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Class Recaps & Practice Notes
Welcome to your premium resource center! Here you’ll find detailed summaries from our in-person classes held at El Centro Skate Rink in Federal Way, WA. These recaps include skills covered, technique tips, and recommended practice exercises specifically from our live sessions.
Created by Coach Linda after each class, these notes help you continue your progress between sessions and serve as valuable references for your skating journey. They complement our growing virtual resources while capturing the unique content from our El Centro Skate Rink programs.
New recaps are posted weekly. Don’t forget to download and add these pages to your skater’s workbook to create a complete record of your development.
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Finding Your Skating Style – Part 2: Balance, Posture, and Alignment
Class Outline week of 04/8- 04/10/25
Welcome back to our series, “Finding Your Skating Style.” This week, we focus on the fundamental trio of balance, posture, and alignment—key ingredients for mastering any roller skating discipline.
Skate and Surface: Where It All Begins
Understanding balance starts at the point of contact between your skates and the skating surface—the wheels. Wheels dictate traction or slide, depending on your skating style and surface conditions. Floor conditions can influence everything from posture to knee bend, impacting the depth of your edges and the steadiness of your turns. Truck action further shapes your body’s weight distribution and alignment, essential for fluid edges in dance skating.
Equipment Meets Posture
Skating boots play a pivotal role in posture and balance. Artistic skate boots, with their elevated Cuban heels, shift your center of balance forward, requiring a counterbalance in your shoulders, back, and knee bend. Meanwhile, speed skates favor a low racer stance with bent knees and a forward lean. Choosing the right equipment for your skating discipline is a foundational step in developing your style.
Exploring Skating Disciplines
Roller skating offers diverse disciplines, each with its unique equipment needs:
- Artistic: Includes fundamentals, traditional figure skating, and contemporary styles like Rhythm and Jam. This style of skating requires a higher-cut boot for ankle support, a higher heel, and an adjustable truck action for control and maneuverability.
- Speed: For both quad and inline skates. Requires low cut boots for maximum articulation of the forward-lean from the knees and a low heel to facilitate a crouched racing position.
- Derby & Hockey: Intense and competitive skating forms. Requires a more modified boot height and heel to make quick stops and changes of direction easier.
- The balance, posture and alignment for each of these skating disciplines is different, but the skating fundamentals for all are effectively the same.
- At Artistic Skating, we specialize in Artistic disciplines, encompassing dance (traditional and modern), freestyle/pairs, school figures, and group performances. Although our focus is on those particular skill sets, our goal is to equip skaters with foundational skills that support all skating styles.
- The Next Step in Your Journey
- Whether you’re new to skating or a seasoned pro, revisiting fundamentals like balance, posture, and alignment is always valuable. Once you’ve honed basic skills, you can dive into a discipline that resonates with your personality and ambitions. If Artistic Skating speaks to your love of flow, musicality, and technical skill, you’re in for an exciting journey ahead!
- Practice and Progress
- Mastery begins with understanding the principles of how your body interacts with your skates and the surface. Regular practice in balance, posture, and alignment ensures smoother progress and greater enjoyment of the sport. Whether you’re starting fresh or fine-tuning your style, there’s always room to grow in the artistry of roller skating.
Keep on rolling!
~Coach Linda
Want to practice what we covered in class? Download your class notes PDF and keep working on these new skills. You’ve got this!
GrooveSk8 I
GrooveSk8 II
Artistic Expressions I
Artistic Expressions II
Not a member yet? Join our skating community to access full class notes, practice guides, and more!
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Rolling Together: Partner Skating Unlocked!
Class Summary week of 03/18 – 03/20/25:
Are you ready to roll into the next level of skating fun? This week, we’re taking your skills to the floor with partner skating! Don’t worry—you’re more than ready for the challenge. Let’s lace up and dive in!
- GrooveSk8 2: Get ready for some silky smooth moves as we wrap up the St. Louis Ballroom—a stylish, slinky, and oh-so-sexy partner skating style. This dance offers endless possibilities with its diverse positions, patterns, and moves. Special guest Rob Nordstrom will guide us through the intricacies and help us team up on the floor. Plus, we’ll spice things up by trying some open-position forward/backward partnering for turning and swing-style skating.
- GrooveSk8 1: Time to polish those strolling and cruising skills! Remember the two-step we learned last month? That’s just one of the dances we’ll be doing tandem, and these moves will prep you for forward partner skating in various arm positions. Keep your movements tight and smooth, and you’ll be rewarded with the joy of skating together to mid-to-slow tempo tunes. Picture this: the lights low, the disco ball spinning—it’s pure magic!
- Artistic Expressions: This week, we’re elevating your dance skating to new heights. The Advanced group will explore traditional partner dance positions like Side B (Kilian position on ice) and the Closed (aka Waltz) position. We’ll practice these in circle exercises, mastering the corner steps of the Collegiate while refining our rotational skills. Meanwhile, Artistic Expressions 1 will focus on stroking drills in three side-by-side positions, honing precision footwork and impeccable body alignment. Keep those feet in close, and try not to look down!
Mastering these skills will not only boost your confidence but also open the door to endless fun and creativity on the rink. With every glide, turn, and partner move, you’ll find new ways to connect, express yourself, and truly enjoy the magic of skating!
See you on the skating floor!
~Coach Linda
Want to practice what we covered in class? Download your class notes PDF and keep working on these new skills. You’ve got this!
Not a member yet? Join our skating community to access full class notes, practice guides, and more!
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“Turn-Turn-Turn” into Better Skating Turns!
Class Summary week of 03/11 – 03/13/25:
Get ready to pivot into something spectacular! This week, we’re diving into the art of turns (aka “transitions”). We’ll be working on mastering 2-foot turns like the slalom turn, the “C” turn, and the “S” turn—covering transitions from forward to backward and backward to forward.
