Tricia Offerdahl finishes Leah’s program. This is Part 6 and the final episode in a multi-part series. In this video, you’ll see Trish setting more connecting steps, this time into flip. You’ll notice that instead of telling the skater she’s done the choreography wrong, Trish simply asks Leah if she can do it the way that Trish wants her to. She also says, “Let’s fix this one little section here.” This makes the error seem “small” and the responsibility for changing it is on both the skater and the choreographer. These words keep the skater in a positive frame of mind which is generally more productive.
You can see the skater has some doubts about certain aspects of the program, but Trish is confident in telling her she can do it. Sometimes, skaters just need some encouragement to “buy into” what we ask them to do.
Now that the program is almost done, Trish goes back and focuses on musical timing. There are several points in the program that the skater can use to stay on the music and Trish reminds the skater of these points.
Notice the collaboration at the end to determine the final ending movement and pose. By involving the skater, it is often possible to get them to really buy into the program, even if they have doubts about how hard it is. Notice how patient Trish is in letting Leah explore movements until she finds one that looks good.
The end of this video provides a great reminder that we need to end programs facing our main audience (i.e. the judges). Trish is amused by Leah’s choice of direction to end her program. When they iron it out, the initial program development is complete.
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