At some point, you practice so hard that your body will give up on you. There will be times where you are mentally and physically exhausted. Because of this, Katsuki woke up late and didn’t arrive on time for his lesson. Yes, that has happened to me…I can’t twirl into my clothing like Katsuki, but I had to blaze through my morning routine to catch the train! However, I was still late…probably at least by 10 minutes. FYI, if your coach is strict, you would have to pay for the lesson duration that you originally intended. If it’s $30 for 30 minutes, but you are late by 10 minutes, you still must pay $30.
However, sometimes, being tired isn’t really the problem. It could be something else completely different. “I notice you tend to flab your jump when there’s something on your mind,” said Victor to Katsuki. Yeah…my coach noticed the same thing with me. It happened at least twice. The first time it happened, I didn’t realize it until he pointed it out. The first time wasn’t about my jumps, it was my demeanor. I wasn’t smiling or energetic. He tried to make me feel better by telling me that my pet is fine. Recently, it was about my routine and specifically my jumping DURING the run through. I kept messing up elements and stopping before going into the next move. Coach asked me, “What happened?” I had no response. Thinking back, I was probably nervous about the competition that was happening in a couple of days. I didn’t even know I was competing until…wait for it…THE WEEK OF!
Before practice can happen and choreography comes into fruition, I needed something to skate to. Katsuki said to Victor that “my coach always chooses my music for me.” I was going to have my first solo performance ever. The question was, what am I skating to? My coach, played a song for me and he asked me if I like it? I said yes. If I remember correctly, I skated to three different versions of the routine to two different music lengths: 1 for the initial showcase, 1 for one competition and another for other competitions. Well, I’ve reached the point where I wanted to pick my own music. Sometimes, I listened to music and I started feeling it by picturing choreography to it. It seemed natural. I wanted to feel the character of the music when I performed, not just worry about completing elements.
When Katsuki had Victor listen to his initial choice, Victor’s response was “Oh ok. This is it, huh? Let’s consider some other possibilities, huh?” Yeah…that happened to me too. At some point during the Winter of 2016, I had my coach listen to music I was interested in skating to. Well, I gave him two choices and he asked me if I had more or could we combine them? I rejected that idea. The two songs are NOT even from the same soundtrack! I can’t skate like him, I need to skate like me. I need to feel the music the way I do or it won’t feel natural. Even if I look crappy, I need the music and me to be one.
Ok you selected your music, now what? Your choreographer, the case of Katuski and I, our coach, comes up with the routine to not only go with the music, but to our abilities. When I learn the choreography, my coach shows me and I follow. However, like Katsuki, I practice without music, first. It helps to understand the choreography BEFORE applying the music. The pace you go without the music might not match the tempo of the piece. Sometimes the timing of your moves is not to beat 1 of a measure. Once you are comfortable with the choreography, put on the tune and skate to it. You might hear cues for certain maneuvers and adjust your speed to time it right.
Towards the end of the episode, you hear Katsuki say, “Figure skaters are only competitive for only a short amount of time. This will probably be my last competitive skating season.” The 2016 – 2017 season was my first competitive year. Obviously, I don’t skate like the senior level skaters on TV or professionals who’ve been doing this for 30+ years. However, being an adult skater, I’m only doing this for myself, not for a career. It’s a creative escape from reality. Skating helps me forget my troubles and it gives me a sense of accomplishment that sometimes you can’t get in the real world. I thoroughly enjoy it and I hope to continue it for as long as I can. BTW, I hope to learn at least up to the Axel Jump, so this can’t be my last season.
Come back the next day for episode 5!
© 2017 Linda Thai
Photography by Linda Thai
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