Beginning to Choreograph

I went out this morning to lay out a working space that meets MSDA requirements, which are 40x50 with the longer measurement being the front and back of the ring.  I thought the space I had already delineated would have to be cut down.  Oh, so wrong was I.  My old space was about 40x30.

Once I had the new space marked, I began the interesting task of trying to set the camera so that the entire space could be seen without panning.  Should be easy enough, but in the bright sunshine on the tiny screen of my Kodak Playsport, it is impossible to see the markers.  I finally had to run the camera and walk the front boundary of the space.  I found I still had to move my camera back a little more.

Now to start choreographing.  I chose "Heranando's Hideaway" since it will work for both dogs.  I went out sans dog, cued the camera and started to dance.  Since my neighbors can't hear the music, they must think I've absolutely flipped out.  I was originally planning to work a little with each dog, but by the time I finished moving through the song once, I was too tired to do any training.  I can't believe how much more exhausting it was to move through a larger space.  I would have thought if anything it would have been easier.

If you draw a line through the space from the back left marker to the right front marker, I have noticed that I hardly enter the space on the right while dancing.  I tried to compensate for that this morning by beginning the routine in the back right corner.  Now to see how I did.

I watched the tape.  I did a good job of covering the back half of the space, but failed to utilize the front.  Also, I think I failed to use big stretches at a time, i.e., my moves seemed to occur in small areas.  Actually, I watched the video again.  The front markers are off-screen.  I think I did use the front of the ring also, but I have to make sure the front markers are in frame.  I'll make sure to use the cones in front and the jump standards at the back from now on.  Also, I think the music suited itself to working in quadrants as opposed to covering the entire field with a single move.