Impressions on some American Ladies

Some thoughts on the improving artistry of the American ladies:

I must say that I saw big improvments in the artistry and style of some American ladies. They do not try to copy anymore other skaters such Kwan, Cohen or Yu Na and Mao and that's great. Even if a lot of work should be done they did positive steps in the right direction. I really enjoyed some of their programs.
First of all some of them get rid of the "baby ballerina" and "ice princess" image and that's refreshing IMO. Now they don't look the same anymore since they've found their own styles.

Rachael SP was really enjoyable and good, unfortunately the same cannot be said about her LP. But let's talk about positive facts. In the SP she found her style. She was funny, corky (hope it is the right word) and campy and that's should be her style. She is not credible when she does more serious programs and that's mainly because of her bad posture and nice but funny face. She should play with her defects. She is not very musical when she skate on light music and that's seen in her LP. But her SP is really OK and she sold it at Nationals.

Mirai Nagasu was artistically speaking a real treat. She is like sugar, but with some pepper added. She seems a little bit like Amelie Poulain from the Amelie movie. Her music choice should be light classical music, but not piano, instead violin music is good for her. In fact her SP was delicious. She was so ethereal and light, a girl that walks in the air, a dreamy girl. She also has that pretty face and figure that she seems like Amelie. Again her SP interpretation and execution was better than her LP.

Ashley Wagner programs were both ok. The choices of music too and her style improving from last year. She has the face and body perfect for heavy and dark classical music. She could do Apocalyptica and Carmina Burana without problems. In fact her Morricone music is really ok. Her eyes with black make up were a treat. I can see her dressed in black. On the other hand also her LP was good. Polovetsian dances are a good choice of music for her and she was so ok in doing the Russian/Ukrainian princess. She is so dynamic.

keywords for those three skaters are Rachael - funny and campy, Mirai - light and Ashley - heavy and dark

Hope they will not retire and hope they will continue on their paths. They can become better and better. With their own styles they will shine, no need to copy other skaters.

You really impressed me well girls.

All three should go to Olympics IMO

Hmm that was an enjoyable read and ITA will your points. While I am not the hugest fan of Flatt, I do agree that her sp worked the best for her while her lp seemed to be "lost in translation." She needs to really build up upon improving her posture, spins, spirals, and flexibility. These few point really seem to hinder the audience from getting into her performances.

Out of the three skaters, Ashley is definitely the mature one and can skate to much more "heavy and dark" pieces of music. If Ashley, can improve on her jumps and lose the rushed movement that was exhibited in her sp a little, then she will definitely be one of the top U.S. ladies for sure.

Now for Mirai, quite frankly she was robbed; I thought her perfromance in both the sp and lp should have gotten her the gold at Nats but she settled for silver due to her "underrotations." Quote me when I say that in a season or two, Mirai will improve on her jumps and her artistry and thus will become the ultimate complete skater. The only other skater that reminds me of Mirai, is Mao Asada sans the 3A. They both are considered as "complete skaters" with the technical jumps, spins, spirals, and artistry. If Mirai plays her cards out, I can really see her being a force in the upcoming years of figure skating.