choreo

I had my final choreography session for the dramatic program this morning on the 7:30 a.m. FS at Chandler.  I wore my costume.

For today we mostly worked on minor tweaks and fixes.  First I asked Tammy about the arms at the very beginning because I didn't feel I was being very graceful.  We worked on it a bit; I need to bend my R arm from the elbow as I'm raising it so it looks less stiff.  After that the L arm can flow out a bit instead of being raised straight.  I thought this looked better.

After that we went ahead and ran the program.  It actually went pretty well.  Tammy says I am definitely skating faster (yay!).  There are some issues with ice coverage and element placement; I'm covering the ice well but in a couple places (the very end, and the attitude/mohawk section) where I'm too far one way or the other.  Tammy had me work to not go so far into the end after the first spin so that the following section can shift down a bit -- this puts the waltz jump further into the other end so it's more balanced.  Then at the end, I'm going to turn back around after the toe loop so that the slaloms are going back toward center.  This is much more aesthetically pleasing :-).

Oh, and Tammy specific told me I need to breathe! After the waltz jump.  As usual I'm tending to hold my breath.

So after some exercise on all those we ran it again with music and it was pretty good!  A good note to leave off on.  I'm feeling pretty good about it.

Choreo!

My choreography session with Tammy on the 7:30 a.m. FS at Chandler.  As usual a nice session, just myself and D and Tammy and for the first half or so Jamie and one of her skaters.

I warmed up with some Bronze moves and then warmed up jumps and spins, then ran my dramatic program to see how it went. Ugh!  The first time I once again wanted to do a power-3 instead of the crossroll at the beginning.  So I stopped and made myself do it over again correctly.  After that the runthrough was not too bad, though I was about 5s late in finishing :-(.

We started off by working through the section with the attitude into the mohawks.  Tammy wanted it to flow better (and, I had way too much think time between the mohawks).  We were able to fix this pretty convincingly.

Next we worked on the slaloms into the twizzly-thing, as it was a little rough (too much like a pivot) in my runthrough.  That was better.  I probably should include this in my warmup though to make sure that I get it in my head how it's supposed to go.

After that we worked to add some more movements in 3 places:

• lunge -- arms down, then raised in a crossing motion overhead while looking up.
• slaloms -- look to each side (L, then R) on the slaloms
• BXOs before the waltz jump -- L arm up at shoulder height going L, then bring the R arm up with it going R around the corner.

We worked through all of these and I think they are doable and not too hard to remember.  I do need to work on them though.

Choreo!

I had a choreo session with Tammy this morning on the 7:30 a.m. FS at Chandler; we rescheduled since I was in CA on Monday and there was a hockey tournament anyway.   Nice ice and just me, Denali and Tammy.

We worked the last part of the program to improve the flow and do a bit better job on the twizzly-two-foot-spin thing.  This improved a lot!  Then we ran through the chunk with the two mohawk/crosses etc. and that is looking decent, though it could be smoother.  Lastly we worked on the waltz jump/FXO/bunnyhop/lunge/toe loop to tie it all to together.  We finished up by running it once with music and it was pretty good.

We only have two sessions left (I will be skating this at PCAS in TWO WEEKS!!).  Tammy says she wants to add some arm stuff to it on Monday.

Choreo

My choreography session with Tammy on the 7:30 a.m. FS at Chandler.  As usual,  a nice session, just Denali and I and Tammy.

I warmed up with Bronze Moves, then warmed up jumps, followed by a runthrough of my free skate.  It was more or less okay although the mohawk/cross into the spin was iffy and I was behind going into the waltz jump again :-(.

For today's choreo, we started by reviewing the last part of the program.  We ran it from the bunnyhop/lunge/toe loop into the slaloms and twizzle thing.  We practiced the latter several times -- apparently I was making it more complicated (and too many revs!) than it needs to be.  After the twizzly-thing (it's not a real twizzle) it's an LFO3 into a spin windup/spin/pose.

After that we worked on the mohawk/cross into the side toe hop.  Tammy decided to change the LFO3 after that to an LFI mohawk (with arms) as it flows better.

We only ran the program once with music; I was a little late but it was more or less okay.  I didn't die on the bunnyhop :-) so that was good.  Toe loop was kinda iffy though.

Choreo

I skated the 7:30 a.m. FS at Chandler to work on choreography with Tammy.  I had a half hour warmup so I warmed up waltz jump, toe loop and spins, and also ran 3 Bronze Moves.

We spent most of our time today polishing and fixing.  Some specifics:

• LOOK UP, esp. on the opening cross roll.
• keep the chainé turns small w/hands down and free leg close.
• stand up straight on the attitude
• the dreaded bunnyhop was not bad!
• for the bunnyhop/lunge/toe loop sequence bring it closer to center ice.
• we reviewed the end, especially the slalom into the twizzly thing and final spin
• worked on the mohawk/cross sequence to get it less choppy.  

It was a fun session and we got a lot done!