Uhhhhh, so apparently Spain was hiding some extremely bizarre skaters somewhere in their ice rinks until they let this one escape: Javier Fernandez does an aerobics class on ice exhibition number. Complete with what appears to be a Superman outfit with a big "J" on his chest, for Super!Javier! And if I'm not mistaken, that's him doing the narration over the music.
Even the British EuroSport commentators, who are rarely fazed by anything, sound a little nonplussed in the version with their commentary.
I am unsurprised to find that Kurt Browning choreographed this number.
Despite the amusement factor, I think what I like best about it is seeing interesting and unusual skills that would never be rewarded in competition these days, like the opposite direction jumps at 4:09, and that super cool up-and-down sit spin at 1:48.
*
I had a good lesson and practice yesterday. My Waltz Eight was actually...well, okay, I don't think I can legitimately call it an "8" shape, since the right-hand circle kept collapsing in on itself because my left side still doesn't believe in back outside edges, but there was a definite circular motion to the stuff on the left-hand side. I still can't check my three turns worth a damn, so we ended up shortening the back inside edge part and pushing more quickly into the back outside edge, which helped things stay on a circle. I'm not 100% sure if I can just keep it like that or if I'm going to have to be able to check better before I take this test.
(If I could just alter the figure to put a poor man's back inside loop there before moving on to the back outside edge, it would be gorgeous and totally circular, but it doesn't work like that, alas.)
We worked on the forward perimeter stroking pattern for a bit, and I learned I actually get six strokes to make it down the long side of the rink. Hot diggity! I thought I had to do it in four! I can actually do it in four, especially since you're really going from red hockey dot to hockey dot rather than goal line to goal line, given how the intro steps and crossovers work, but apparently the rule-makers want six. Per C, "You actually have a lot of power, but we need to control it."
*beam*
I also managed not to fall over doing the spiral pattern for the first time, but I doubt my free leg was anywhere near my hip. You get two spirals, one on each foot, down the long side of the rink, and each of them has to go for about 50-60 feet. You get one push in the middle to build some momentum for the second spiral. I was just pleased to make it on both of them without running out of gas. Height can come later.
In practice, because someone in my group class was asking, I pulled out the half flip I haven't worked on in weeks and...actually managed to jump rather than step from toe pick to toe pick. IT WAS A MIRACLE! Apparently mastering that ballet jump (for generous values of "master") actually helped. Alternately, benign neglect improves my skating skills.
In other miracles, I managed to generate power on my backward cross rolls after applying P's advice from last night that it's kind of like a mutant edge pull. Now, we are not talking a lot of power--we are talking, like, AA battery versus the nuclear reactor that a pro could generate from these--but I could get the sixty feet or so from the goal line to the first blue line before I came to a standstill, which is much better than last week.
And I got a very interesting piece of general advice from fellow adult skater R, who told me about the idea of finishing a lobe*/edge, coming to a neutral position, and then being able to move to any foot/edge/direction from that position because you're not tipped over too far one way or the other. Which is a cool idea. I applied it to my swing choctaw and came out with...something that looked a bit more more like a choctaw than an unhappy mohawk, anyway. Maybe this will be helpful.
* I don't know where the term "lobe" comes from--I suspect figures; are the circles that make up an 8 called lobes?--but it basically means an arc.
*
I don't know if it's the dust mite covers I put on my mattress and pillow last night or the Prednisone, Zyrtec, and/or Nasacort finally kicking in, but today was hugely less snotty than the past week or so has been. Downside: I am very obviously sleeping on plastic. It rustles when I move, and is warmer than I'd like. But if it means I can breathe...
Even the British EuroSport commentators, who are rarely fazed by anything, sound a little nonplussed in the version with their commentary.
I am unsurprised to find that Kurt Browning choreographed this number.
Despite the amusement factor, I think what I like best about it is seeing interesting and unusual skills that would never be rewarded in competition these days, like the opposite direction jumps at 4:09, and that super cool up-and-down sit spin at 1:48.
*
I had a good lesson and practice yesterday. My Waltz Eight was actually...well, okay, I don't think I can legitimately call it an "8" shape, since the right-hand circle kept collapsing in on itself because my left side still doesn't believe in back outside edges, but there was a definite circular motion to the stuff on the left-hand side. I still can't check my three turns worth a damn, so we ended up shortening the back inside edge part and pushing more quickly into the back outside edge, which helped things stay on a circle. I'm not 100% sure if I can just keep it like that or if I'm going to have to be able to check better before I take this test.
(If I could just alter the figure to put a poor man's back inside loop there before moving on to the back outside edge, it would be gorgeous and totally circular, but it doesn't work like that, alas.)
We worked on the forward perimeter stroking pattern for a bit, and I learned I actually get six strokes to make it down the long side of the rink. Hot diggity! I thought I had to do it in four! I can actually do it in four, especially since you're really going from red hockey dot to hockey dot rather than goal line to goal line, given how the intro steps and crossovers work, but apparently the rule-makers want six. Per C, "You actually have a lot of power, but we need to control it."
*beam*
I also managed not to fall over doing the spiral pattern for the first time, but I doubt my free leg was anywhere near my hip. You get two spirals, one on each foot, down the long side of the rink, and each of them has to go for about 50-60 feet. You get one push in the middle to build some momentum for the second spiral. I was just pleased to make it on both of them without running out of gas. Height can come later.
In practice, because someone in my group class was asking, I pulled out the half flip I haven't worked on in weeks and...actually managed to jump rather than step from toe pick to toe pick. IT WAS A MIRACLE! Apparently mastering that ballet jump (for generous values of "master") actually helped. Alternately, benign neglect improves my skating skills.
In other miracles, I managed to generate power on my backward cross rolls after applying P's advice from last night that it's kind of like a mutant edge pull. Now, we are not talking a lot of power--we are talking, like, AA battery versus the nuclear reactor that a pro could generate from these--but I could get the sixty feet or so from the goal line to the first blue line before I came to a standstill, which is much better than last week.
And I got a very interesting piece of general advice from fellow adult skater R, who told me about the idea of finishing a lobe*/edge, coming to a neutral position, and then being able to move to any foot/edge/direction from that position because you're not tipped over too far one way or the other. Which is a cool idea. I applied it to my swing choctaw and came out with...something that looked a bit more more like a choctaw than an unhappy mohawk, anyway. Maybe this will be helpful.
* I don't know where the term "lobe" comes from--I suspect figures; are the circles that make up an 8 called lobes?--but it basically means an arc.
*
I don't know if it's the dust mite covers I put on my mattress and pillow last night or the Prednisone, Zyrtec, and/or Nasacort finally kicking in, but today was hugely less snotty than the past week or so has been. Downside: I am very obviously sleeping on plastic. It rustles when I move, and is warmer than I'd like. But if it means I can breathe...
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