Skate Camp - Saturday

11:15am. I just got out of Naomi and Peter’s “Compulsory Dance Moves” class, where they did a review of some of the elements that are required in the CDs. Of course, for me, some of those moves were quite new! I think the hardest were the series of linking three turns that we did. My left forward outside three is fairly strong, but my right forward outside three? Next to non-existent. Still, I managed to make it through.

The best part of this class was doing the chasses. I love chasses, although I find them a challenge to do well. Peter was extremely helpful and patient, taking me by the hand (huge grins on my part) and helping me learn a new style of doing them. I normally do them quite upright, but Peter taught me how to do them with more knee bend. That really helped. And I learned a new one – what I’d call a back cross chasse, where you put your foot down behind your skating foot. That was difficult at first, but I caught on quickly.

My favorite part of the class, though, was when Naomi had to teach Peter how to do an open Mohawk. Apparently, for Peter, it had been a while. Then we all got to do a variety of types of Mohawk. Fun? Well, sort of. Fun and challenging.

12:20pm. We just did an hour’s worth of two elements I’d never done – Chocktaws and Twizzles. The Chocktaws were great, once Naomi showed me what the heck one was. I was shaky, but she showed me the basics, so I could practice this new move.

But the twizzles…those were AWESOME. I love them. I’ve seen people do them, but never tried myself. I’m not very good at them, I’m sure, but they are so fun. I felt so free. They ROCK.

Yesterday was really the first day of camp for me. I’d been at work earlier in the day, but I was useless. All I could think about was the Skate Camp. I’d do five minutes of work, then spend the next ten thinking of Peter Tchernyshev. I was hopeless. I was so excited, I was literally bouncing in my chair. When I got to the rink, I introduced myself to every adult around me with a “So, are you here for the Adult Camp?” I met people from NY and NJ, from Boston, from Ohio, even from as far afield as Los Angeles and Canada.

It’s been great skating with so many adults. At my normal rink, I’m the only adult, so this has been a pleasure. And people at this camp are at all levels, from relative beginners, to high level skaters new to dance, to advanced dancers, to people like me, who are just okay.