44. Edges and Tracking: Cha Cha

We're Xenia and Oleg, three-time US national competitors whose goal is to make Team USA and represent the US at international competitions. We'll share with you what we learned along the way so let's make this journey together. We're back from sectionals and we had a great time. We scored another personal best in our short dance and we had a great skate in our free dance so we're looking forward to competing at nationals now. And today we're going to be showing you a new pattern dance. What are we showing them Xenia? We will show you how to do the cha-cha. All right, let's do it. This video assumes you already know the steps of the hickory hoedown. If you are looking for the steps of the hickory hoedown, check out our other video Dance Steps Hickory Hoedown. Maintain a strong hold and skate through your hips. A common mistake is to skate through the shoulders. Avoid forming a large gap between the partners. The edges should be a clear inside outside chasse inside. A common mistake is to do flat inside chasse inside. Turn out the free foot so the toe doesn't point down. A common mistake is to lift the free foot from the back of the leg. Instead, turn out and lift from the inner thigh. Keep your feet very close together on the slaloms. From the slalom, your left foot pushes off the ice, but your right foot remains until the left forward inside half beat chasse. A very common mistake when going from the slaloms to the right outside edge is to lift the right foot after the slalom. If you look at the pattern in the skating rulebook however, you will see that you push from the slalom to the right foot. Timing is often an issue here. Make sure the half beat chasse is precise. Do it on the and count. One and two and three and four. The and count is the time in between beats. With pattern dances, always count the beats. Maintain a tight core but rotate your body for the swing rolls. Make sure the cross in front is tight. Don't tense up your shoulders. Tuck your hips under. Stretch your neck and keep your chest up and open. As always, keep a strong hold. Skate on deep edges and make deep lobes. Don't tense up your upper body. Work on your basics a lot. Crossovers, edges, and turns are the core of your skating ability. Keep your body weight over your skating foot. This will increase your strength of push. Turn out your free foot so the toe doesn't point down. Don't toe push. Press and bend the knee and ankle of the skating foot before you stroke onto the free foot. Keep your shoulders down and back and extend your neck but don't be stiff. Skate through your hips. And finally, don't look down. The ice isn't going anywhere. One of the difficulties in making these corrections while skating is having to correct multiple things simultaneously. But if you apply yourself, practice consistently, push your limits, resist fear and doubt, and work hard, your skating will improve significantly. Hey guys, we really hope you enjoyed the video. If you did, hit the like button and click on the subscribe to subscribe to our channel. Alright, see you next time!