Two years ago, I had a video of my baby on the ice for the first time - see post "My baby skates!".
Last year, she was doing better but still would not let go of me - see post "Skate, baby, skate!".
Since then, she has been ambivalent about skating, until this week when she asked to go skating. I brought her to the rink after school today, with her promising that she will skate on her own. Here is the result:
This is my first competition after baby, having skated sporadically, and no time to choreograph a program nor find music (finally used music from 3 years ago). The only real preparation I had was two "official ice times" where I could skate my program to music.
My program at the first ice time on Wednesday was a joke. I missed all jumps and all but one spin. I also didn't really know what I was going to do in terms of choreography.
The second ice time was the morning of the competition. This time I had sorted out the choreography, but halfway through the program, my legs felt like jelly, and I got really dizzy after the spin. I literally did none of the second half.
So, the competition was really the third time I skated this program to music. By that measure, it was amazing I even made it through! I really need to polish up the program and get some stamina...
I recently learned about the release of Learn to Ice Dance DVD produced by Sharper Edge Productions. Here's a "trailer" for the DVD (from SharperEdgeProd on YouTube)
They have also put up short clips of some of the beginning dances on YouTube:
Order information and other products can be found on IceDancers.com
The television network, ABC, put up a series Ice Moves which brings the viewer through some of the elements of figure skating. I came across it on YouTube, and thought it would interest some of you readers!
As I had done with my Axel and double Salchow jumps, I had wanted to put together a video on the progression of my double toe loop. I also had wanted to do it after it is landed in competition. However, given that I'm not skating for the next many months, I figured I might as well do the video now...
Admittedly, the double toe has not taken as long as the Axel or double Sal. Nevertheless it is just as frustrating - starting from the very beginning when I found out that the toe loop isn't quite as easy to do "correctly"!! I had once billed the toe loop as my least favorite jump, and no, it hasn't become a fav overnight, but I have come to realise that it is actually an easy jump once the technique is mastered! :-)
The Axel is a jump first performed by Axel Paulsen in 1882. This is the only type of jump with a forward take-off. In figure skating all jumps land backwards (nobody wants to fall on their faces!), and the forward take-off means that a "single" Axel is really 1-1/2 revolutions in the air, a double Axel 2-1/2 revs, a triple Axel 3-1/2 revs, etc.
Here's my single Axel as of 2005:
The additional 1/2 revolution sounds more innocent that it really is! Not just that, the forward take-off can be tricky. Skaters often take longer to learn the single Axel than most other single jumps, some even claiming double jumps before "getting" the Axel. In an earlier post, I had put together a series of videos of my "Axel Progression"!
Various other interesting facts about the Axel jump are captured in Wikipedia!
Today, I came to the conclusion that It is impossible NOT to wide-step on the European Waltz. For me, at least...
Initially I couldn't find any videos of me doing the European. However, I soon recalled that my DH did take a video at last December's competition:
And I'm very sure that my 3-turns at the end are *still* wide-stepped, and that the real reason is because there isn't enough space for me to do nice 3-turns. Yes, I'm very good at finding excuses, but perhaps it is not quite an excuse - when I tried today to start it farther from the wall it certainly felt easier not to step wide!
STILL, I think it is IMPOSSIBLE to make it perfect...
Over the weekend, I made a montage of my Axel over the years...
Ok, the sad thing is, it doesn't look very different... but is it? Well, it is - my free leg is getting crossed in front, rather than hanging at the side - this must be coming from a better "snap", which also makes the Axel more consistent.
This evening, I asked a friend to video my sit-spin-with-change-of-foot, just to see for myself how far away my CSSp4-wannabe is.
Conclusion: 1. The back sit still needs to be lower - or maybe my butt needs to be bigger to satisfy the "buttocks below the knee" criteria! I believe this will improve with practise, though!
2. The "increasing of speed" certainly look like it happened, but I'm just not sure it this is really "clear" enough - perhaps I should slow down the first 4 revs, just to make it "clearer"!
I arrived safely back in Singapore yesterday. This trip has had ups and downs, but overall, pretty enjoyable.
