To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive

On my own

2015-03-22T23:10:06Z

So, uh, one of the two male skaters who are part of our adult coterie asked me to be his ice dance partner after the adult session today?

We had been talking about ballroom dance, because he does both the ice and ballroom versions, and then he dragged me out to dance around the open area next to the little food court in the rink. I was shocked at how much I remembered after nine years.* Then he asked if I wanted to skate with him.

Unfortunately, I had to inform him that I don't really have time or money to do both freestyle and dance, and I like freestyle much, much better than dance. Not to mention he takes his lessons out at the Franklin rink, which is a hell of a drive for me. He also really, really wants to compete at Adult Nationals, and I...really, really don't.

But we did agree to fool around with the early pattern dances at some future practice, just for fun. He apparently can't find anyone at his (very low) level who will even consider dance, or who has a ballroom background, and the women at higher levels are reluctant to move back. I'm surprised he hasn't managed to talk JB into it, since they're at about the same level in dance, but she's quite tall. That may be a factor. Or else she also doesn't have the time/money for both freestyle and serious dance.

We're also going to try to get a few other skaters together and go social dancing at the studio where he and his wife take lessons, so that will be fun. That's more my speed than ice dance.

I feel kind of bad for turning him down, since with the gender ratio in this sport I know there are tons of women who would kill to be in this position, but...I like the solo aspect of skating. I like spins and jumps. The early pattern dances that I know are SO. BORING. If I had infinite time and money, sure, but alas, I do not.

Anyway, speaking of spins and jumps, I remembered to hold the forward edge and then step up for the waltz jump and got some height this time, even on waltz-waltz-waltz combinations. I also got some nice hops off the toe pick/edge on the salchow. Alas, my toe loops had no height, but I did manage four in a row at one point.

I've managed to get my head around the RFI3 exercise P wants me to do as prep for real backspins, which translated to almost getting in the right starting position for the spin. Success!

* He was like, "You're great! I can totally tell you were trained by Russians! You have that frame!" I'm taking this with a grain of salt the size of my head.

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Hi, all my buddies!

2013-12-17T23:41:13Z

I wish this had been a thing when I was in the ballroom dance club at college. I guess the dancing reality shows didn't really get popular until after I graduated, though.

Tangentially, it's kind of sad to realize I recognize none of the names in that article. All of our little baby officers who were elected at the end of my senior year have been graduated for at least four years now!

*

I'm slowly admitting that the reason I haven't been writing much on the not!drawerfic has less to do with being busy (though that definitely contributed) than it does with knowing in my heart that I need to restructure most of the first chapter of Part 3. I've got a big event that really needs more buildup, as evidenced by the fact that the scene right after it is almost entirely composed of flashback, because I so didn't set up that event well. Sigh. At least I won't lose much besides my transitions, because see above re: flashback.

*

I've caught up with all the Thrilling Adventure Hour podcasts ~~that I'm interested in~~. What am I going to listen to in the car now? :(

I have to say, Jib Janeen the Jupiter Spy miiiight just be my favorite character. He's definitely up there with Frank and Sadie, anyway. Speaking of whom, I really hope they have him show up to impersonate Frank at some point, and have Sadie see through him immediately. (I may have to write this fic.)

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Things you find on your semi-annual trawl through Facebook

2013-06-30T03:29:21Z

THE PINK MONSTER LIVES.

(Context, for those of you left scratching your heads. Also relevant.)

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Further amusements in figure skating

2013-03-10T14:48:25Z

I was watching this Scott Hamilton special from 2003, in which Renee Roca and Gorsha Sur do a program to a bossa nova. They have a section at the end where they're doing what basically amounts to cha-cha on skates, and I noticed that they make the exact same Cheesy Latin Face (tm) I do when I'm doing the Latin and Rhythm dances! Also the exact same hair-petting and finger-beckoning arm movements that are intended to be sexy, but which are so stylized as to remove all sexual connotation (though they still look pretty cool when done well). This is, I don't know, encouraging. Cheesy Latin Face still afflicts those who do this for a living!

I think I've almost (sob) collected every program and small group number they ever did. (I realized I had 99% of them when I was digitizing my tapes last weekend, so I figured why not see if I can finish it off? I am nothing if not a completist.) I really only lack five, and one of them I don't think was ever actually shown on TV. Another is one I swear I remember seeing, and which I have some confirmation actually aired, but I'm not sure anyone actually taped it.

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Dance till the stars come down from the rafters

2013-03-05T04:32:05Z

I did ballroom dance tonight! It was awesome! There's a group of about 100 that meets on Monday nights, when they have a (very, very basic) lesson in one dance that changes every month, such as tonight's west coast swing. Then they basically have a dance party afterwards. The age of the group tended well north of mine, but that was okay. Lots of people really knew what they were doing. And shockingly, there were more men than women. So I got to dance to every song I stayed for, mostly with one very nice older gentleman. I kept thinking, "I should leave...I have to get up for work tomorrow..." but then a waltz or an east coast swing would come on, and I had to stay. We did a cha-cha, and all the Latin abs/hip movement came back to me, and it felt so good. Plus apparently I can follow now? I used to be a terrible follow, but I did okay tonight. Not that anyone I danced with did very complicated stuff with me, but still.

Anyway, great fun. Although ultimately it's convinced me that I really need to pony up the bucks and find a studio that does group lessons, because I want more thorough instruction along with my messing around on the dance floor. And ideally those lessons would not be on Monday nights, ugh. Maybe I could do a few individual lessons until I fill in any holes that would keep me out of intermediate or advanced group classes? I don't know. Something to think about (and Google).

(Ummmm, let us not talk about how I also have the local Learn to Skate program up in another tab. I started to digitize some old VHS tapes this weekend, and all of them were of ice dancing--I was not kidding about the tape trading in the last post, y'all--and it made me want to do pale imitations of their moves. If I took lessons, those imitations could be ever so slightly less pale! And group lessons aren't nearly as expensive as I thought they would be. On the other hand, maybe I'll just screw around at a public skating session sometime and get it out of my system...)

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