Return to the Canasta Tango

Miss Bianaca takes out her Magic Marker of Doom and makes a mark on the center line a few feet from the center dot.

"When you skate the tango, you need to end that left forward inside slide chasse' right here." She taps the mark with her toe pick. Then she skates 10 feet away, "This is where you're hitting it."

I know this routine...

I try it a couple more times, then we move on to back threes. I'm not getting any closer. Probably as I try to remember the steps, I tense up and slow down.

Today,  I try it again. I'm more relaxed and I've got the steps firmly in my head. Here's my distances--and my excuses.

6 feet. Little kid got in my way.
4 feet. Had to slow down so I wouldn't knock over an adult skater who panicked and nearly fell down anyway.
3 feet. There'a a hockey guy going backwards, not looking behind himself, who might--if he speeds up---possibly get in my way.
2 and a half feet, and that's as close as I can get. I get a straight shot in.
Then I go home and pull out the canasta tango drawing,

You know, after that first LFO- swing roll, the RFO stroke and the LFI Slide chasse' are supposed to be two beats? 

I've been doing one.

The Spin Chat

In LTS, the freestyle coach, Miz Ursula, starts talking to us about blades: Pattern 99 (not a blade for everyone), the go to blade (MK Pro), and goes through all our blades. Then she starts "The Spin Chat."

Coach Ursula

 The Spin Chat begins with a discussion about spinning on the real front part of the blade. Pattern 99  are a 3 radius blade. That means there's a special rocker right at the front for spins. The rest of us just have to make do with what we've got. two radius blades

To put us in the Spin Mentality, Coach Ursula has us skate backwards on one foot at the foremost part of the blade, right at the part of the blade behind the toes. We're supposed to be upright and not bendy and gliding on the fore part of the fore foot of the blade.

Yes, I start out all bendy gliding backwards. But keeping in mind the emphasis on one foot glide in the video below, I really, really work on it during class. Developing good posture on one foot backwards, is the new key to my spins.

When Coach Ursula is satisfied with our back one foot glides, she goes to each of us to work with different spins. She comes up to me and keeping in mind:
1. Don't lean out of the circle
2. Stay on the real forward part of the blade

I rip off a three rotation two foot spin!

"That's a real spin!" Coach Ursula cries.

Unfortunately, it makes me so dizzy I have to rotate in the other direction.

"Don't worry," Coach Ursula says, "You'll develop an immunity to dizziness."

So, spinning is ... a... vaccine to dizziness?

Can't I just get a spin shot?

After an Hour and a Half On Ice

What I Want...

What I Get....