Run Down to the Nasty; Starting the Swing

So two minor disasters today.

First, I missed the deadline for the test application by one day. Ugh. So I had to pay a late fee and drive over to the other rink to drop the application off.

Second, my blades are at the end of a sharpening. I can barely hold an edge. Fortunately, as I told Dance Coach "I'm getting them sharpened tomorrow."

As  usual,  Dance Coach goes immediately into his typical Mr. Suspicious third degree interrogation. It must be a Russian thing. Maybe it's in the genes. The Cheka, NKVD, KGB, FSB have a lot to answer for.

"Who sharpens your blades?"

"I have them sharpened by Mr. X"

"Who?"

I was coy. "He does Evan Lysacek's blades, and used to do Johnny Weir's, so I guess he's good enough for me."

Dance Coach gets a laugh out of that. Then he starts pumping me for Mr. X's location. So, score one for me.

With the dull blades (the right one is completely dead) I just can't get any depth on my edges in the Canasta Tango. It takes three times to get a clean pass.  I don't want to tell you the lectures I got. I finally said defensively, "You know what they say, bad dress rehearsal, good performance."

From the furrowed brow, frown, and piercing eyes on Dance Coach's part, apparently they don't say that in Russia.

We did start on the Mohawk pattern in the Swing Dance. Of course, the mohawk is on my weak side.  Still, I'm able to step through it without a. falling, b. embarassing myself. "Not awful, needs work." Dance Coach said. I threw up my hands in disgust at them. But although they're a tiny bit hoppy, they have nice crossed tracings and I maintain posture throughout the turn.  So, 'not awful, needs work' is probably true--along with the unstated 'needs more power'.

The problem is in the back swingrolls. I'm supposed to turn my head to the opposite way to the leg that's swinging. And swing my leg. And skate backwards.  And do it again on the other side.  After a couple I feel like this.

I'm pretty sure this is not an approved Swing Dance position.

Two week countdown to Canasta Tango test! Crossed fingers the sharpening is all I need!

Building the Swing Dance

The Swing Dance is another of those pattern dances that was introduced as a teaching dance in the heyday of roller and ice dance in the 1940's. Dance was immensely popular; it may have been a fad, but it was a fad that lasted three decades until the mid 50's. But as people began to learn ice dance without having learned figures, the beginner dances became necessary.

The inventor of the Swing Dance was Hubert Sprott, a 'pro' (what we now call a coach) at the All Year Skating Club of Los Angeles, California. The dance was introduced in Skating magazine in the November 1948 issue. Amusingly, it was published with an error in the official 1951 USFSA Rulebook. There was a RFO swing roll, LBO swing roll, followed by an RFO swing roll. The LBO should have obviously been an LFO. No one is known to have skated it 'as written'.

The Tropical Ice Gardens in the 40's--where the Swing Dance was invented

Coach is now working with me on the elements and has broken it down so far into doing the swing rolls and chasse's in waltz hold. I have to do them forward and backwards. Fortunately, I don't appear to have any problems with this (with the possible exception of NOT ENOUGH POWER!). Anyway, I interpret Dance Coach's comments as 'better than I expected.'

But we're not to the hard part yet. The Swing dance starts out in hand to hand, then the lady does a FO3 directly into a back swing roll in waltz hold! Who invented this thing!? Oh, right, Hubert Sprott.

I can do a waltz three in waltz hold. I can do a back swing roll in waltz hold. But mix the two together?  That's going to take time to learn. I feel that part's like a Reese's Peanut Butter cup. "You got chocolate on my peanut butter!" "No, you got peanut butter on my chocolate!"

You got swing roll in my waltz three!
NO, you got waltz three in my swing roll!

This will be the first tricky bit that I get to handle as an ice dancer. I'm rather eager to see how Dance Coach will break down the skills and teach it to me.

But as I continue to learn ice dance, I've developed an enormous respect for the pros and judges who developed the ice dance testing structure. It's actually a very well crafted program to teach advanced learners better skating skills. By skating skills I don't mean the jumps and spins, I mean the actual skating of edges, with turns  and body position all designed to create a graceful balanced skater. I now see why solo ice dance has exploded as a sport. If you want to skate better, it's really the best way to go.