Sadly because of the fast approaching finals Scott and I have not been able to practice a whole lot. We are still having lessons and practicing, but not in the way that I was hoping to begin doing immediately after Nationals. I have two and half weeks left to get my school and finals stuff done, and then I will be able to fully commit to the summer training schedule that we have come up with.
Ira turned out to be a really good instructor. I think I learned more about basic technique in that hour than I have in my three or four years dancing experience. It was really what I was craving as far as ballroom goes. I have missed having strict technique to stick to like in figure skating. Now I can properly judge my progress by the technique that I am learning to master. We only have about five weeks of lessons with Ira, but they will be worth it I believe.
Right now, I am physically, mentally, and sometimes emotionally drained. I cannot concentrate completely on ballroom or school because I am usually worrying about them both all the time. I cannot wait for summer to start, then my only worry will be ballroom and work. That will be a welcome relief!!
Monday, April 5, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Nationals conclusion
Nationals is done, and it was fairly disappointing. I expected at least a little bit more from us, maybe just one call back in Novice. There is something about our Waltz that the judges just don't like, and strangely enough they liked our Tango the best.
What I have gotten out of this Nationals is a resolve to no longer take this lightly. This is a sport, and I need to start training like an athlete. Me and Scott need to re-commit to our partnership, and set new goals. I don't know how well this is going to work, or if it will work at all, but I cannot just sit back and let us float like we have been doing. It is possible to work up to being one of the top couples by the end of next season at the latest, but it will take a great deal of hard work and commitment. If we have a lesson on Tuesday then we will consult with either Craig or Brittney what went wrong and what we should do now.
I will not accept defeat. I will work harder to achieve my goals. And if anyone gets in my way, they will feel the wrath of Katie!!!! lol
What I have gotten out of this Nationals is a resolve to no longer take this lightly. This is a sport, and I need to start training like an athlete. Me and Scott need to re-commit to our partnership, and set new goals. I don't know how well this is going to work, or if it will work at all, but I cannot just sit back and let us float like we have been doing. It is possible to work up to being one of the top couples by the end of next season at the latest, but it will take a great deal of hard work and commitment. If we have a lesson on Tuesday then we will consult with either Craig or Brittney what went wrong and what we should do now.
I will not accept defeat. I will work harder to achieve my goals. And if anyone gets in my way, they will feel the wrath of Katie!!!! lol
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Nationals approaches...
Nationals is this week!!! Time has just flown by.
The American Fork competition went okay, other than the fact that I had to stay up all night Friday night working, and then compete at nine the next morning. All in all we did fairly well. We've learned a lot and come away with a better look on our dancing as a whole.
In preparation for Nationals I had the bright idea of bleaching my hair at home. This seemed like a perfectly logical thing to do as i've been feeling that my hair needs "something" to help make my whole outfit kind of look nice. However, home bleaching can go very wrong when you have no idea what you are doing! The color is pretty close to what I wanted, but because I don't think things through, I twisted my hair up to keep off of my shoulders which resulted in dark spots all throughout my hair. Now it looks bright, and dirty! This can and WILL be fixed, but I don't want to hurt my hair anymore, so it will have to wait until after Nationals. Luckily my hair will be pulled back, hopefully no one will notice the mistake.
Now all that's left to do is practice a few more times, and have one more lesson before we attempt to look good at Nationals! I am desperately hoping that we can do our very best this time!!!
The American Fork competition went okay, other than the fact that I had to stay up all night Friday night working, and then compete at nine the next morning. All in all we did fairly well. We've learned a lot and come away with a better look on our dancing as a whole.
In preparation for Nationals I had the bright idea of bleaching my hair at home. This seemed like a perfectly logical thing to do as i've been feeling that my hair needs "something" to help make my whole outfit kind of look nice. However, home bleaching can go very wrong when you have no idea what you are doing! The color is pretty close to what I wanted, but because I don't think things through, I twisted my hair up to keep off of my shoulders which resulted in dark spots all throughout my hair. Now it looks bright, and dirty! This can and WILL be fixed, but I don't want to hurt my hair anymore, so it will have to wait until after Nationals. Luckily my hair will be pulled back, hopefully no one will notice the mistake.
Now all that's left to do is practice a few more times, and have one more lesson before we attempt to look good at Nationals! I am desperately hoping that we can do our very best this time!!!
Monday, March 1, 2010
Prep for Nationals
Nationals is next week and we have a lot of work to do between now and then. Our Fox Trot needs quite a bit of work, and i'm most certainly not looking forward to that!! I'm hoping that we will be ready for all of the added couples that we will be competing with. If past Nationals has any sway on this one, then I predict that we may make it further in Novice, and maybe one call-back in Pre-champ. Or it could go the complete opposite direction and we could get no call-backs at all. All we can do is practice and prepare as best we can. I'm not expecting too much, but I would like to make some call-backs.
