Rosters are up

La Rhumba · Nov 22, 2006

rain said:
I didn't find it particularly blatant in its theme, but I did find it dull. Dom/Shab looked like they were trying really, really hard throughout the entire thing, which was not a plus. Sitting here now, I can hardly remember anything distinctive about it.

I'm a bit confused by your comment, as you quoted Joe in your post, who was talking about the Kerrs, is it their FD you found dull?

Only, they have some pretty spectacular lifts that I wouldn't describe as dull.

So far, my fav freedances this year are Dub/ Lauz, Virtue/Moir (surprised me with such a young pair) and Denk/Stav, in spite of their awful music.

Lacrimosa by Mozart - gosh! You're hard to please!

La Rhumba · Nov 22, 2006

AliasJohnDoe said:
I'll be curious to see how close Cappellini/Lanotte come to Matthews/Zavozin and Kerr/Kerr. I like Kerr's "Last of the Mohichans".

Me too! :agree: John Kerr comments on that battle and the tough field in this article from Scotland today.

http://www.theherald.co.uk/sport/75010.html

Figure skating: Kerrs set challenging target
NEIL DRYSDALE November 22 2006

John Kerr said: "This is probably the strongest of the six Grand Prix events, because the opposition includes three of the world's top-five couples and we are targeting a place among the leading four as well as a new personal-best score.
"We have learned a lot from our experiences in Connecticut, and feel we have ironed out some of the technical issues we faced at that competition."

La Rhumba · Nov 22, 2006

Oooh! Just seen the forum, great news that Anna will be reporting for us again! :clap:

YAY Anna!

:agree:

chuckm · Nov 22, 2006

flying camel said:
Has anyone seen Volchkova skate recently?

Volchkova participated in a test skate in Russia. She had an abysmal SP, but her FS was decent. She had surgery on her ankle a year ago, and since then she has struggled to get her jumps back. At Euros last year, her SP was good enough to make top 6, but then she was 15th in the FS and dropped to 9th overall, behind the 3 Finnish skaters.

I don't know if a 'decent' FS combined with a bad SP (or vice versa) would be good enough for a medal at this event.

krenseby · Nov 22, 2006

chuckm said:
Volchkova participated in a test skate in Russia. She had an abysmal SP, but her FS was decent. She had surgery on her ankle a year ago, and since then she has struggled to get her jumps back. At Euros last year, her SP was good enough to make top 6, but then she was 15th in the FS and dropped to 9th overall, behind the 3 Finnish skaters.

I don't know if a 'decent' FS combined with a bad SP (or vice versa) would be good enough for a medal at this event.

For the sake of reference, what was Volchokova like at her peak? Could she do 4-5 triples like Sebastyen in the long? (With one triple-double combination?)

hockeyfan228 · Nov 23, 2006

krenseby said:
For the sake of reference, what was Volchokova like at her peak? Could she do 4-5 triples like Sebastyen in the long? (With one triple-double combination?)

Easily. She was a three-time bronze medallist at Europeans, and at DC Worlds she attempted 3Lz/3T (the 3T was double-footed, but the Lutz was beautiful), a nice 3Lo, a huge 3Flip (may have been a lip), gorgeous 3Sa, great 3T, 2Lz (attempted 3Lz), and 2A (fought for the landing.) Her spins were credible at their worst, and she had very nice camel spins. Her spirals were rudimentary, but they weren't awful. At her best, she has as much power, spring, and height as Sebestyen in her jumps. She had a tendency to give up when she missed jumps, though, and her stamina in the last 30 seconds wasn't always the best.

She uses her blade very efficiently, crossing the length of the ice in four crossovers. I think she was robbed in DC, and that in overall quality of skating, should have been 3rd or 4th in the LP, definitely over Suguri who missed a few jumps in a row but finished with fast circular footwork and combo spin, and it would have been reasonable had she beaten Cohen.

Spun Silver · Nov 23, 2006

She did beat Cohen once.... I can't remember when, though.

chuckm · Nov 23, 2006

Vika beat Sasha at Cup of Russia in the 2002-2003 season (Slutskaya was 3rd), the same year she finished 5th at Worlds. But that was the year that she was in Chicago training under Vasiliev. The following season she went back to Russia and her skating seemed to fall apart. She finished 6th at Russian Nationals 2004, and was 15th at Worlds 2004. She has struggled with injury since then.

