Spin specialist Kim Ryan gives a camel spin lesson to a young skater. The skater can already do a basic camel spin, so the lesson focuses on ways she can improve the spin quickly and easily. We join the lesson already in progress as Kim is trying to get the skater to open her shoulders by having palms up. The skater likes cats, so Kim has her think about holding kitty cats in her hands while she spins.
Next Kim focuses on the skater’s bent free leg. Kim takes a moment to explain that the best skaters and those that place well always have straight legs. Just having a camel spin isn’t enough as it has to be pretty as well. The skater understands how to straighten the free leg (locking the knee).
Before the skater even gets to attempt another camel, Kim stops her and explains why having the palms up is so important. She says, “When you turn your hands inside out, it rolls your shoulders forward, which pushes your head down. Now open up your hands… and see it pulls your shoulders back and your head up.” Kim wants the skater to have the hands already turned up on the preparation and entrance, and she calls it a “good framework from ballet.” To exit the camel, Kim wants the skater to stand up into an upright spin in a “skinny-V” position before pushing back to a stretch position with the free leg straight and turned out.
Kim takes the skater to the wall to give her a better sense of what upper body position she wants. From a comfortable standing position with feet slightly apart, Kim has her begin by tilting the head back as far as it will go while arching the back, and then bending forward from the waist. This takes the skater from an “unusual” position to the desired position which increases the chances of the skater actually making a change. Kim continues to ask the skater not to pull the arms so far back (airplane wings).
