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Hi everyone and thanks again for checking in on our journal.
As expected there is so much to report on following a very busy and exciting July! Our trip to the States was an extremely beneficial one and we are both so glad to have made the trip.
In numerous ways we learned how to improve our skating and take it to a new level. Most notably perhaps was the ability to see more skating and more ice dancing. Undeniably competitive ice skating is a more intense "profession" stateside and we learned from the different approach to training how to adapt ourselves to getting the most out of our own practice.
We made the trip to work with Mathew Gates again and we were based on the East coast although locations changed as we travelled throughout the month. We are very lucky that Mathew devoted so much time and energy into our skating especially as he is busy with his own teams and his commitments as an ISU technical specialist. Mathew helped us in all aspects of our training and continued to develop our free dance to the Mission.
During our travels Mathew had been asked to take part in an ISU seminar in Frankfurt so he had arranged for us to work with Shae Lynn Bourne which proved to be a wonderful experience. Both Chrissy and I believe that Shae is the best ice dancer we have seen now. Being able to see her demonstrate was such wonderful inspiration for us and as we are both primary visual learners we were able to adapt and improve our own movement. I was especially aware of how much Shae's movement and expression helped Chrissy and it was wonderful to see my partner blossom in confidence and expression so immediately. In addition Shae seemed like a very lovely human and I think it is worthy of note that she came across as such a good person despite being in the not so wholesome world of competitive ice dance for her life!;-)
The trip also allowed us to see other dancers and we were fortunate enough to train alongside some of the world's top junior and senior teams. We really feel that pushed us into improvement. There's no denying the sense of osmosis that being surrounded by speedy confident skaters in turn pushes yourself to do the same and more!
There is so much more to say about our trip but I shall sign off now and wish that you have all enjoyed the summer. Chrissy will fill you in with more tales from our adventures.
All the best,
Mark :-) |
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