101.4 Degrees

Since I've been struggling to rid my body of an annoying head and chest cold, I've been watching a lot of skating and thinking. If this doesn't make sense, remember, I've been running a fever. Sometimes you and your coach are on two different pages. You see yourself as being able to at least attempt to move on and try harder things. Your coach sees your highest jump as being a waltz jump. Different pages. You sit back and wonder why you aren't working on new elements and why your entire lesson consists of you doing crossovers. 40 minutes of crossovers. By the time your lesson is over, your legs are jello and you want a drink. Unfortunately, it's 8:30am. You remember being able to perform elements without thinking about it, and if you don't think about it, you can still do it. Then you think about it. If someone video taped you at that moment, you would resemble an animal attempting to run at top speed on ice. You know how it's going to end and no, it's not a pretty picture. You watch a local competition and think, "I should have done this competition". So the next year, you sign up. Who else signs up? That skater who just left an international ice show. Watching her Russian splits, illusions and easy double jumps, you wonder if you're being punked and where Ashton Kutcher and cameras are hiding. Mentally you have choreographed your program and it contains elements you CAN do. Your coach doesn't agree and that opening jump combination of salchow/loop becomes a waltz jump. This is followed by crossovers, a lot of crossovers into another waltz jump. You insist that some of what you mentally choreographed should stay, but when you try to show your coach, it looks as though you've never been on ice before and you lose that battle. So you make plans and a tentative schedule for upcoming months, but freestyle sessions are canceled for hockey and coaches move on because you're not improving fast enough. You begin to wonder if you're actually enjoying skating any longer. You are, you just wish you were improving faster. Such is the life of an adult skater. To those who are reading, this is not necessarily me; this is all adult skaters. We work really hard to master the elements. We do not get the respect we should. Our events are eliminated from competitions, or our competitions are dropped all together. We are occasionally treated like 5th class citizens at rinks, yet we expected to always volunteer at events. We enjoy volunteering, but our main purpose for being at the rink is to skate. Wishing the best to those going to Regional and National. I hope to be with you next year. However, if you ARE that skater who just left the international ice show, please, do NOT be in my group! I've already experienced that at my first USFSA competition and it wasn't fun.

Light Entertainment Part 2

I found the description of "Light Entertainment" on the USFSA website. I thought I would post it here for those of you who may say I'm just being a grouch. No grouch here, just a person who watch over a half dozen of short programs that had nothing to do with "light entertainment". 1. Dramatic Entertainment: Programs should express intense emotional connection and investment in the music, choreography and theme concept through related skating movements, gestures and physical actions. Props and Scenery ARE permitted. 2. Light Entertainment: Programs should express a carefree concept or storyline designed to uplift and entertain the audience through related skating movements, gestures and physical actions. Props and Scenery ARE permitted. I can only hope that in the future, coaches, judges, skaters, parents and anyone else who organizes showcase competitions will read what a showcase program is supposed to represent. Also, in showcase competitions, try not to gross out, insult, or make fun of the judges, especially to their faces. That is a story for another post... maybe.

