New Moves, New Groove

I started to learn one of the new junior moves this morning. I started on the straight line footwork sequence. We only went through the first half of the steps, but I picked it fairly quickly. Fun combos of rockers, counters and twizzles.

Oh, twizzles. When I was a younger skater in 90s, twizzles were something done on a gold compulsory dance test or higher. They were in the mysterious ice dancing realm, not something for freeskating. I never learned them. Since the IJS became the norm, they are all over the place. Skaters do them with their hands behind their back, grabbing their skate blade, or with an arm extended over their head.

Since they are no longer just for ice dancers, the new moves introduce twizzles at the intermediate level. Then there is a progression of twizzle moves through the next three tests. Needless to say, the new junior moves are designed for someone who has been doing twizzles since at least the intermediate test. Mine feel a little awkward and really more running 3s but it will be fun to improve this skill. Perhaps I'll be doing them with my hands behind the back, holding a blade, or with an arm extended above my head.

Here's a link to the new pattern I worked on this morning on the USFSA site: Junior Moves Straight Line Step