Ice Dancing: how to work on a specific skill and on a part of a pattern

After my private lesson on Monday, my coach said excitedly that I've hit few milestones that day! That was about edges, posture, lean, lobes transitions on backward chasses, progressives,  coordination on backward swing rolls and extension on forward chasses. Plus ankle press on everything... I knew I was close.

There is a point in my learning process when i understand exactly what I have to do, I just cannot do it. So I keep "working" on it. That means I tweak it... change different things that I remember from my lessons. Where the weight falls on the blade, posture, look up, bend the knees more, bend the ankles too, press into the ice, lean, look up (again, because I already don't do it), keep the core engaged, hold the extension, point the toes, timing... the list feels infinite. The skills I'm referring to are simple stroking, dance steps (progressives, chasses, swing rolls), turns (3 turns, mohowks), spins, jumps, every single thing you do on ice.

One thing my coach said is that  a skill is gonna happen (a jump or just stroking) when 80% of it components are happening at the same time. There are moments when I hit the skill accidentally. I feel it, but I cannot repeat it immediately. I'm trying to be aware when those accidents start happening of what exactly made the difference, and to work on that.

Another thing my coach said, when I asked frustrated why I do "that" mistake again because I corrected it and I'm aware of it, and I can do it!, is that it didn't become body memory. So while I'm "working" on other things, "that" mistake will resurface. But worry not, being aware of it makes it easily fixable. The lesson here is repetition, repetition, repetition... But it has to be the correct form of the skill.

I've got into the habit of asking one question per lesson, and allow the coach the rest of the time to get me to work on what he thinks I need. This week I was asking about the upper body placement on the end pattern of the Ten fox. He mentioned something a week before that I didn't register. The answer was that the hips are square to the direction of travel but the upper body is hold laterally. Very logical, because when dancing with a partner that end pattern is done in fox hold.

But that gave him the opportunity to try to teach me (again) how to work at a section of the pattern. Because, I was comfortable doing the dance for the beginning, and couldn't pick it up from a particular spot in the pattern (like many other beginners he says). And that is a problem because most of the time I don't get to finish the dance (because I make a mistake and stop, or somebody crosses my way and I stop), so I don't work so much at the end pattern.

He wanted me to start from the 3 turn. I knew from the previous attempts that  he means to start with one step before that, and that is a RO edge for 4 beats, with a knee bent on the 3rd beat. That was flimsy, gave me no speed into the 3 turn, so everything was flimsy. He said to do just a stroke or two before the 3 turn, from an oblique direction, to give me the best opportunity to work on the 3 turn on the pattern. That would be not to drop on the back inside edge after the turn. And not to lean forward when I start the back progressive and then struggle to reposition... Because on the 3 step of progressive I have to turn forward. The lesson here is to take a simple, comfortable, strong stroke, or two, into the pattern... Surely he told me that before, and thinking of it is logical, we start the pattern dances and MITF with intro steps... Just another reminder that learning skating is a process, a long, long process.