My first love is ice dancing, but I cannot find a coach close by, I have a dance coach at 30-40 minute distance and my old coach at 1 to 1.5 hours distance. It is pretty time consuming to go and see either of them.Anyway, dance instruction is pretty specific so a half hour lesson per week is needed. It would help to have more instruction towards other skills, in the past I used to ask my old coach to coach moves in the fields, jumps and spins, only for choreography I went to a different person. I was very happy to find a coach at the close by rink (this is 10 minutes away from my house), she is a freestyle coach, so she can help on all things not dance, so then, I keep my dance lesson as pure dancing.
So! The lesson! For the first freestyle lesson we decided with the new coach to show her what I usually do for warm up and exercises (excluding the dance) so she could build on them. As the lesson progressed we decided to keep a list with what I would like to revise on the following lesson, I'll put a star on those exercises*
- slalom forward and backward, play with the rhythm ( 2 slow, 4 quick)
- FI edges play with free leg and arms, free leg at ankle, front, and B crossed*1 love this, and arms over head palms up, connected, or low at the back
- BO edges, and many exercises going forward she said to keep the head calm, looking forward, she feels my extreme head turning is messing my alignment and stability. She went into a variation with the free leg going back, that is actually a swing roll, same note with the head.
- BI edges, she didn't "hear" the power, she showed me how to push just as I finished the previous edge, before shifting the weigh to the next foot. I couldn't really do it, but I understood, I'll work on it.*2
- FI Twizzels:arms straight over the line, bring the back arm but stop at the middle (I crossed over), in a ballet position or straight forward grabbing fingers. Stay straight (I was forward). Keep free foot close.*3
- I asked for the power 3-turns for the preliminary test, the 3s were fine, but I released the free foot to quickly, she wanted to hold it close and then to power push (the same weight shift like for the BI edge), she also wanted me to hold the under cross from the B xovers, longer, more stretched*4
- I tried the dropped 3-turn for Tenfox, she doesn't do dance but, she said that I rise too soon and I don't have enough pressure into the ice. I think this is valid, I cannot wait to try working on them
- B xstrokes, she said to hold the B edge longer to settle into the position (I'm trying now to twist the upper body over the edge, not square) and we worked on that position, back shoulder more back, head forward, free leg over the circle*5
- I shared with hear that I don't always engage my core, and she suggested to stroke holding an elastic band slightly stretched, I loved that!
- I also asked for quick off ice exercise that would help the core engagement, and she suggested the plank (front and sides), because it engage core, shoulders, back, arms and even legs, and since I don't last long, it is really quick :)
- During the class, as I asked clarifications, she asked permission to film me so she can show exactly what to change. I love it so much, and I remember I used to film myself and it was helpful, I plan to do this again.
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