Waltz Troika (Edited)

Troika-(Rus.) Three Turn

There appear to be two kinds of Waltz Threes in figure skating. There's the one that's done in Freestyle. Skip that. Then there's the one that's in Ice Dance. That's the one I'm talkin' about.

In Ice Dance the waltz three is a three turn in waltz hold.

Waltz Hold

I'm  learning the baby variant of this. I skate forward and do a FO3 in Waltz hold, tuck the free foot through the turn, switch feet, and the new free foot goes forward towards the gentleman. I don't know what the gentleman is doing (back 3 maybe?). I've got my own feet to think about. His feet are not my problem.

Anyway, after we do one of these waltz threes, we do another, and another. At that point my three turns are lagging badly, scratching awfully, and Dance Coach is effectively holding me up. After the 3rd Waltz 3, we stop. Dance Coach makes some pithy critique while I grip my knees and try to get un-dizzy.

I'm just not 'getting' these.

The traditional way to talk about this is for the lady to skate as if she's aiming directly between the gentlemen's legs. I've heard this from Dance Coach and other people. It's not working for me. The first Waltz 3 is nice then I start falling further and further behind. Scratchy threes then appear.  Dance Coach has tried various fixes. He's adjusted my shoulders, my hip positions, my head, my leg position, my arms; nothing worked. Turns 2 and 3 stay scratchy.

The funny thing is, I can do these by myself. FO3 with neat feet, and a kick forward at the end. For a beginner skater like me, that's not easy.

But with Dance Coach standing in front of me---I gotz nuzzink.

After some unsuccessful go rounds last week, Dance Coach sighs. "Don't aim between my legs." he says. "Skate towards this leg." He slaps his left leg.(edit: This was apparently an experiment for that lesson. We've gone back to the traditional way of 'skate between the legs') Since I'm doing left FO3 to his whatever he's doing, I guess that makes it his outside leg. But, to tell the truth, I just shove in in my memory as, "Aim to the left leg, when I'm on the left foot. vice versa."

"Ready, go," he tells me.

One rotation, two rotation, three rotation. Zip, Zap, Thunderclap! NO SCRATCHING! And I'm perfectly aligned with his position throughout!

I get my first Waltz Three High Five

Why this works and the traditional way doesn't, is a complete mystery to me. But work it does.

(edit. There will be a later post on my struggles with this element. I think I've figured it out though)

The Achy Breaky Foot

Some people are gifted in skating. They can learn even complex skills in 3 or 4 repetitions. The may not be smooth, or graceful, but they've got the basics down.

I take 40.

Coach Cruella has a very methodical way of teaching edges, and particuarly turns. It's very structured and appeals to my need for rigor. She starts with step A and works through to G or F or Q.  I like this approach as it allows me to break a new skill down into pieces. By the time I've worked through the whole thing, I'm really solid and able to enter the turn even with a bad entry, or do things with leg and arm positions that are 'off kilter', or do it dance style vs. freestyle style.

I've found that it takes me about 40 repetitions to get the first few parts of a turn until they're at the 'don't have to think about it' stage. Then maybe another 40 reps, to get the last few skills habituated. But often that last arm position--everything I do seems to have an arm position thing at the end--eludes me.

Coach Cruella just reaches in and moves my arm while I'm moving. Aaaaaarrrgggghhhhh!!!!!! Nerve wracking!!!

Usually when I'm learning these new skills, I'm anxious (the whole falling thing) and I tense up. After the first few repetitions my toes are numb and my insteps are aching like they're on fire, which brings brings us to the point of this post. Cruella's recipe for fixing this is to bend the knees and raise the toes. Apparently, when stressed, people crunch their toes and this restricts blood to the arch of the foot, causing that achy breaky foot.

It seems to work. Although as the lesson goes on, I have to do it over and over. As I get comfortable with the skill, I usually stop the toe clenching and my feet feel fine.

So, in summary, to help with the achy breaky foot caused by tension not a boot defect (pain in the arch)

Stand on two feet. Bend the knees. Raise the toes in the boots. It will take a few seconds.

Hope it works for you!

Man, I've got like 4000 repetitions to get those CCW back edges. My toes will see the top of my boots plenty of times!

Pretty in Pink

"You look good in pink," Dance Coach commented on my new skating jacket.

I hear that a lot. Now that pink is in fashion,  as a blonde, I do look good in pink. Other women have made that comment several times in the last week.

I just hate it though. I want to look good in black and be a dangerous femme fatale like Black Widow.

Here's the Black Widow doing the wide step from the Cha-Cha

Forty years too late for that; I have to settle for pink instead and be the sweet little old granma.

As an athlete in a performance sport that crosses over into entertainment, Dance Coach is more conscious of color and style than the other men (lunkhead engineers) I know.

So far I know about Dance Coach:
1. He likes my hair up (Last week he told me he liked my hair in a french braid.)
2. He likes a lot of makeup (Before my test, while I was wearing more makeup than I've worn in 40 years, I asked, 'Too much makeup?' 'More,' he said.)
3. I look good in pink. (True.)

So, for performance reasons I understand his comments. The up-do gives me a nice line on the neck. I'm not particularly swan necked, but it's a nice slender neck. The 'more' makeup is because blondes tend to look washed out on the ice. I've seen video of myself  skating; My face is a little white blob with dark pinpoints for eyes.

And the pink? Well, that heightens the color in my face and keeps it from looking quite so elderly. Always a good move.

So, next test-- hair up, lots of makeup, black test dress.

Puhlease... you didn't think I actually pay attention to everything he says do you?

But......

Swoon!

If this Tony Cohen dress was made as a test dress, I'd wear it