Officially on Passport!

In my lesson today, we finally put to bed all those niggly bits from the Skate UK syllabus that we hadn't finished (oh alright, and I had lost the booklet for signing off and had to buy a new one . . . ).

There was only four bits from Level 8 and 9 that I hadn't officially passed before, even though I had passed all of Level 10 :)

LEVEL 8
Drag: Managed two respectable ones - not even contemplated a few months ago with my 'orrible kneecaps, but no longer a problem!

LEVEL 9
Bunny Hop: Still need to do these a little less daintily apparently, but acceptable.
Backward edges (both feet and both edges): BI edges were easy, BO felt the best they ever had which I was thrilled with. Not brilliant, but I learnt that keeping the same arm in front and not swapping halfway through makes them a lot more stable, and there were discernible edges on all of them
Two BXO's to a sustained backward inside edge: Much better than before - I can hold the position on both sides now, unnatural though it can feel!

And that's it - my Skate UK booklet is all signed off, and can be shoved to the back of a drawer!

Next stop is the Skate UK Dance Passport in bronze, silver and gold (although I am also doing most of the Level 1 Field Moves, bar the spiral at the moment). The passport bronze level consists of:

• Forward open chasses / crossed (closed) chasses continuously on a circle (min 3) (L & R)
• LFO closed mohawk, cross in front onto a LBI. Step forward to RFI (x3) (L&R)F
• Forward progressive runs (CW & CCW)
• Two consecutive LFO 3-turns followed by LFO sustained outside edge with free leg extended for a count of 3 (L & R)

So in the rest of the lesson we covered:
MITF Forward Edges: Not bad - I need to bend my knees more and make sure I don't hitch my free hip up when bringing the leg through.
MITF FXO's & BXO's Fig 8: I need to remember to keep my inside hip pushed back on the BXO's, otherwise I tend to lose my sense of direction. I just about managed to do the required mohawk for the change of direction, but I had to slow down massively!
MITF Backward Landing Edges: Fairly satisfied. One side wandered slightly onto a straight edge, but the other side stayed most defintely on an outside edge and both felt quite secure. It is defintely seeming that gliding backwards on one leg no longer holds the same terror it used to!
Closed Chasse's: Bwaaahahahaha! Well these feel normal . . . Crossing the free foot behind the skating foot and stepping onto it, for those who are unfamiliar. It kind of started making a bit more sense in the patch afterwards where I could do them slowly and really feel where the feet should be. Right feels much better than left and I have to remember to pigeon toe my feet on the cross (my natural instinct being to turn them out).
FO Closed Mohawk: Another newbie and although D says they are easier than open mohawks, I'm not feelin' it yet! I can do them quite nicely on the barrier, but my feet turn into a big skiddy mess when I attempt them away from it.
Novice Foxtrot: Not bad - still hip riding a bit on the swings (hitching the free hip up) but it is feeling much bigger and faster.
Canasta Tango: D added various arms to this today, which confused me a little, but I can work it out at home. I did three rounds today - the second one, D got me to follow her speed and pattern and I just about managed to keep up. The third time on my own subsequently felt much better and at the beginning I had a eureka moment when my knees really were bent. Everything felt smoother and more powerful and it felt really good. Now I just have to work to maintain it throughout the whole thing!

Very happy after my lesson, especially as that pesky SkateUK booklet is all signed off, and I have wholly new things to think about!