Any long time reader of my blog will know I hate the step behinds from the Rhythm Blues. I blame my hip injury on a fall I took on these (it's when the pain started...) and that put me off the ice for over 6 months. It also ruined my ability to do spirals. Step behinds suck.
Well, yesterday I started doing them again. And this time, they weren't painful to me, but to Carson. I'm working on them at the wall, but he also wanted me to try them partnered. Carson was a high level pairs skater- he can pretty well hold me up through anything. So we did the Rhythm Blues end pattern, and although too slow for the dance, I mostly did the step behinds. I also apparently dug my elbow into his back. Sorry, Carson...step behinds hurt, I guess. (I have no idea how I did this, I even tried the hold at home to figure out how I was tightening up to stab him in the back with my elbow, but without the scared feeling, I can't recreate it...)
Going back to dance though has shown me how much better of a skater I am than the last time I tried this. With Courtney, I could not fill the rink with the Dutch Waltz, maybe just half rink (since it doesn't start all the way at the end- I could get the pattern to 3/4 rink). Now, I often overshoot the pattern, to the point where I need to think about deeper lobes, rather than length. This power, however, means I sometimes chicken out on the end pattern progressive. But partnered, I'm not chickening out at all. Courtney never really felt confident partnering with me, so we didn't do it much- but I had to Dutch Waltz in a show with Andy. I remember him hissing under his breathe "you're fine!" and he took me through an end pattern edge that was surely going to kill me. Perhaps Carson didn't take the edge so deeply, but I had no problems at all doing the dutch waltz in hold with him, on first try. (I'm sure my butt was sticking out, and I know I was looking down, but the steps were good.)
I need to fix the looking down issue. However, I tend to turn out and swing my legs, and have horrible proprioception, so only by looking at my feet do I know I'm not about to kick Carson. I don't think he'd appreciate that.
Early Autumn
1 month ago
3 comments:
I tease my coach that he can say, "Don't look down!" without an accent. I do it all the time, for the same reason you mention, but also, I hate the thought of my blades clicking together. I'm determined to fix it, but then I think of getting tangled up doing crossovers or stepping on the back of my blade doing step behinds and suddenly...my eyes are right back on my skates. And my coach is bellowing, "Mee-shell! Don't look down!"
So cool that you're back at Rhythm Blues after your step behind incident. That's showing some serious moxie!
Well it could always be worse - you could have inch thick wheels sticking out from the sides of your skates... Just ask me how many times I have locked wheels on cross behinds. It takes more than one hand to count, I'll tell you that much. On days when my back hurts really bad cross behinds are the scariest step in any of my dances because my balance feels off, but usually they aren't too bad. If you do them enough then they will become just another step in the dance.
I feel your pain! I just can't seem to get brave enough to even try to do them properly, and I ALWAYS look down. On a positive note, my coach says I'm ready to test the first two dances, gulp!
I enjoy your blog. I still consider myself a new skater - been skating three years but I was 59 when I started.
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