Ladies Free Skate - 12/11 | Page 14 | Golden Skate

Ladies Free Skate - 12/11

silverlake22

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2009
Has Shizuka retired? I thought she was still skating :think:

The last few times I saw her she was skating great and still had impressive looking jumps.

Well, she's not competing anymore. She still skates in the occasional show, though.
 

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll
Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
i was so happy for alissa. Cried when she started to giggle at the end. Finally! hopefully this will get her in the rght frame of mind. Hope the media and fqns dont crush her with pressure. Let her bask in the moment and train for nationals without spooking her. What an underdog moment!!!
 

Lily.Grace

Rinkside
Joined
Dec 1, 2010
Trying to be elegant and graceful? We should all try with such success. You may not warm to Alissa's skating--to each his/her own--but there's very little to argue in terms of its grace and elegance.

Yeah yeah I agree, she is very elegant and her dresses are gorgeous, but I personally don't like her programmes, that's it, especially her LP. What I wanted to say was that I would like to see her skate to other kinds of music too, maybe some Saint-Saens, Debussy, Prokofiev or Schumann, not necessarily tango or whatever... But I think it's just the beginning for her, her career is going to bloom now, and this is so exciting.
 

mganders

Rinkside
Joined
Jan 27, 2005
Yeah yeah I agree, she is very elegant and her dresses are gorgeous, but I personally don't like her programmes, that's it, especially her LP.

I disagree. I watched her performance on TV again yesterday, and loved it. The program is beautifully choreographed to the music. Exquisite. I think you or another poster said that you would prefer a story. I love a good story too, but I found this to be more sophisticated and subtle. It showcased Alissa's musicality as well as her grace and elegance. I was laughing at myself for being nervous when she skated, even though I'd watched it live and knew she'd won. Force of habit. I'm thrilled for Alissa and can't wait to see her skate even better in the future.
 

Lily.Grace

Rinkside
Joined
Dec 1, 2010
I disagree. I watched her performance on TV again yesterday, and loved it. The program is beautifully choreographed to the music. Exquisite. I think you or another poster said that you would prefer a story. I love a good story too, but I found this to be more sophisticated and subtle. It showcased Alissa's musicality as well as her grace and elegance. I was laughing at myself for being nervous when she skated, even though I'd watched it live and knew she'd won. Force of habit. I'm thrilled for Alissa and can't wait to see her skate even better in the future.

Yes I'm sure it's a turning point for her career, I had never seen her skate that good.
Her victory here was so unexpected!
Ah well if you like it then great. :)
 

UnChosen

On the Ice
Joined
Dec 12, 2006
I love Czisny because she is one of the few that can make elegance work without looking "fake". If there's a skater that doesn't need to try to be graceful its her (right up along side Michelle Kwan and Sasha Cohen). She's also one of the few that doesn't go "robot" the moment a major mistake is made :). So many skaters are elegant up to the point where they screw up a jump and then the rest of the performance turns 3x stiffer and the musical connections completely disappear. The 8 rotations for a level thing is ruining her spins though :(

I also loved Carolina's program. Maybe its because of the lower difficulty but her performance is so much better this season <3

Akiko and Kanako both have FIRE. Very interesting to watch and provide some contrast to Czisny's style :). I like the fact that the Japanese ladies have such variety of skaters. Also liked Miki's performance, considering how the technical standards have dropped this season.

The ladies GPF was amazing IMO, in comparison to the men and pairs.

I wish Flatt would get back her consistency though. The US nationals would be boring to watch if otherwise. Mirai and Caroline are also not consistent this season :(.
 

R.D.

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
i was so happy for alissa. Cried when she started to giggle at the end. Finally! hopefully this will get her in the rght frame of mind. Hope the media and fqns dont crush her with pressure. Let her bask in the moment and train for nationals without spooking her. What an underdog moment!!!


Well, with success comes expectations and pressure...it's part of sport and you MUST learn to deal with it if you want to be great. So no need to feel bad for her if it happens.
 

museksk8r

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 31, 2006
Country
United-States
Yeah yeah I agree, she is very elegant and her dresses are gorgeous, but I personally don't like her programmes, that's it, especially her LP. What I wanted to say was that I would like to see her skate to other kinds of music too, maybe some Saint-Saens, Debussy, Prokofiev or Schumann, not necessarily tango or whatever... But I think it's just the beginning for her, her career is going to bloom now, and this is so exciting.

