May 2003
Week of May 4, 2003
Partnering
Due to various conflicts, I have not had a skating lesson for a few weeks. Finally, Cynthia and I got back together to revisit the Fiesta Tango, which we touched upon briefly during our last meeting. The Fiesta Tango is the last of the beginning dances. It incorporates backward and forward skating, an advanced open mohawk turn, and a change of edge swing roll. The difficulty of this dance comes from its required speed and crispness. Since my hips do not want to open in a counterclockwise direction, the mohawk frightens me.
I thoroughly enjoy the forward outside-to-inside change-edge swing roll and warm up with series of these performed around the rink. They are probably my favorite basic skating skill. I attack the Fiesta Tango, mainly because I love this element. However, my bravery dissipates immediately following my favorite step because that ugly mohawk looms on the horizon. I am usually flying at a respectable clip after the change-edge and push into the forward stroke before the mohawk. Inevitably, I am traveling too fast for my personal comfort level and have to glide for a while before summoning the courage to make that quick little turn. Of course, by this time I have lost the beat and am out of synch with the music.
This turn is not difficult. I can do it at will at any velocity in the other direction. This is the story of my skating life. I am extremely clockwise, except for skills performed entirely on the left foot, then it does not really matter which way I turn. Cynthia believes I fail to keep my belly button over my tracing, and since I am off balance, I cannot control the initiating forward edge and have to either turn immediately or abort. This must be true, because once I adjust my balance, I can make the turn. Other times, when something is not quite right, a rush of panic causes me to omit the mohawk and start over. To solidify my technique, I performed the Fiesta Tango end pattern repeatedly in a circle counting each beat and concentrating on placement of my body over the right forward outside edge into the notorious turn. Cynthia transformed my lackadaisical backward steps into sharp little kicks that conformed to the character of the music. Now I have to summon the nerve to incorporate these skills into the complete dance.
My solo Swing Dance earned Cynthia’s praise, and she decided to teach me how to skate the pattern with a partner. I have never danced with a partner before and was worried about tripping. I maintain a library of naively terrible visions of tangled legs, toe pick jabs, and trampled feet. According to my coach, these nasty foibles cannot happen since each hold is designed to position the partners for properly matched movements. Of course, I held Cynthia incorrectly and tried to skate as far away from her as possible to prevent an accident. Eventually, I understood how to position myself and swing my free leg to correspond with hers. Many adult skaters enjoy clinging to an experienced instructor who guides them through a dance. I am so accustomed to skating by myself and developing my own power that I was afraid to couple my strength with someone else’s. Together, our Swing Dance was too fast and too big. We ran out of ice and lost the beat.
Male skating partners are a rare commodity. No one is breaking down my door wanting to commit to an ice dance partnership. I have a long journey ahead before partnering would make sense for me. That is probably not the direction I want my interest in ice dancing to take anyway. Dancing has definitely improved my overall skating. I am faster, more graceful, and achieve better body positions. However, I am motivated to improve my mohawks and move on to the next set of dance patterns.
Week of May 11, 2003
Cruising to Paradise
My husband and I spent the week on a cruise vacation, a reward for a particularly difficult winter. We both needed a holiday, and neither of us had cruised before. No, we don’t get seasick. My husband has owned boats for many years; and I find turbulent motion, whether on a ship or airplane, very relaxing. Cruise lines are notorious for providing abundant food supplies to their passengers. Meals are literally available twenty-four hours a day. I may not have gotten seasick, but I certainly felt stuffed too often.
Fortunately, exercise facilities permit dedicated travelers to counteract the gluttony of over consumption. A health spa offers workout equipment and three exercise classes daily. Of course, a swimming pool is also available, and the port cities invite plenty of walking. The upper deck of the ship is often laid out as a walking or jogging track. Seven times around equals one mile, on our vessel. More people walked in the sunshine than attended the exercise classes in one of the lounges.
I only missed exercise class one day, and made up for it with walking and snorkeling. Shipboard fitness classes allowed me to sample programs I have never tried before. In addition to basic aerobics, I tried step aerobics, Pilates, and yoga. I attended two core-strengthening classes that focus on development of abdominal muscles. Most of the movements were Pilates-based. I can still feel those exercises in the core of my gut. The instructor, a very pleasant Czech woman who makes her home in South Africa, told me these exercises would reduce my potbelly. Although I workout regularly and have lost weight, I cannot get rid of the little abdominal paunch that plagues so many women. Since Pilates classes are not presently available near my home, I will try to perform these exercises independently and continue to hope for a flatter stomach.
I had never tried yoga, though it is very popular with skaters for flexibility training. Many of my adult contemporaries have asked if I practice yoga, because the stretches I perform before and after skating are generally more extreme than the average adult can manage. However, I enjoy stretching and have always stretched regularly, even before becoming involved in ice skating. My piable muscles strained under some of those yoga poses. I understand why skaters revere yoga. Yoga classes are offered in my community, and I may consider incorporating them as a summer off-ice supplement. After the yoga session, I felt remarkably limber. I could lie on my back and pull my foot up next to my ear while leaving the other leg flat on the bed. This modified split position amazed me. Too bad it probably has no worldly utility.
We were both sad when our vacation ended and reality returned. We look forward to another cruise, possibly later this summer. Cruising is a unique experience. I would recommend it to anyone.
I drove to the rink for a third and final skate this week after achieving significant improvement with my Fiesta Tango. After a few rounds and practices on the hockey circle, I finally managed to place that nasty advanced mohawk into context. Completing the dance, I pumped my fist like a world champion who had just landed a quad.
Eager to repeat my success, I appeared at the rink only to find a flier in the window declaring the session cancelled. I could not believe my eyes. I had skated the previous day and no one had mentioned a cancellation. I even stopped at the front desk and said “Good-bye. See you tomorrow,” to the manager. No bulletin was posted anywhere in the building. I asked the young fellow who had just dismounted the Zamboni if this particular session had been cancelled. He apologized for my inconvenience and admitted to finding out about the private party that morning. He said they would try to post weekly schedules in the future. Gee, thanks.
I drive a fat forty minutes to get to this facility and decided to wait outside for anyone else who might appear for the session. At least we could complain over a cup of coffee. However, this session is unusually long, so many people do not show until thirty minutes or an hour have elapsed. As I lingered, I became angrier. No one approached the arena except a man with two little children in tow carrying a couple pairs of miniature ice skates. Where were the other adult skaters? Had no one been duped but me? Just as I prepared to cut my losses and leave, my friends began to arrive along with an absolutely furious coach. The coach had commuted a long distance only to turn away students (the man’s two little children) and collect no money. No one bothered to inform her either. A rink employee telephoning a couple of instructors could have prevented this entire situation. The coaches would have notified their students and word would have spread among the regulars. Apparently one must first flunk an intelligence test before being hired to a position of authority at an ice arena.
After enjoying coffee and conversation with my skating friends, I stopped at the park on the way home for a few miles of distance roller skating. I keep roller gear and a change of clothes in my car and have never regretted the excess baggage. It seems to come in handy eventually. Although I have not ice skated as often as I may have liked, this is the first time I got zonked this season. Rare or not, it is still a pain in the butt.
