Ice Dancing: weekly private lesson

This week I took my first Ice Dancing private lesson in 2 months. I used to take one weekly before getting hurt. It's a 30 minutes lesson and it goes fast, but I cannot concentrate trough more.

We always start with some exercises like stroking, progressives, chasses, swing rolls, dance 3 turns, edge presses. This is both to warm up, and to work on basic technique like alignmet, posture, edges, lobes, lean into the circle, partnering. Then I work on one or more dances on my own, with lots of correction, basic technique, pattern, timing. When I do well enough on my own, my coach will partner me. at this point there is no music and no counting of the beat. We often stop the dance to work on specific steps. Then we graduate to counting the beat, and then, on dancing on music.

Before the lesson I was complaining to my coach that I lost my "flow" on ice, so instead on giving me the usual corrections on everything, I think he decided to partner with me so I would readjust my rhythm and power.

We did 4 warm up exercises, one length of the rink for each: forward and backward stroking and forward and backward chasses, by myself and with my coach in a waltz position (so when one partner goes forward the other goes backwards). Then we jumped into the partnered Willow Waltz.

Before hurting myself I was working on testing the bronze level dances, or 3rd level. I just tested and passed the Hickory Hoedown, I was ready to test the Willow Waltz, and I was still working on my confidence on the outside mohawk in the Ten fox.  I was happy to see that the Willow was not completely gone. It was a big bust in my confidence and that always helps. We worked on a specific step, an inside edge toward the end of the dance and ran the dance 4 time counting the beats.

With 5 minutes left, the coach asked if I had questions, and I asked to work on the Ten fox outside Mohawk... This also is tested in Juvenile MITF (4th level standard track) and Adult Silver MITF (3rd level adult track) but I'm not there yet. I did learn it in my Freestyle group class, but not at the quality required in Ice Dancing.

So, left outside open Mohawk is a two foot turn that goes from an LFO edge to an RBO edge bringing the free foot at the instep of the skating foot and in Ten fox has to be done in just 2 beats.
My first problem was that my back outside edges weren't strong enough, I wasn't leaning with the back into the circle and the hips underneath me. I was sticking the butt out, so I needed to learn to engage the core, press into ice, have the hip underneath me and arch the upper back towards back, into the circle. After improving the edge quality, I was able to do the Mohawk correctly at a low speed and rhythm, taking my time to bring the feet together. I was doing in in a 3 beats: edge, change of foot and edge. This week correction was again,to not bring the free foot (right foot) forward, there is no time for it. But how? The coach said to draw onto the skating foot (left foot) so that the right foot will come automatically at the instep, and cutting that 3rd beat. It worked... so hopefully I'll be able to keep it working...

And we had 1 minute left to run a solo pattern of Ten fox. I got a posture correction for the first 2 lobes, not to lean forward...