Figure skating truly brings out such a wide array of tastes and opinions. IMO, Czisny's LP this season is the best program, short or long, of her entire career. I love how serene and unique the music is to skating; I think it has beautiful accents. Her LP is one of the few ladies' programs this season that have shown soul. :love:
 

seniorita

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 3, 2008
Trying to be elegant and graceful? We should all try with such success. You may not warm to Alissa's skating--to each his/her own--but there's very little to argue in terms of its grace and elegance.
I was not warmed to her Lp also but it was very touching she won and her smile at the end was priceless, it was really nice to see this and she was the best in the competition. It is just a matter of taste as I also never see Yuna as such elegant and graceful as I m told she is, although I like her very much. I find Mirai and Mao what i would call naturally elegan and graceful without trying (Mao's worlds 2007 sp has been my all time favorite to highlight this) , and it has not to do with the music or moves, probably it is their posture and whole aura, even when they skate to powerful and not so soft music.
 
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Lily.Grace

Rinkside
Joined
Dec 1, 2010
I was not warmed to her Lp also but it was very touching she won and her smile at the end was priceless, it was really nice to see this and she was the best in the competition. It is just a matter of taste as I also never see Yuna as such elegant and graceful as I m told she is, although I like her very much. I find Mirai and Mao what i would call naturally elegan and graceful without trying (Mao's worlds 2007 sp has been my all time favorite to highlight this) , and it has not to do with the music or moves, probably it is their posture and whole aura, even when they skate to powerful and not so soft music.

I've actually rewatched Alissa's LP, and I really like it now....haha, it's so funny, but I really enjoyed it, and yeah, her expression at the end was very moving. And her exhibition was amazing too.
Oh I absolutely LOVE Yu-Na, I think she's the best Olympic Champion ever!! She's incredibly elegant and has great jumps, she's perfect! I don't think Mao's elegant...she doesn't listen to the music, in my opinion, and she's emotionless....about Mirai, I really like her expressions and her artistry but this year her programmes are not that interesting....or maybe I should rewatch them too:)
 

Blades of Passion

Skating is Art, if you let it be
Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 14, 2008
Country
France
Oh my God, Alissa! That is her best performance since 2007 Nationals (and this is definitely the best she has ever skated a whole competition). I had chills!
 

miki88

Medalist
Joined
Dec 28, 2009
I've actually rewatched Alissa's LP, and I really like it now....haha, it's so funny, but I really enjoyed it, and yeah, her expression at the end was very moving. And her exhibition was amazing too.
Oh I absolutely LOVE Yu-Na, I think she's the best Olympic Champion ever!! She's incredibly elegant and has great jumps, she's perfect! I don't think Mao's elegant...she doesn't listen to the music, in my opinion, and she's emotionless....about Mirai, I really like her expressions and her artistry but this year her programmes are not that interesting....or maybe I should rewatch them too:)

Maybe you should also rewatch her programs. :p :biggrin:
 

Blades of Passion

Skating is Art, if you let it be
Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 14, 2008
Country
France
Wow this was a well skated LP! I wish every competiton could be this solid. All of the top 5 ladies here gave admirable performances. I would have had Alissa 1st in the LP. Miki clearly wins on the jumps but her program is simply not good and I don't see anything special in the performance. For me she deserved to be 5th on the PCS. I can go either way with Kanako and Suzuki. I think Kanako's program is better and she did slightly better with the jumps as well, although Suzuki has more maturity. Both of them should have been on the podium, in 2nd or 3rd. I would have put Kostner into 4th overall (5th in the LP). I see a bit of improvement in her program from earlier in the season (and she deserved 2nd in the PCS) but the technical content wasn't enough. She has nice qualities but isn't so masterful in her artistry that she can get away with such a relatively weak jump layout.
 

R.D.

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Well, the others skated well and Czisny was still able to hang on for the win. That, IMO, is a HUGE triumph for her, and may elevate her rep IF she can avoid meltdowns. Then again it never affected Kostner, so...
 