She is 24 now. You have to wonder if she will ever regain the skills she had as a teenager.

About Worlds 2003: Vika's presentation was never as good as Cohen's, and I don't think she had a shot at beating Sasha in the FS. If she had beaten Fumie, though, all that would have done would be to give Sasha the bronze medal instead of Fumie. Vika would still have finished 5th.

This is how it worked out in 2003:

1 QR 3 SP 4 FS Fumie = 6.2
3 QR 5 SP 3 FS Sasha = 7.2
3 QR 5 SP 5 FS Vika = 9.2

If Fumie was 5th in the FS and Vika 4th, it would have been:

3 QR 5 SP 3 FS Sasha = 7.2 Sasha gets bronze
1 QR 3 SP 5 FS Fumie = 7.2
3 QR 5 SP 4 FS Vika = 8.2 Vika is still 5th.

Mathman · Nov 23, 2006

chuckm said:
Vika beat Sasha at Cup of Russia in the 2002-2003 season.

IIRC that was one of those strange results where the random draw determined the winner. It wasn't CoP yet but the ISU did have the random draw as a feature of the "interim scoring system."

Sasha won on the majority of the judges' cards, but by bad luck (for Sasha) the computer drew the Volchkova judges.

Joesitz (RIP) · Nov 23, 2006

La Rhumba said:
Well, it is icedance
If you find it unappealing after one viewing, that's your opinion, but you shouldn't speak for an "international audience" when you are one single, solitary man.

Sorry I offended you. You gave me quite a lashing which I think was unnecessary. You could have just disagreed with me.

I happen to like the Kerrs very much, and would love to see them win the GPF. My comments, indeed, were my own opinions about the costumes.

In speaking about an international audience I was following in the footsteps of other posters who spoke about how Americana does not go over well. They were not the first team to dress up like native Americans, and do poorly. Then, of course, there was poor Michael skating to that medley of Americana in Dortmund.

Joe

lanadd · Nov 23, 2006

La Rhumba said:
I'm a bit confused by your comment, as you quoted Joe in your post, who was talking about the Kerrs, is it their FD you found dull?
Only, they have some pretty spectacular lifts that I wouldn't describe as dull.

Lacrimosa by Mozart - gosh! You're hard to please!

I am very surprised when i see commentaries like this. It is Mozart-maybe the greatest compositor of all times!!?? How can anybody describe its music as awlful? Probably not everybody's taste but awlful- thats ridiculous

rain · Nov 23, 2006

lanadd said:
I am very surprised when i see commentaries like this. It is Mozart-maybe the greatest compositor of all times!!?? How can anybody describe its music as awlful? Probably not everybody's taste but awlful- thats ridiculous

I don't care if it's Mozart or Jimmy Blo from down the corner. The voiceovers? The heavy choir? Is awful. I find it pretentious when people assume everybody, just because a piece is by a great classical composer, (and there is a lot of Mozart I love, by the way) has to fall on their knees and worship. Just like Pride and Prejudice was a great novel while Mansfield Park just would. not. end.

rain · Nov 23, 2006

La Rhumba said:
I'm a bit confused by your comment, as you quoted Joe in your post, who was talking about the Kerrs, is it their FD you found dull?
Only, they have some pretty spectacular lifts that I wouldn't describe as dull.

Sorry, got mixed up in my head.... on whose dance was whose. I was talking about Dom/Shab's FD and didn't really mean to use the quote about the Kerrs. Hope that clears up what I meant.

lanadd · Nov 23, 2006

rain said:
I don't care if it's Mozart or Jimmy Blo from down the corner. The voiceovers? The heavy choir? Is awful. I find it pretentious when people assume everybody, just because a piece is by a great classical composer, (and there is a lot of Mozart I love, by the way) has to fall on their knees and worship. Just like Pride and Prejudice was a great novel while Mansfield Park just would. not. end.

