dusting off the shoes

Five days and counting. I've been running around like mad trying to get all of the various things that i need before Saturday. There are a lot of "stuff" that i need to plaster all over myself in order to be "beautiful" which also means a lot of money that i never really had to pay for before. I am gaining a new appreciation for all that my mother has done for me in the past.

We will hopefully get two lessons this week, and then we're kind of on our own for the comp. Michael might be there, but it's small enough that I don't think he will be. Lets just hope that I hold together out there and that we can make it through all of our routines!! haha

Two Weeks

Only two weeks left until BYU comp. We have all of our dances re-choreographed and made more competitive and fitting for our dance level. We recently made our four wall quickstep into an eight wall quickstep, just by doing the correct technique!! Our tango would be doing better if I could figure out how to make Scott stay low! He tends to rise up, and when I don't it looks weird. But I don't think that I should rise up with him just to match him, he should stay down! That has been a hot topic between us. Choreography is another hot topic between us, he is insistent on his way and I am insistent on another. We've had some seriously annoying fights the past two weeks. He has this new attitude that he knows everything ever since we started with Michael, and he got on the team. It annoys me beyond everything else!

If we can make it to the comp without killing each other, then I will call that an accomplishment!

Four weeks til BYU comp!

Only four weeks until our first comp of the season!!!! I'm getting really nervous... We haven't been doing rounds like we should for the past few weeks, when we tried to do quickstep more than once around the room Scott was really winded. I am concerned that we won't be able to do a continuous quickstep after doing other dances just before. I'm fairly certain that it won't be a big comp, so we probably won't have time between dances to catch our breath. Which really concerns me.

We got really great Tango technique on Tuesday, but we have the tendency to settle into our hips which looks really bad in Tango. So to encourage us to keep our hips up, Michael pinched us!!! It hurt!! and he said that if we don't keep them up he will do it again! I tried sooooo hard to keep them up, he did have to warn me once and he said he wouldn't warn me again that he'd just pinch. It does work, but it freaks me out a little.

Scott and I are both having to deal with aches and pains that come with bumping up technique and practices. It's difficult, but we can get through it i'm sure.

Competitions! Here we come!!!

New Coach, New Us!

Michael Johnson is great!!! I've learned more in these past three lessons than in any other class! I've had to break some habits, re-learn basic concepts, and try absorb so much! But it's wonderful!! Our practices have become productive again, which is a great relief. I am having to break A LOT of habits, which is taking some time and a lot of effort. Hopefully I can break them as quickly as possible.

The next few months will be very interesting. Hopefully we can improve as much as we have already. This should be exciting!!!

Summer

Our summer schedule has not been working out quite the way we had hoped. School and my work have been interfering with a regular practice schedule, as well as keeping us pretty tired so we haven't been doing the two hour practices that we wanted to do. But we're persevering anyway.

Ira gave us really great technique that I hope we can remember and do well. Our routines are being refined and becoming more competitive. Everything is going pretty well. If only we could find a way to agree in practices more, then maybe it would be more enjoyable for the both of us. As it is, we have very different opinions and usually think that our way is the right way. I'm sure that it's somewhere in between both of us most of the time, but it is hard to admit that.

In looking back at the two competitions that I have posted on here, I marvel at the differences between them, and it was maybe a month or two difference. I'm excited to see how we do this coming season! I want to do my best, and that's going to take a lot of effort. But it will be worth it I am sure!

Ira comes back from California soon, for at least a week, so we can possibly get a lesson in there somewhere. And then fall will start and competition season will be upon us. I have time to prep this year, so I am already getting excited!

New steps, New steps!!!

Our new routines are done!!! at least I think they are, i'm not sure how we connect the quickstep yet...but that will come!

We have four walls in all of our dances, and we have refined the first two walls in most of them. Today was all about quickstep! We got a really cool jump into the corner that scared me at first, but now that I know what I'm doing I am really excited to perform it!

Scott and I are trying to practice as much as we possibly can, which is proving difficult at times. Though I no longer have school, he does, plus I have work. Working around our schedules proves tricky at times, but I think we can get through and work really hard.

It has been difficult for me to apply some of Ira's technique that he has taught us to our choreographed dances, which concerns me. I hope it's only because it's still new to me. Ira has promised to let me know when he's back in town so we can have another lesson before he leaves again. Hopefully we'll get a few more in before the next competition season starts.

Drained

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!!