✨Char!✨

Hahaha I’m so bad at updating during a contest. Not thrilled with my figures results. But I’m getting up there in dance! Here’s a tiny bit of my Rhythm Blues. Wheeee!

Sidebar: Tifa the kitten has no gods and no masters. PEAK Brown Bengal Energy.

Back at it again! This is the face of a very cold Char, all bundled up and waiting to do figures at today’s skating contest. This is roller, not ice- I’m praying for some heat, haha!

Agreed. But as they say, number must always go ⬆️⬆️⬆️. 🫠

I had fun running the Samba Royale last night at Artistic Skating practice. It still has a long way to go and is such a tricky dance, but I’m so thankful for fanciful friends like Becca being there and willing to record my shenanigans. 🧡

Happy Belated! 🧡

Use optimism as an act of rebellion

She is perfect

Anyway, thanks for indulging my geeking out over silly skating stuff while en route to coaching time. 🧡

While I’m proud of these, I still have a lot of work to do. Loops look simple, but are difficult little bastards and nerves make it worse. I clearly wear my nervousness in my shoulders and need to work on that more! 🧡

The final video I’d like to share is from my Loops event. It’s really hard to get video of these events, but the husband of my darling friend, Becca, got this for me! This event uses the tiny circles you see at a rink. These are HARD! Loops are all about precise edge control.

As you can see, the diagram is much more complex! This one was difficult to learn, but I’m happy I finally remember the steps. That means it will be much less scary and I can start refining it. This dance won Original Compulsory Dance at Nationals last year and I’ve grown to love it. 🧡

Next is an even harder dance, from my challenge event, International Solo Dance. We are allowed a little more flair and fun for this event and sometimes we get modern music. This one is called “Samba Royale” and it’s a totally new dance this year. We had to rush this event and I wasn’t warmed up.

This is what the diagram for that dance looks like. The abbreviations (LOF, etc) note the edge to be skated (LOF= Left Outer Forward, RIF= Right Inner Forward, S—> = Swing leg) and the step numbers show the order. The shape is how it should fill the floor. This one has only 12 steps to get around!

This is from my first event at last week’s contest, Bronze Solo Dance. This one is called “Rhythm Blues”. It doesn’t have a lot of steps, but it is quite difficult. I struggle with this one, especially with making a good sized pattern and hitting the back crosses. 💀 slow improvement!

Wow, I’m bad at keeping things updated. Everything has been A LOT™️ lately, but it’s important to find and share joy. Let’s talk about a few little videos for the contest as I’m on the way to Sacramento for some valuable coaching time!

Sorry for completely dropping off there! Last two events… barely happened. The organizers tried to cut the events because the rink had booked a party and the event was running behind. We had to do both without warmup. I got 4th in International and 🥈 in Original Compulsory Dance.

Waiting for my last two events (Original Compulsory Dance and International Solo) and got some pics of my gold dance dress, plus one with my lovely friend, Becca. I’m so proud of her medaling today! 🧡

Ended up in 8th for both figures and loops! I have mixed feelings about this. I let some mean commentary from a bully at the sidelines get to me during my figures warmup. For Loops, I’m happy it’s my second one, but I flubbed my first. Time to grab a quick bite!

One thing that happened after Dance, it’s good to note. One of the judges, who has always been very harsh (but fair) to me, came over and congratulated me on my improvements of late. It meant a lot. I still have a long way to go.

Today is bittersweet so far, but this part is in the “sweet” pile 🧡

It’s a long wait for Figures and I am Heckin’ COLD out here. ✨🥶✨

I really like this figures dress but it’s getting a little big on me. Seems like I’ve lost a bit of weight, which is nice to notice!

Ended up getting 7th in Dance, which is an improvement. One of the judges had me in 5th and one in 6th, though! Now to get ready for figures and loops 🧡

Here we go again, it’s another artistic roller skating contest day! I’m completely in my feelings, but at least I have a new dress for Dance!

I will wear this for Bronze solo dance, which starts in about an hour, according to the schedule.

🎶 Double Bengal all the way across Bluesky 🎶

It’s just a little guy 🥰

I had a good breakthrough on Loops today and Dance is going well. The very difficult international dance, Samba Royale, is starting to be really enjoyable. Now, onto working Dynasty Blues and Rhythm Blues!
✨💪✨

15 minutes late 😡. At least I can finally get started. Wish the day didn’t start off so surly, though.

Call me out on being aggressively Capricorn, but I really hate being late, I hate things starting late, and I hate lateness getting in the way of my goals and work. Got stuff to do at the rink AND stuff to do at home, ya know? It takes me over an hour to drive here without traffic, soooo…

I’m waiting outside the rink for it to open for practice (this coach is always late), so I’m prone to thinking.

This morning, I’m thinking a lot about how nice it is that you can pet a BENGAL CAT in Metaphor Re Fantazio. Good stuff.

No pics or video this time since I was a guest at this club and I need to feel out the flow a bit first. Plus, I was so engrossed in my lesson I didn’t really think of it. It’s amazing how many little details there are in skating.