I don't think that anybody wants you to fall on their knees.Don't need to be insulting right? Only the words are added- and they are not more then 8 words.Otherwise the music is the requiem. I don't think that 8 words can make such a disaster.

chuckm · Nov 23, 2006

rain said:
I don't care if it's Mozart or Jimmy Blo from down the corner. The voiceovers? The heavy choir? Is awful. I find it pretentious when people assume everybody, just because a piece is by a great classical composer, (and there is a lot of Mozart I love, by the way) has to fall on their knees and worship. Just like Pride and Prejudice was a great novel while Mansfield Park just would. not. end.

Those of us who are familiar with the Mozart Requiem know that it is a heavily choral work and appreciate it for its merits. Some of us have sung it.

There is no comparison between Mozart's music and "Valse Triste" or "At Last". Sorry.

lanadd · Nov 23, 2006

chuckm said:
Those of us who are familiar with the Mozart Requiem know that it is a heavily choral work and appreciate it for its merits. Some of us have sung it.

There is no comparison between Mozart's music and "Valse Triste" or "At Last". Sorry.

Obviously some of us don't have idea(i mean Rain) what the Mozart' requiem is, but still trying to define it as "awlful" even i am sure he/she hasn't heard it.
And yes, there is no place of comparison- the one is classical and the other- pop music

rain · Nov 23, 2006

chuckm said:
Those of us who are familiar with the Mozart Requiem know that it is a heavily choral work and appreciate it for its merits. Some of us have sung it.

There is no comparison between Mozart's music and "Valse Triste" or "At Last". Sorry.

That's your opinion and you're entitled to it. As I am entitled to not like Mozart's Requiem. It's hardly some kind of blasphemy. I do prefer both Valse Triste (a classical waltz) and At Last, a schmaltzy (in the best way) pop tune from the mid-1900s. Just different tastes. One is not better, worse, or more sophisticated.

Obviously some of us don't have idea(i mean Rain) what the Mozart' requiem is, but still trying to define it as "awlful" even i am sure he/she hasn't heard it.
And yes, there is no place of comparison- the one is classical and the other- pop music

I do know what the Mozart Requiem is and I have heard it. I simply don't care for it, and don't appreciate the implication that just because I don't happen to agree with you I don't know what I'm talking about. I happen to like a lot of Mozart, just not particularly this piece, and I really don't like the music cut (with the voiceover) that Denk/Stav have chosen. Maybe it will grow on me as the season goes. Maybe not.

As for comparing different styles of music, that's always hard. Apples and oranges. Even comparing within categories is difficult and largely comes down to taste: do you like it or not.

chuckm · Nov 23, 2006

No, it's more that Mozart's "Requiem" is a masterpiece. I have heard it sung in its entirety and have sung parts of it as a member of a chorale.

"Valse Triste" is a lovely piece of light music by the serious composer Sibelius, but it is not a masterpiece. "At Last" is a popular song.

lanadd · Nov 23, 2006

rain said:
That's your opinion and you're entitled to it. As I am entitled to not like Mozart's Requiem. It's hardly some kind of blasphemy. I do prefer both Valse Triste (a classical waltz) and At Last, a schmaltzy (in the best way) pop tune from the mid-1900s. Just different tastes. One is not better, worse, or more sophisticated.

You see thats what is ok to say-i don't like it its not my taste ect ect,Nobody wants you to like it. But who are you to define the music of Mozart as awlful- it is just silly and ridiculous

Mathman · Nov 23, 2006

For some reason, Mozart (the world's second greatest composer after Haydn :rock:

) is hardly ever used for figure skating. And Haydn never is. (Fumie did Eine Kleine Nachtmusik a couple of years ago -- right after she did Bach's Toccata and Fugue, steadily working her way through Lori's Nichol's list of the twenty most famous classical tunes, LOL.)

Instead, skating coaches and choreographers go for the romantic era -- Tchaikovsky and those guys. Loud, majestic themes, swelling crescendos, that sort of thing. Easy to "interpret."

I wish someone would try the Haydn quartets opus 76. But I think that would prove an impossible choreographic challenge.

Something can be great listening music but awful figure skating music.

Rosters are up

La Rhumba

Supporting All British Skaters!

La Rhumba

Supporting All British Skaters!

La Rhumba

Supporting All British Skaters!

chuckm

krenseby

hockeyfan228

Spun Silver

chuckm

Mathman

Joesitz (RIP)

lanadd

rain

rain

lanadd

chuckm

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rain

chuckm

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