Last month, my pair partner and I debuted our number to an audience at a local show.
We only skate together once a week during our lesson and we never get too much time to practice unless our lesson is canceled and we get extra time to go through our elements slowly and create new ideas for future moves.
The week of the show, we had to reschedule our lesson as I had a funeral to attend.
The lesson was great, and we managed to do the lesson at the rink where the show took place so I got a real sense of the ice, the temperature of the rink, and the sound system which was great.
We arrived for dress rehearsal a few days later with a curtain up; beautiful colored materials decorating the rink surround the barrier which muffled the sound for me.
I didn’t get any warm up only a tiny piece of ice behind the curtain which was better than nothing.
The audience seemed appreciative of our offering, and the applause felt good.
My partner, Eileen has so much courage skating with a totally blind skater.
We somehow feel each other before we connect, and sometimes our connections need work but that’s part of pair skating.
I occasionally joke with Eileen and say we are The Blind and the Beautiful.
I was asked how can I skate without a real warm up.
I had to think, and since I get very little ice time myself as I am either teaching others or doing Sensitive Energy Coaching off of the ice my time is limited.
This use to disturb me as my time is getting less and less on the ice and more and more off of the ice.
I thought I was ready for retirement a few months ago as I had concerns about skating with Eileen who is so patient with me, and always watches, as I feel so we have a unique relationship on and off of the ice.
Sometimes she is my eyes, and sometimes I see things through my senses that she doesn’t see.
This makes our arrangement always interesting, and we are truly always on the edge of experiencing skating in new and fun ways.
What happened as the less I skate, the more gentle I am getting plus the less I skate, the more sensitive I am becoming.
It hit me.
Lack of resistance without really trying to reduce my resistance.
When I skate or exercise off of the ice, I feel what works in my body and only work with those areas of my body that feel like working.
Going with the flow, feeling what feels good and using that as my exercise plan helps me warm up without skating if there is no ice available.
There is also an issue of crowded ice conditions if I am invited to exhibit in a show and there are many skaters on the ice.
This can be a risk for me as well as the other skaters as the music in warm up usually is quite loud to get the skaters inspired for the performance.
So; staying with what works eases my resistance, I begin to relax and therefore my skating flows instead of having friction.
Maybe it is the feel of the flow, the lack of resistance, and the relaxation that combine and connect to form something really magical for me as I skate.
This was the first time I felt totally comfortable performing with Eileen and was not really nervous.
I have elements that can be improved upon, but who doesn’t as a skater.
I heard the audience respond in favorable ways when we did our side by side single Toe-Loops, our spirals, and our ending pose was cool.
I look forward to our next show together as well as when I get invited to do solo skating as I still do free style and jump like a fool and enjoy performing more as I remind myself to relax more and resist less.