Lily.Grace

Rinkside
Joined
Dec 1, 2010
Maybe you should also rewatch her programs. :p :biggrin:
Oh no no, I'm sure about that. Mao's artistry is emotionless, in my opinion. Look at her face and how she moves her arms (up and down all the time)! I rewatched Alissa because I didn't get her programmes, not her artistry.
Mao's programmes last year were terrible, and this year the music she chose are much better for her, but her artistry's just the same. And it's obvious she only thinks about her triple axel. That's all she thinks about, it's written on her face! I read a very interesting Japanese article, it said she should think more about how to interpret the music or the choreography, the dress etc, and less about her triple axel. She's so stubborn...
 

miki88

Medalist
Joined
Dec 28, 2009
Oh no no, I'm sure about that. Mao's artistry is emotionless, in my opinion. Look at her face and how she moves her arms (up and down all the time)! I rewatched Alissa because I didn't get her programmes, not her artistry.
Mao's programmes last year were terrible, and this year the music she chose are much better for her, but her artistry's just the same. And it's obvious she only thinks about her triple axel. That's all she thinks about, it's written on her face! I read a very interesting Japanese article, it said she should think more about how to interpret the music or the choreography, the dress etc, and less about her triple axel. She's so stubborn...

Mao is not a skater you can appreciate by focusing on her face. She isn't very expressive facially. You have to pay attention to her more subtle body movements. I like her arm movements though but then we do see things differently. However, calling someone emotionless and then saying their thoughts are obvious is kinda conflicting, isn't it? They can be thinking of a number of things but you can't tell from the outside. Just saying...
 

Lily.Grace

Rinkside
Joined
Dec 1, 2010
Mao is not a skater you can appreciate by focusing on her face. She isn't very expressive facially. You have to pay attention to her more subtle body movements. I like her arm movements though but then we do see things differently. However, calling someone emotionless and then saying their thoughts are obvious is kinda conflicting, isn't it? They can be thinking of a number of things but you can't tell from the outside. Just saying...

Yeah I think we see things differently. Subtle? her interpretation looks tired and always the same, that's not subtle at all. Well interpretation is also about facial expression, and I'm saying lately her expression is so sad. Emotionless during the routine, but then always so sad, looks like she lost her joy to skate (don't know if it's correct in English). Anyway if you like her then good for you, I don't.
 

Layfan

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 5, 2009
Wow this was a well skated LP! I wish every competiton could be this solid. All of the top 5 ladies here gave admirable performances. I would have had Alissa 1st in the LP. Miki clearly wins on the jumps but her program is simply not good and I don't see anything special in the performance. For me she deserved to be 5th on the PCS. I can go either way with Kanako and Suzuki. I think Kanako's program is better and she did slightly better with the jumps as well, although Suzuki has more maturity. Both of them should have been on the podium, in 2nd or 3rd. I would have put Kostner into 4th overall (5th in the LP). I see a bit of improvement in her program from earlier in the season (and she deserved 2nd in the PCS) but the technical content wasn't enough. She has nice qualities but isn't so masterful in her artistry that she can get away with such a relatively weak jump layout.

Nice to see you weigh in :)

Interesting thoughts - I'm kind of with Phil Hersh on this one - I could go with the LP results as the judges saw and can see a case for rearranging it. The scores were very close. I think both Miki and Alissa have programs this season that truly play to the strengths. Miki's is choreographed well to highlight her jumps - which seemed much more impressive than anyone else in in this comp. She needs to perform it just a bit more.
I can't get too fussed about the LP standings because ... ALISSA WON!!!!! :party:

Well, the others skated well and Czisny was still able to hang on for the win. That, IMO, is a HUGE triumph for her

That's a good point. It wasn't like she won only because the others skated badly. I suppose if Miki hadn't had a bad SP, Alissa probably wouldn't have won. But she probably would have medaled, which still would have been a big deal for her.
 

Lily.Grace

Rinkside
Joined
Dec 1, 2010
Wow this was a well skated LP! I wish every competiton could be this solid. All of the top 5 ladies here gave admirable performances. I would have had Alissa 1st in the LP. Miki clearly wins on the jumps but her program is simply not good and I don't see anything special in the performance. For me she deserved to be 5th on the PCS. I can go either way with Kanako and Suzuki. I think Kanako's program is better and she did slightly better with the jumps as well, although Suzuki has more maturity. Both of them should have been on the podium, in 2nd or 3rd. I would have put Kostner into 4th overall (5th in the LP). I see a bit of improvement in her program from earlier in the season (and she deserved 2nd in the PCS) but the technical content wasn't enough. She has nice qualities but isn't so masterful in her artistry that she can get away with such a relatively weak jump layout.

I agree, I would have had Czisny, Murakami and Suzuki on the podium.
 
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