Light Entertainment Programs

Having finally recovered from a cold that just about knocked me off my feet for a week, I attended and announced at a Showcase competition. This competition USED to be an adult competition called The Winter Classic. It was, to my knowledge, a financial success but was changed to this Showcase competition because (and are you sitting down for this?) the host club was upset that not enough club members participated or volunteered for the event. Please tell me you are just as confused as I am... Be that as it may, I announced for most of the Showcase competition. And I was shocked and disappointed at what some skaters consider "Light Entertainment". Back in the day, when I did so many ISI competitions that they knew me by face, a "Light Entertainment" program was fun, had some technical elements, and conveyed either a bit of sexy or silliness. Yesterday, I watched a group of girls basically do their Intermediate short program. All technical, no "light entertainment". Evita has a wonderful score. Is it light entertainment? No. Les Miserables, beautiful score. There is one "light" number in the entire show and that's Master of the House. No one skated to that and yet 3 girls skated to Les Miz. Phantom of the Opera... not light entertainment. Jekyll and Hyde; Civil War; The Scarlet Pimpernell and any other Frank Wildhorn show... they are NOT light entertainment musicals. Please do some research first. Yes, you like the music and good for you for appreciating a good score, but skate to that music either as a technical program (in a technical competition or in a Dramatic Entertainment event) but NOT as light entertainment I firmly believe that if you skate your short program for a showcase event, you should be marked down because you did not adhere to the rules. But I'm not a judge and for that, everyone involved should be happy. As for the "Improv" events (which in ISI ran extremely smoothly and were called Interpretive) all I can say is after hearing Taylor Swift screech out a song that reminded me of those screaming goats (even with auto-tune), I volunteered to pick the music next year. I actually begged to pick the music next year. One judge asked if we had to hear that song for three events. I think we heard it for two events, four girls each. It was torture. Remember when people had to be able to sing LIVE to have a music career? Gone are the days... Schools are closed this week so there's no point in trying to get to the rink. So until next time, as we are currently saying in the east coast... Stay Warm.

Happier 2015

Miss me? While I still haven't been skating much (once a week when I ice monitor), I have been making the most of my abbreviated sessions (usually about 30 minutes each). However, yesterday, I had the opportunity to do two of the four things (maybe five) that I love to do: I got to skate/teach and sign. I volunteered to teach a group of Deaf children basic skills. Yesterday was the first day with five sweet little girls. They caught on very quickly and by the end of the lesson, were able to get up when they fell, stop and do one foot glides on both feet. While I don't know how long I'll be able to do this since I'm still looking for employment, I can say, it was the best day I've had for a very, very long time. Smiles all around!!!

Happy Holidays

With everything that has happened in my world in the past six/seven months from losing my job to having injured feet to losing three people, then falling into a depression, I can say it's been rough. But I've been lucky because a few readers have sent me notes of encouragement and concern. I thank you. I still don't have a job, my feet still hurt, I'm still fat, my back still hurts 24/7 and my skating is an extremely slow work in progress. I'm trying. It's a daily challenge, but so is everyone else's life. So, I take this moment to wish everyone out there there the happiest holidays ever. Laugh as much as you can. Dance like no one is looking (because chances are they aren't looking). Sing when you want to. Love when you can. Happy Chanukah! Merry Christmas! Happy Kwanzaa! Happy New Year! Happy Skating! See you next year.

Alyssa Joy Stith

About 10 years ago, I taught group lessons to a bunch of girls from Harlem, NY. It was a challenge on many levels; one of which was the 2 hour subway/bus ride to get home. But, for the most part, the girls were sweet and the other instructors were great. This brings me to Alyssa Joy Stith; one of the instructors. She was a competitive figure skater. She was talented. She was sweet. She was a great choreographer for kids. I lost track of her when I was in mourning for my mother and she was getting married. The last thing I said to her was "I'll see you soon, I promise." Alyssa Joy Stith, figure skater, passed away on November 30th. I don't know the details. All I know is that a dear woman has left this world and we're all a little emptier for her departure. This year, I have lost too many friends/co-workers/colleagues. I can't do this right now. It's really just too much. Toss in the holidays and well... you can guess how I feel right now. Exercise helps. But really, I wish people would just stop dying for a while...

Hard Thing To Get Through

I'm not in a good place. I can't shake this feeling of despair, affectionately known as depression. I've been here before. I have no desire to skate. Or get out of bed. Daily showering is an effort. Most days I don't leave my apartment, even to get the mail. I've lost a few pounds because eating is an effort too. So is sleeping. Drinking isn't. There's hope that this will pass quickly and my tolerance for being around other people will dissipate. I have the time to skate, but absolutely no desire. I'm taking some time off to re-evaluate my life. It might be a short period of time, it might be a longer period of time; I don't know. In the meantime, Happy Thanksgiving all. "Hard to tell you How I feel Everything is so unreal. Lord, this life Is a hard thing to get through... And harder still To leave..." HOW I FEEL from The Me Nobody Knows. Music by Gary William Friedman and lyrics by Will Holt.