I was rather jet-lagged last night, and stayed up really late. In fact, I got hungry at 2am, and made myself some instant noodles! I also started uploading the various programs I have videod at Oberstdorf, and arranged them in a playlist on YouTube. I'm still adding videos, but I suppose the playlist link should still work and be updated:
I have put up the pairs program at Vana Tallin Trophy. This is the result after one day's practise together... Ok, to be fair, its almost the same program we did two years ago, but neither of us remembered the whole thing, nor have I done any pairs moves in two years... plus we changed the footwork, and the throw jump... Still, it was fun!
This year at Oberstdorf was rather interesting. I had good practicse and an excellent warm-up. I was all set to do well, and really was not nervous at all...
However, skating first turns out not that easy, much as I tried to wave it away, convincing myself that in the IJS the skating order shouldn't really make all that much of a difference. However, the nerves started as soon as the music started, and it was all I could do to hold the first spin together.
Overall, the program felt like a disaster. For the first time that week, I messed up the first jump combination. For the first time that week, I popped the double Sal (almost exactly like in Tallinn!!). I landed 5th... It was very very close, with less than a 0.6-point difference between 3rd and 5th.
I was extremely disappointed. not at the overall placing, but at the fact that I did not skate my best. However, I was thrilled that had two level-3 calls in the program - my first combination spin, and the spiral sequence. I also had the highest technical score of the 3rd, 4th and 5th placings. Conclusion: it is confirmed that I really seriously need to work on improving the program components!
This week, the double toe is feeling much better. I am convinced that the double toe is actually an easy jump once you get it - but getting it is another beast altogether!
Yesterday evening, my DH came to the rink and helped me take videos. I did lots of double toes (amongst other things) and realise that I hate my air position!
Of course my coach has been saying (many many times) that I'm not getting into the backspin position in the air... but hey, how am I supposed to know exactly which body-part isn't in the right position?
After watching all the videos, here's my analysis of what I must do
stretch straighter out for the pick - my picking toe is still going around way too much!
arms need to be tight in the air - my arms are so sloppy!
straighten the R leg!!!
lift the L hip, especially the split second before landing! Seriously, I think that's the main reason I 2-foot my jumps, or keel forward on the landing.
keep my arms lower on landing - I don't like the arms-floating-above-the-head look
I was looking through some old photos and videos, and found some video clips from the Tropical Blades Ice Skating Club performance at "An Evening of Skating With Us" in August 2004.
Here's the finale, featuring all the skaters involved, choreographed to Die Moldau. The clips were in 2 parts, and I have joined them together, but there was a portion missed out in between.
It was an honor getting to skate with Paul Harvath in 2004. We did a "partner swap" during the Vana Tallinn competition, and went out to compete against our partners, after one session of practise together.
Here's the outcome of our first dance, the American Waltz:
----- Moral of the story: Practise the complete dance! (sure enough, we had tried to take the easy way out and worked just one pattern at a time during practise!)
I managed to catch some videos of the performance at Sentosa. Here are some of them. The first is of Tatiana Navka & Roman Kostomarov - I was father back, and some parts got blocked by the tall plants. The second, Ilia Klimkin, I had moved to the rink-side, and got an unblocked view. The third, Victoria Volchkova, I managed to get only the first part, as my camera ran out of memory!
I watched Fumie Suguri's short program at the Asian Winter Games on YouTube, and noticed that the layback variation is exactly what I had intended to do! Except that mine, when I got a friend to video it for me yesterday, looked pathetic...
Well, I was tired yesterday, and didn't get much speed in the spin. Also, I noticed that in the first position, I was pulling my left (skating) arm back, making it look more like a twisted upright, than a sideways-leaning spin.
I tried it again today, with the left arm up and over my head - at least I tried to make it that way. Not sure if it looked any better, but today's spins certainly felt better!
I wasn't intending to put yesterday's video up, since it is so embarrassing, but oh well, everyone can see me embarrass myself at the rink, so why not! For the final position, I was tired, in an odd position, and losing speed, so I couldn't manage to pull the blade up at all! ARGH!
In a quick scan of the newsgroups last night, I noticed a request for the video for the Tango - as in, the ice dance Tango, also known as Harris Tango or Silver Tango. I looked through my set of videos again, and found this from my solo dance event at Mountain Cup 2005. It is a solo dance, not sure if it would be helpful to the requestor, but I'm putting it up all the same...
PS: I had sprained my right ankle pretty badly just the week before this competition!