Monday, February 22, 2010
UVU
UVU is now under our belt, as well as the debut performance of our new fox trot! As a whole the comp went pretty well. I could have wished to have been able to perform a little better, but it was a great learning experience and we have come away with a new found determination to train harder.
The alterations to my dress have worked out beautifully! I don't think we tripped on my dress once during the whole comp. I have decided to add more rhinestones as soon as I possibly can, I do love lots of bling!
My shin splints have pretty much disappeared within the past three weeks. My research into what causes them and good remedies and prevention methods have paid off. The combination of getting good walking shoes, as well as getting inserts for my ghillies seem to have really made the difference in how I walk and dance. Quick step is no longer a torturous dance because of my shin splints.
American Fork is this weekend, on my birthday, and I compete both Friday night and Saturday afternoon I believe. I am excited to compete again, I love competition more than anything else, but two days is going to be tough!
Hopefully I will have more pictures and better video soon. My new found goal for next year is to be confident enough to compete in Amateur Standard at Nationals!!!
The alterations to my dress have worked out beautifully! I don't think we tripped on my dress once during the whole comp. I have decided to add more rhinestones as soon as I possibly can, I do love lots of bling!
My shin splints have pretty much disappeared within the past three weeks. My research into what causes them and good remedies and prevention methods have paid off. The combination of getting good walking shoes, as well as getting inserts for my ghillies seem to have really made the difference in how I walk and dance. Quick step is no longer a torturous dance because of my shin splints.
American Fork is this weekend, on my birthday, and I compete both Friday night and Saturday afternoon I believe. I am excited to compete again, I love competition more than anything else, but two days is going to be tough!
Hopefully I will have more pictures and better video soon. My new found goal for next year is to be confident enough to compete in Amateur Standard at Nationals!!!
Monday, February 8, 2010
Center Stage
It's the Monday after Center Stage's competition at Thanksgiving Point. It was a small competition, and rather expensive at that! We danced a Semi-final in Novice Standard, and after looking at the call back sheet a couple of judges wanted us back for the final!!! However, we did completely bomb both dances pretty well, I was most certainly not happy about that. We hadn't warmed up before hand, and I was tired from my night shift the previous night.
I was feeling really despondent after that, I nearly pulled us out of the Pre Champ event that was a few hours later. But after feeling sorry for myself for a while, I picked myself up and decided that I wasn't going to quit! Pre-champ went much better for the Waltz! The score sheets showed that a couple of judges placed us 6th in the waltz!!! However, every judge concurred that we were seventh in Tango and Quickstep....I actually have to agree. At the end of the Tango I hit heads with another couple and received a mild concussion from that!! I didn't really know it at the time, all I could think about was how much it hurt and how I couldn't show it!!! The quickstep was a disaster! We broke connection left and right, and then we nearly ran into someone and couldn't recover, so we ended up practically walking to the corner to start again....I was mortified!!! And in the end we got 7th out of 7 couples!! I wouldn't have traded the experience for anything though. I can see that we're improving and that's encouraging. I sometimes expect far too much from myself and others, and I need to be a bit more realistic about my expectations.
And so now we will simply prepare for the next few competitions, and these add a fox-trot onto Pre-champ, and I despise Fox-Trot more than quickstep!!! I really only like Waltz and Tango. I plan on getting my dress fixed in time for UVU so that i'm not killing myself all the time. Hopefully by nationals we will have all of these hiccups taken care of!!
I was feeling really despondent after that, I nearly pulled us out of the Pre Champ event that was a few hours later. But after feeling sorry for myself for a while, I picked myself up and decided that I wasn't going to quit! Pre-champ went much better for the Waltz! The score sheets showed that a couple of judges placed us 6th in the waltz!!! However, every judge concurred that we were seventh in Tango and Quickstep....I actually have to agree. At the end of the Tango I hit heads with another couple and received a mild concussion from that!! I didn't really know it at the time, all I could think about was how much it hurt and how I couldn't show it!!! The quickstep was a disaster! We broke connection left and right, and then we nearly ran into someone and couldn't recover, so we ended up practically walking to the corner to start again....I was mortified!!! And in the end we got 7th out of 7 couples!! I wouldn't have traded the experience for anything though. I can see that we're improving and that's encouraging. I sometimes expect far too much from myself and others, and I need to be a bit more realistic about my expectations.
And so now we will simply prepare for the next few competitions, and these add a fox-trot onto Pre-champ, and I despise Fox-Trot more than quickstep!!! I really only like Waltz and Tango. I plan on getting my dress fixed in time for UVU so that i'm not killing myself all the time. Hopefully by nationals we will have all of these hiccups taken care of!!
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