Things that Bug Me

One of my biggest pet peeves in skating is the descriptor "Adult" that prefaces just about everything I do. Adult Practice Ice. Adult Freestyle. Adult Ice Dance, which is really Beginner Ice Dance but they just aimed it at Adults. I understand that Adults learn differently than the kids and that's okay, but sometimes it feels like I'm some kind of special needs person, which is annoying, because I'm not.

Perhaps it wouldn't bother me so much if the term "Adult" didn't mean some scaled down version of the real thing that no one takes very seriously. But nine times out of ten, that's precisely what it means. The Practice Ice isn't a permanent thing, even though it's well attended. The One Freestyle Class offered is at an ass time of the night, and always taught by the same two people. (Who are great and I love them, but it would be nice to see some fresh faces.) There's one Adult Clinic at the end of Summer, which is fun, but again, taught by the same people year after year. It's pretty clear that the bulk of the coaching staff wants very little to do with Adults, and are not very respectful of them anyway, since "Adult" Ice has a tendency to get invaded by some kid who "needs it" for some stupid reason; Test or Comp or whatever. Never mind that there's gobs of ice the kids can get to and onto that I can't.

The Adults get the same number every year in the Winter Ice Show. We all have the same tired costumes, the same music, and the choreography gets shaken up a bit but you're bound to see some pinwheels and circles just so we include all the Adults across the vast spectrum of skillsets they have. It's kinda boring but at the same time nice to know precisely what you're walking into.

It was tossed around for awhile that the Adult Party Guest scene be changed to the Ice Dance Party Scene, and the adults be given something else to do. What that "Something else" would have been was never identified, likely because very few pros have any clue what to do with adults anyway. I have some idea.

 

Artist's Rendition

The Adults did do their traditional party scene, but the Ice Dance people did their number first. It was weird, and we were making jokes about "who are these random people" crashing the party and leaving abruptly. My inner theatre critic and dramaturg was having fits. But what really annoyed me was that *our* number was immediately considered as the expendable one.

What I'm waiting for now is to see if Beginner (neatly coined "Adult," because only Adults can be beginners in Ice Dance I guess) Ice Dance will be given a number or if our class will be neatly forgotten about come Showtime. I'm not putting money on it. I'll get my stage blacks and squeegee out, just in case I get a big solo. *Snark*