Joesitz
For all you confused posters of my saying that Bebe is a Sasha wannabe, is really a compliment to Sasha that some younger skater, who imo, would want to look up to. That is indeed, a big compliment to Sasha. Bebe fans should be upset if anyone.
I know you have been identifying Bebe's style as bravura, Cohen like. I haven't seen Bebe enough to conclude that she has a bravura style. I am not even sure Cohen has a bravura style, in your face kind of style yes. JMHO bravura means more than just presentation on the loud side. But in terms of competition style, Bebe and Cohen are very different. Bebe has the ability to rise to the occasion and then some. At junior worlds she competed through pain/ injury, and was able to land some jumps in the actual competition that she was not able to land due to injury. I thnk Jenny Kirk has the same competition style too, at nationals, she had technique problem and was falling all over the place in practice, but raised her performamce to the occasion in competition and landed those jumps that she was missing in practice, and she had to skate Kwan. Kirk, and Bebe have mental toughness
hockeyfan
for almost a decade, the role model for US skaters has been Kwan, the gentle Lyric
Kwan to me is not entirely gentle lyric, she is bel canto with soul, that does not mean she is not lyric or she is not bravura. I think she can be both, but more importantly she has soul I still haven't decided what is Bebe's style, but as far as being open about who is her role model, I don't believe she has identified Cohen as her role model.
Interestingly Kostner named Kwan and Cohen as her favorite skaters.
PS:
I know Joe extracts the skating style from ballet, but skating is not exactly ballet. Skating is not opera either, and here I am borrowing the opera term bel canto. But if I may borrow the opera term, bel canto - beautiful singing is more than just lyric, it requires tremendous brilliant technique to give that flow from one element to the next. The question of soul - to me a performer / skater either has soul or not.
PPS Back to Bebe, I wish her the best.
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