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.

Power! More Power!

Russian word for the day:
Id-ee-uht--"Idiot"

"идиот" Dance Coach mutters under his breath, after a teenager rams into him while we were doing Killian hold inside swing rolls, then speeds off. It wasn't an accident, it was deliberate. I missed my one chance to legitimately say "The little  ублюдок" before coach streaks after him and gives him a talking too. It's a typical day on a Saturday public session in mid-winter; lots of ice tourists, hockey boys, and three coaches with students in the center. Amusingly, Dance Coach keeps skating us directly at Moves Coach but very carefully skates us around everyone else.  I finally found out why. Some years ago, Moves Coach was demonstrating a jump and did the landing glide directly into Dance Coach's leg, leaving a walloping big bruise.  Apparently, he's still seeking revenge.

I hab a code in de head. A code! A code I tell you! I'm slowly filling up the trash can in the hockey box with phlegm filled tissues, but Dance Coach shows no mercy. He starts off the lesson with zippy elements in foxtrot hold, then rapidly goes back and forth between killian and reverse killian doing inside and outside swing rolls, forward stroking, progressives, chasse's, and every other dance element he can think of. Then we start on elements of the Cha-Cha and the Swing Dance. He thinks I can't tell what's going on, but I can. We're going fast, really fast -- for me.

Finally, I back him up to a blue line, "You're trying to make me skate with more power without telling me, aren't you?"

The look on Dance Coach's face was the following:

Dance Coach's  'expressionless' face

So, yes, even though he doesn't say anything, I know my answer.

Power! More Power!

Getting more power in these new dance boots is tricky. The dance boots aren't exactly hinky, but I have to  be very precise with my blade placement when I do the strike. The boots are unforgiving of any error in the angle of the blade when it hits the ice. Still, I only have a couple of instances where I jerk forward. Not bad for a beginner. 

For the swing rolls and slide chasse's I'm supposed to bring my foot higher, point it harder, and keep my back straight, head up and look like I'm having a good time while keeping my thighs together and not thinking of how big they are.  I'd be more sarcastic about this, but actually it works pretty well. Then we do back swing rolls, back chasse's and back stroking in waltz hold. By 'back', I mean I'm going backwards. This is actually rather relaxing, all I have to do is keep my arms stiff (but not rigid) and my weight slightly back of the rocker while moving my legs and feet appropriately. I'm along for the ride. Dance Coach is  driving me like a truck. If I have my body correctly aligned, and the hold solid, he could skate me as fast as he wants. I just stare at his chest, move my feet and legs appropriately and mentally plan a grocery list.

Finally, we start doing three turns in Waltz hold. "Skate between my legs, " Dance Coach tells me. As will be seen in the next few sentences, there's a reason he's making that odd statement. "Not to the left of me, not to the right to me. Skate directly at me as if you are aiming between my legs." For a moment I flash back to the time I fell backwards and toe picked Coach in the 'inner thigh' right before his wedding. But what he's telling me is typical waltz 3 advice, the lady skates directly at the coach. Apparently, I have not been doing this adequately, hence the  inadvertently risqué tone to the advice.  We do a few waltz 3's and Dance Coach is pleased.   I'm not skidding or going around him. We do several waltz 3s in a row successfully without me becoming dizzy. Just don't ask me to do more than 3 one right after another. 

As we finish with the waltz 3 exercise, we stop short of a half dozen 13 year old girls, all legs and giggles.  With his wavy Russian ice dancer hair, and good looks he's very striking and the effect on unsophisticated teenagers is amusing. They're staring at Dance Coach in awe. A few minutes later I see them trying to figure out how to do the waltz hold with each other.  

We end with a few rounds of Obstacle Course Canasta Tango around the dozens of people on the ice, "With power," coach says.  We zip right along and don't hit anyone. The kid who blindsided Dance Coach at the beginning of the lesson, carefully stays out of our way. He's pestering other people, so I just death glare at him occasionally to keep in practice. 

Am I going faster? Yes. Is it scary? Not if I'm in hold. I have complete confidence in Dance Coach's preservation skills. Even when idiot kid rammed into Dance Coach when we were deep into inside swing rolls, Dance Coach didn't budge. It was like a fly ramming a mountain, Dance Coach is that solid a skater. So I have complete faith in him. Am I going scary fast alone? No. Scary fast alone is a long time in the future. I want to gradually work up to it.

Whatever. I'll get over it.

I Want to skate THERE!

One of the things that puzzles me about the rink business, it that most of the rinks have the most appalling websites.  I've  been in some heavy duty software training for the last week, with nothing to do in the rare breaks but surf the internet, so I started randomly looking at rink websites. Most are awful, some are god-awful.

Sin Number 1:  A web page that looks like it was designed in 1998. Mysterious resolution changes between the home page and the rest of the webpages show up at the Pittsburgh Ice Castle along with a host of other formatting issues. At least they don't use <blink>,
Sin Number 2: Pages that run on, and on, and on. People don't scroll down to find your latest update, or older up date. The Ice Castle was bad, but I think Prince William Ice is even worse. Major items of importance such as the schedule and the map are at the bottom of the home page.
Sin Number 3: Rink information that is written for the 'entre nous' group. I give as my primary example, the Robert C. Crown Center, Evanston, IL. The new customer will type in the name of the rink or 'chicago ice rinks' into Google, and for this (apparently) huge facility, get a single web page with a few PDFs linked to it. There doesn't even appear to be any online Learn to Skate registration. This must be the few rinks in the US without online registration. There may be a better webpage for the rink with better information, but the one that comes up at the top of the Google list is the one new people will go to. Way to go Evanston!
Sin Number 4: Limited coaching information. Voila! The Desert Ice Castle. This rink has Frank Carroll, the premier singles coach in the US and 4 other coaches. They all seem pretty high level coaches. Are they manning the learn to skate program, or teaching adults? Probably not. So how does a skater find out about coaches that might be more appropriate for 'the rest of us' who aren't headed to the Olympics? Some other rinks don't have any coach information AT ALL! How are less famous coaches supposed to get customers if they can't have a bio posted?
Sin Number 5: Mysterious, poorly explained Learn to Skate programs. I hate to hit up one rink twice, but The Desert Ice Castle wins again! Here's a link to their LTS program. I like the total description of the skating school levels, "Levels 1-5". WTFO? It's using both ISI and USFSA. What does that mean? Even more reason to have more detail on the LTS program. Here there's not even any exhortation on how to dress a child for skating, or even any information about whether you get passes for publics or if the registration pays for skates. No online registration. And here's the kicker. The cost of the class is on the skating class form, but not on the registration form. Way to go Desert Ice! Making it difficult for your customer to spend their money at your establishment.
Sin Number 6: No mobile compatible website. Rink Management -- get over it--people use their phones. Get a mobile compatible website up.

Best Rink Website I've Found: Ice Chalet, Knoxville, TN. Home page is a little long, but the important stuff is at the top. Group lessons and the ISI skating program is detailed so it's clear to the parent. For private lessons, there's both an outline of the program and a list of coaches, with bios.  Lot's to admire about this website. No wonder the rink looks like a fabulous place to go!

I want to skate THERE!