Miki's improvement in artistry

I feel that Miki has improved in her artistry a lot in such a short time period since this past season (2006-7).

Her arm movements used to be stuff and straight during this past season. But in this recent gala performance (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JcHMdts_zk), they are much more graceful, subtle, and sophisticated here. The posture also looks better.

A very pleasant surprise

It's a pity that these guys do not stop talking during the performance....

What do you mean by "artistry"?

She has improved insofar as consistency goes, but I didn't notice any great artistry. All she did was jump, jump, jump. Her spiral sequence is still pretty bad.

Sorry, don't see anything. I still think she is just pose and jump.

Red Dog said:

Sorry, don't see anything. I still think she is just pose and jump.

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Agreed....but her posing is much better now.

~Z

chuckm said:

She has improved insofar as consistency goes, but I didn't notice any great artistry. All she did was jump, jump, jump. Her spiral sequence is still pretty bad.

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I thought morninglight was comparing the very recent Chukyo gala(in the youtube link) to the recent past season. I agree--there are a lot of changes for the better in a short time, but not with jumps. She fell on a double axel in the gala, but I liked the performance.

I hope Miki is either a SA or SC and I will watch to see if she has upped the presentation.

Joe

chuckm said:

She has improved insofar as consistency goes, but I didn't notice any great artistry. All she did was jump, jump, jump. Her spiral sequence is still pretty bad.

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She still mostly lives and dies by her jumps.

She really needs to learn a sprial sequence that is flattering for her. She just looked miserable doing those spirals.

Chuko Univ GALA was done to add gorgeousness to the opening ceremony of the university's ice arena, and featured Miki and Mao since they are students there (Mao in its annexed high-school). It's off-season, and what Miki did here was (so to say) simply skating "I love you all at Chukyo!"

At Worlds Miki had not yet recovered from injury in her right soulder(ligament) caused by joint dislocation she got at Nationals; her arm was certainly stiff, and couldn't do the Biellman with her usual arm.
Now I see here(You-Tube) that it must be getting a little better.

Many folks point out Miki's shortcomings in her refinement of artistry, and I don't disagree. Shizuka is much ahead in that. However as a big fan of Miki I believe she fully possesses both the capability and the eagerness to achieve what is necessary to reach such goal*. (* She formerly expressed it years ago through saying she dreams to be a perfect skater like Yagudin.)

I would like to read, in this thread, comments that would encourage her "to be more".
Or simply, what kind of advice would you give to Miki in order to be more artistic?
Or more appealing? Or more sophisticated?

Practical the better. (Flying camel's "learn more spiral sequence" is quite practical.)
I'll put it to (soft) Japanese and will try to send it to her.

I'm an architect (which is supposed to be a kind of an artist?), so I can imagine that some contrast and highlighting is needed within her spectrum of nuances from powerful to delicate; but since I'm knowledgeless in skating, I've no idea how to define it on ice.

sorcerer, wonderful post.

Her expression and attitude IMO were better this year, I saw this shine much brighter than years past.

Artistry comes from within. Miki has to find it within herself, by herself, as it can't be forced.

BTW, Miki's shoulder is probably going to become a chronic problem for her. She has suffered at least two dislocation incidents so far. Every time the shoulder becomes dislocated, the more likely it is that the same thing will happen again. And again. The ligaments keep getting more and more stretched out, making another incident more probable.

The Biellmann isn't the only element that impacts her shoulder. Spinning by far puts the most force on those ligaments.

Thank you for your kind compliments, SeaniBu.

And thanks for your response, chuckm.
I kind of half agree with you when you say "artistry comes from within. Miki has to find it within herself, by herself, as it can't be forced."

It might depend on the form of art, but IMO more than 95% of the contents in artistic achievements are done logically, even when they are done in unconsciousness they can be grasped logically afterwards.
Only on such designed base of universal reason, the spark of genius or poeticality is lastly possible, IMO.
Latter is the area completely up to the artist/performer, and this indeed is just as what you say.

But I was talking about advice(s) for the 95%. I think Miki has yet to fill that 95%.
(I'm saying "95%" symbolically not numerally.)

