Second lesson with Will

Had my second lesson this morning, and the early returns are positive! Will complimented my control in forward stroking, and said that it normally takes students weeks to get to the point I'm already at. That's the dance training kicking in, and a validation that I should be able to learn this stuff! Good news all around.

At the last minute, I got pulled into an early morning meeting at work yesterday, which meant I couldn't go to the rink for my normal practice time. To make up for it, I went early today and put in a full hour before my lesson. And yes, my ass is killing me, and likely to stay that way for some time. Oh, and I had my first technicolor, windmilling wipeout today :0 Glad that's over finally.

After working on my forward stroking and doing some fine tuning (more work to do!) he started me in on a second way to stop, and on edge control exercises. The new stop was the classic hockey stop (the one that kicks up a spray of snow). I get how it's supposed to work, but I've got some ground to cover to get confident enough to actually commit to the movement. That wipeout came when I tried it the first time. SkitSkitSkitSkitBOOM! Quick check to see if I'm a)still breathing, b)still in one piece and c)whether anyone saw me do it. Yes, yes, and (sigh) yes.

Edge control is going to be fun, once I get control of it. Basically, you do half circles first on one skate, then on the other, using just one of the edges on the blade to support you and lead you around the curve. The one time I did it right this morning, I actually felt like a real skater! Will said I have to do this like I would do a barre exercise - just do it over and over and over. I told him that's the way I approached the whole week, and he said that's why I am making such good progress. The discipline from all those years of dance very much translates. I "get" that you have to do a lot of piddly shit exercises over and over to develop the fine control, and am used to it. Dance is hours of mind-numbing boredom that leads to a triumphant 15 minutes on stage. Skating is turning out to be no different.

I took a break between my workout and my lesson and got to watch a high school guy figure skater work on his short program. It really took me back to watch him. He's tall and decidedly NOT willowy - in other words, built just like me, and he has very much the same body I had at the height of my dance career, right down to the thinly developed upper body and the hemispheric butt. In spite of this, he was landing double-double jump combinations that look all the more dramatic simply because he's so big - that's that powerful ass making it possible, just as it was for me as a dancer. It was a pleasure to watch him and not a little slice of nostalgia. It also made me rethink not learning to figure skate - maybe I could do jumps after all. Plenty of time for that - I'm just going to enjoy learning the fine control for now and watching my younger doppleganger skate.

So after a week, I think I'm really going to enjoy this. I am getting back into the swing of the physical discipline and enjoying that laser-beam focus that I used to get when doing ballet exercises - where the whole world goes away and it's just you and the mirror and the pool of sweat... and a smile.