Dancing for Bronze

I interrupt this post hiatus to announce that I will be testing the Hickory Hoedown and the Willow Waltz on August 23.

Probably.

I've pencilled it in, because I'm testing on a freestyle so I don't have to turn in papers in advance. I'm hoping that neither Dance Coach or our judge has to back out.

But the good news is that Dance Coach pronounced my Hickory much better and the Willow 90% correct. This is pretty high praise coming from him. The better news is that I feel like I'm finally making improvements on these dances where I feel like I've been unable to correctly apply his corrections for months. I was getting so frustrated, not being able to understand what I was doing wrong, and never getting it right.

We had a good talk at the end of my lesson about the times when we struggle the most often being the times when we're learning the most. I mentioned that there are times when I understand that's what's happening and can continue to hope but this was a time when I started to lose faith that I was progressing through the struggle. He reminded me that all skaters go through that, citing how he sees it in the most advanced and talented skaters at our rink. It was good encouragement and a good lesson for the next time this happens, but it also just feels so good to be finally coming around and seeing the progress again.

So August 23rd I dance for two of my bronze dances. I hope for good results because the following weekend I hope to dance for gold in my first ever pre-silver solo dance event!