- Tuesday GrooveSk8 I & II: Let’s apply what we’ve learned in Downtown and St. Louis Ballroom! We’ll refine those 2-foot turns with proper technique to make every move smoother and more stylish.
- Artistic Expressions Groups: We’ll take a deep dive into the mechanics of turning. Together, we’ll work on shoulder rotation, tighter skate placement, and fun exercises to sharpen your skills. Plus, we’ll bring these techniques to life with exciting new dance steps from the Southland Swing and Collegiate. For an extra challenge, we’ll even partner up to explore how keeping your feet close can transform your turns into showstoppers.
Whether you’re spinning solo or turning with a partner, this week is all about elevating your skating finesse with confidence and flair
~Coach Linda
Want to practice what we covered in class? Download your class notes PDF and keep working on these new skills. You’ve got this!
Not a member yet? Join our skating community to access full class notes, practice guides, and more!
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“We Got the Beat!” – Week of March 4th, 2025
Class Summary
*Skaters, start your music… and your moves!* This week, we dialed up the rhythm and stepped into the groove with our theme: We Got the Beat! Whether you’re working on elegant glides or funky footwork, syncing your wheels with the beat is a must-have skill for every dancer on wheels! In GrooveSk8, we hit the floor hard (figuratively) with two dances in focus: the St. Louis Ballroom (looking sharp in that “U” Formation, thanks to Deonte!) and the ever-energetic Downtown, now complete with fresh timing and a faster, syncopated “and-one, and-two” tempo—perfect for vibing to “Love on Top” by Beyonce’. Meanwhile, the Artistic Expressions group was all about timing and phrasing as we polished the Glide Waltz and prepared for the #1 RSA Achievement Test. Staggering starts during group dances? Not just a rule—it’s a collision prevention strategy!
We even had a special treat this week! Hazel Moore-Traverson stopped by to sprinkle some skating wisdom, reminding us that the secret to getting your timing right isn’t just magic—it’s *watching your teacher.* (Pro tip: they might actually know what they’re doing!)
Whether you’re conquering patterns, syncing with rhythms, or prepping for tests, remember: learning is your ticket to mastering movement, but *practice* is where the magic really happens. Find a good spot—be it at the rink or on your driveway—and work those steps. No excuses, skaters, small spaces count too!
Keep rolling, keep smiling, and may your week be as smooth as a waltz and as groovy as the Downtown. Practice makes progress, and fun makes it all worth it.
~Coach Linda
Member Exclusive Content
This section contains additional resources including downloadable PDFs. To access:
– Already a member? Log in to your account(log in)
– Want access? Join one of our membership plans: Artistic Dance Class & Artistic Dance Social Skate, Artistic Groove Class & Groove Skate Social Skate or Artistic Skating All Access Membership
Members get exclusive access to training materials, detailed tutorials, and downloadable resources. Not a member yet? Join our skating community to access full class notes, practice guides, and more!
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The Joy of Skating Artistically: Track Your Progress, Achieve Your Goals
Your skating story deserves to be documented! As a coach and lifelong skater, I understand how important it is to track your progress, set meaningful goals, and stay connected to what inspires you to skate. That’s why we’ve created this digital workbook – a dedicated space for you to plan, reflect, and celebrate your unique artistic skating journey.
Whether you’re a familiar face from our classes or just beginning to explore artistic skating, this workbook is designed to support your personal skating path. After years of teaching and watching skaters grow, I’ve learned that tracking progress isn’t just about documenting skills – it’s about capturing the entire journey, from the first wobbly rolls to those magical moments when a challenging move finally clicks.
Grateful to roll with you,
Coach Linda
Getting Started with Your Workbook
This digital workbook comes as a PDF file, giving you flexible options for how you’d like to use it:
DIGITAL OPTIONS:
- View using any PDF reader (Adobe Acrobat, browser PDF viewers)
- Import into note-taking apps to create an interactive digital journal
- We recommend GoodNotes for a natural, book-like digital experience
TRADITIONAL OPTION:
- Print the PDF and add to your personal skating binder
- Perfect for those who prefer physical note-taking
FOR PREMIUM MEMBERS:
Our weekly “Class Recap & Practice Notes” supplements include:
- Detailed class outlines
- Instructor insights
- Skill illustrations and examples
- Inspirational practice guidance These additional resources are designed to seamlessly integrate with your workbook.
FUTURE DEVELOPMENT:
This workbook is part of our pilot program developing resources for skaters to document their progress. As we expand our instructional video library, we’ll continue enhancing these materials.
We value your input! Your feedback will help shape future versions of this and other skating resources we’re developing.
What’s Inside Your Workbook
Your free download includes these essential planning tools:
SKATING GOALS
Map your skating journey from daily practice to yearly achievements. Track your progress, celebrate victories, and remember to enjoy every roll along the way!
GOALS PLANNER
Transform your dreams into actionable steps. Create measurable milestones and track your progress as you advance toward your skating goals.
SKATE VISION
Your personal inspiration board! Combine words, drawings, links, and images to create a visual reminder of why you love to skate. Perfect for those days when you need extra motivation!
SKILLS TRACKER
Your personal skating roadmap! Document new skills and review familiar ones as you build your artistic skating repertoire.
WARM-UP ROUTINE
Design and refine your perfect warm-up routine. Track both on- and off-skate exercises that enhance your skating expertise and overall wellness.
MUSIC NOTES
Capture those songs that make your wheels move! Whether you’re planning a routine or just love skating to certain tunes, never forget that perfect skating soundtrack.
Category: Class Recaps
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