Of course there could be suggestive advice even on that mystic 5%, e.g. if I were to stimulate poeticality among students wishing to become architects, I might give words like "go see more of art-oriented movies like that of Fellini, Tarkovsky, Robbe-Grillet, whomsoever!"

flying camel said:

She really needs to learn a sprial sequence that is flattering for her. She just looked miserable doing those spirals.

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Yes agreeed. I think that her fan spiral is not bad at alll, and her beilliman is O.K. She needs to take out the tradationl change of edge spiral.. it really looks painful on her.

Her fingers and arms as well as her facial expressioin is improved.... I think that A really good spiral sequnence is the only thing she lacks.

Sorceror, I would like to offer Miki the following constructive critcism:

1. Work on your posture.

2. Take ballet lessons

3. Learn to stretch and extend

4. Practice those spiral positions

I disagree that anyone is born with these qualities (otherwise we would all be ballet dancers). It's takes practice, practice, practice, and more practice to perfect posture, stretch and extension.

If there was ever an example that artistry is learned, it's the example of Michelle Kwan. She burst onto the scene as a tiny jumping bean in 1993 and under Lori Nichol's tuteledge she learned to become an artist. During the years of Michelle's transition from athlete to artist, her posture improved, her spiral positions improved, her edging improved, her speed improved, her connection with her music improved, her connection with the audience improved...everything about her skating and performance improved under Lori Nichols teaching.

I agree that it's takes commitment and dedication on the part of the athlete to decide to become an artist and then practice, practice, and more practice until the artistry becomes second nature.

debdelilah said:

I thought morninglight was comparing the very recent Chukyo gala(in the youtube link) to the recent past season. I agree--there are a lot of changes for the better in a short time, but not with jumps. She fell on a double axel in the gala, but I liked the performance.

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Yes, I was referring to the Chukyo Gala! Thank you for pointing out!! I have just made changes to the first post accordingly.

During the 2005-6 season, Mr. David Willson made very beautiful programs for her. But she didn't really seem to be into it.

During this past season (2006-7), her long program was so much focused on jumps at the sacrifice of all the choreo that could have been done. It worked well for her to come back as a strong skater. But I did not really enjoy the roughness in her moves, the lean posture, and stiff, straight arms.

In the recent gala performance that I cited, however, she seems to be paying much more attention to all the details. The choreo for this piece seems to be very wise. It constantly tells her to "look up" and "straighten up". It also encourages her to use the head, the neck, hands, and fingers to express the music.

Of course, this is a gala performance and she doesn't do jumps and other difficult stuff. So it may be more difficult to keep those attentions to details in competitions.

But I was impressed to see that she seems to be working on it very hard

P.S.

sorcerer said:

I'm an architect (which is supposed to be a kind of an artist?), so I can imagine that some contrast and highlighting is needed within her spectrum of nuances from powerful to delicate; but since I'm knowledgeless in skating, I've no idea how to define it on ice.

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Thank you for your wonderful post, sorcerer.

A lot of people liked her powerfulness that she presented in her SP during this past season. But I felt that her attemps to be powerful in SP and LP sometimes ended up being rough and stiff, which seemed to be associated with some problems in her overall posture, the positions (esp. arms), stretch, and extension. As layman has said, skaters are usually encouraged to build foundation in ballet (and other dances). With basic foundation in dances, every position and move of the skater comes to look beautiful.

But she herself would be very much aware of these things. Further, Mr. Morosov seems to be an excellent dancer to help her out. Now that she has all elements back, I would look forward to seeing her bloom more and more in her presentation

I "trust" that she knows her certain problem, and she's making an attempt to fix it.

That's why, I "believe" Miki.

She'll change next season,
although her skating is not successful
i won't be disappointed cause more important thing is the process of the change.


then,

Let's see her improvement. it'll be exciting!!

Thanks for posting Zeki, and welcome to Golden Skate.

Miki's improvement in artistry

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I didn't know she even HAD artistry from the beginning . . .

I hope she does make an effort to work on it, though, she could be a whole package if she didn't skate like a *popular nickname*.

Ahem, truck driver.

Thanks for posting the video, by the way, it was good to see her posture improve.

I was really impressed with Miki's presentation in her LP at Skate American last year but she did not do as well after that. Her Tokyo presentation was just standard and not all that impressive, imo. She did deserve to win the Worlds but that is another subject.

Joe