My first ice shows

In my first ice show I was literally freaked out about everything, from the costume being dignified enough, to skating too close to other people, holding hands while skating, not remembering choreography, not being able to follow the music cues. I was also unhappy with the coach's unwillingness to accept any feedback, including what I perceived as safety issues.  There was just no time for him to listen to us and get things done in the same time... I think I was FS2, because I remember doing a forward spin, so not really a beginner, but still I would have wanted everything to be a little slower. Here is the video, and as you can see somebody fell...

The second year I really didn't like the costume. One of the skaters said we looked like prostitutes :( Then, the choreography asked for us a to align and do synchronized hands movements all the time. Remember, we are beginner adults, we don't stop easily and we have just 5 weeks to get in unison. Again, the coach wouldn't accept "nay saying". Needless to say we were all over the place, not synchronized at all.

The third year we had lovely custom dresses and the choreography was more fluid. The coach would share the ice with us each year but this year he was on ice probably half of the time. Some of the skaters found it reassuring to have him on ice with us. I didn't really like it. He skates great, obviously, and I felt  that he makes us look bad trough comparison. On the other hand, he was like on orchestra conductor, cuing us  when we should start certain movements.  I think overall it was a good program.

While I still don't like the rehearsal process, I love the camaraderie and support we give each other as wit put our best effort out as adult skaters. The adult skating community, yes, there is such a thing, is famous for that!

Then, I find the ice show is an opportunity to follow my skating progress from year to year. There is a professional video made, and family members take videos and it really shows things that are improved or need work. Up to doing this third show I was taking group lessons and practicing once or twice more per week. It seams that is generally accepted that skating twice a week as an adult will not give you much progress, but there was still progress!

I'm also trying to set personal goals for the show. Like to improve my hand movement, to perform on music, to do a more difficult jump than the previous year, or to do it better, to smile while skating :) I never had my own program so I'm trying to use this as a learning experience.