Learning from a program

When I first started out doing a program, or even back when I was just thinking about it, I thought that doing a program involved piecing the elements you already know together and skate them to music expressively. That's all. I didn't realize that having a new program actually forces me to find out what I cannot do and pushes the limits of what I can do, learning new things with every step.

From the very first element of my choreography, the opening pose, my abilities were tested. An opening pose requiring good turnout that I do not possess, going into a forward and backward "pivot" required a lot of practice. Then there was the toe-push/pivot after a 3-turn into another 3-turn, at speed. I fell a lot the first few practices. At speed was another problem. Sure, I can skate laps around the rink and do crossovers pretty fast, but to do three-turns and mohawks and other what-nots at speed is frightening.

Along the way of choreographing, coach J discovered what I can and cannot do. She wanted to put in a spread eagle, even if it was curved and not nice on a straight line. With my bad turnout, the "spread eagle" (if one could even call it such) I showed her was in a super tight little circle that couldn't go anywhere. Seriously,  my travelling spin tracings are bigger circles than my "spread eagles". Well then how about a little Ina Bauer? I couldn't even manage to try. Coach J obviously realized that this was mission impossible and promptly had to dream up something else, getting a little exasperated that the list of options that she wants to use but I can't do was getting rather long. In the end, we settled for a sequence of LFO3, wide step, back mohawk, step behind, RFI3 and back attitude glide on the RB edge. The evil step behind! The nightmarish term that I hear from ice dancers on skatingforum! So far, I have managed to not step on the back of the blade and kill myself. Yet. Back attitude glide was another problem. I've ever only tried a forward attitude glide on flats, and that on my left foot. To do it on my not-so-good side, backwards and on an outside edge, brrrrrr. I feel super self-conscious trying it too because I'm sure I look like a monkey waving same-arm-same-leg.

Then came the worst as I learned my last section of my program this week (yay I'm done learning it!). So a few days ago, I read on alejeather's blog about having a back-3-turn entry into a loop in her program. I was in awe and at the same time relieved that I'd escaped any back-3's in my program. I rejoiced too early, coach had it waiting for me. At least it's a RBO3, since I can't do BI3's at all. But even so, my BO3's generally come to a stop or at least a crawl after the turn, so you can imagine it doesn't work quite well going into a loop right now. Currently coach J has allowed me to stick ONE back crossover between the 3-turn and the actual loop jump, if I have time, meaning I have to manage to do everything previous at speed! Eventually with practice though, I hope I can go straight into the BI3-mohawk-loop jump without any crossover help. But I foresee a lot of falling down in my future practices.

So besides all these new elements, I've also learnt (or am in the process of learning) some "skating skills". I have to skate faster so I can fit inside the music, something coach J is very happy about lol. I supposedly have to skate "pretty", thought goodness knows what I look like now. I'm also learning to use my arms and be expressive, and something that goes with that, is to be confident. I was certainly not confident at first, I was ready to run away when coach J first made me run the first portion of the program to music on the speaker. Now, I've even managed to request my program music in my own practice time : ) Hopefully, by the time recital day comes in a month, I will be confident enough to go out there, be expressive, elegant, artistic, pretty and above all, smiling.