Should Alissa use last year's long for Worlds | Golden Skate

Should Alissa use last year's long for Worlds

Skatetomusic

On the Ice
Joined
Oct 5, 2009
Just My opinion but this current program just for me seems to be wrong vehicle for her. Does Anyone think she needs something more uplifting to skate to at Worlds.
 

Serious Business

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 7, 2011
Just My opinion but this current program just for me seems to be wrong vehicle for her. Does Anyone think she needs something more uplifting to skate to at Worlds.

No, it would be a terrible idea. It would be her and her team second-guessing herself, and a second-guessing Alissa is an Alissa that splats (more than usual).
 

macy

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2011
not a good idea...the international judges seem to like it even if fans don't.
 

Serious Business

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 7, 2011
I shouldn't have even started this thread.

Why not? It's as worthy a topic as any for us armchair skating coaches. :laugh: And I did love her programs from last season. I seriously doubt anything we say here will affect Alissa. From what little I've read, Yuka seems to have a really good plan for building Alissa's confidence. It's worked out pretty well so far, and while Alissa may not win Worlds or do spectacularly well, I am reasonably sure that she won't do badly, either, with this year's program and all.
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
I'm with SkatestoMusic. This year's LP only calls attention to Alissa's weaknesses. Pep it up a little so she has something to think about instead of worrying about falling on the next jump.
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
I shouldn't have even started this thread.

On the contrary,this is the kind of discussion topic that brings out the most interesting ideas. You didn't mean it in a snide or malicious manner; you really want Alissa to be at her best two years in a row. While I agree that it's too late to change the program without huge problems, I have wished as you have that Alissa had something with a bit more zing to it. Maybe next year!

One thing that it would be interesting to hear from you all about is the kind of program that would be best for Alissa. I agree that she probably wouldn't do intense very well, but there's a wide range that's possible in lyricism. In such a situation I often think of chamber music, because there's a smooth melodic line that gives strength as well as beauty. Because I so often think of French music, I'm trying to avoid that now. A composer known for his lyricism and delicacy was Mendelssohn. I started at the top with his octet. This chamber work for eight string instruments is by common agreement one of the greatest chamber works ever written. And the guy was just sixteen when he wrote it. There are slow passages and a wonderful scherzo movement. Different parts could be edited together.

Here's part of it if anyone wants to hear it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLe0T6Hsg2k&feature=related

Anyone else have any thoughts?
 

Blades of Passion

Skating is Art, if you let it be
Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 14, 2008
Country
France
The program is horrible but it's too late for her to do major changes now.

What she does need to do is go back to the dress from earlier in the season and make slight modifications to the jump layout so that it suits her best. She clearly can not do combinations with 3Toe on the end and needs to not attempt that at Worlds. This would be the ideal for her, without changing much from what she is used to and has been training:

3Lutz
3Flip
3Toe
-------
3Lutz-2Toe
2Axel-2Axel (she had this in her program a couple seasons ago and always hit it)
3Loop-2Toe-2Loop
3Loop

It's annoying to me how she puts the Triple Loops back-to-back, but she has been training the program this way since TEB and has gotten them consistent, so that can not change now.

Ironically, Alissa's technical score would be higher than anyone else except Mao Asada if she skated that layout cleanly. Correct-edge Lutzes are a big deal and the lack of a Salchow and 3-3 combination doesn't matter in this field since she has the Flip and Loops and gains more points in the non-jump areas than everyone else who has a more difficult jump layout than her. Given that Alissa also has a pretty good amount of judge favoritism on her side, her PCS will also be high if she just skates the program cleanly.
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
^ All that may be true, but I think the (dreary) music and the (minimal) choreography is making it more likely that she will fall.
 

R.D.

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
No, it would be a terrible idea. It would be her and her team second-guessing herself, and a second-guessing Alissa is an Alissa that splats (more than usual).

Word.

What Czisny needs to do is this: land her jumps.

(I know, crazy thought eh?)
 

macy

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2011
out of all of alissa's programs i have liked dr. zhivago and winter into spring the best. they are pretty pieces of music but have lots of life to them and she skates beautifully to them. her current program is lacking a LOT of life. this is the program i have liked the least of hers. as long as she hits the jumps i will be happy as a clam. and if she does, she will most likely be top five, being that the the jump she fell on in the long last year at worlds is what kept her off the podium (would have taken 3rd). but i kind of can't wait for her to get a new program next year...
 

drivingmissdaisy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 17, 2010
i agree with macy. her programs just aren't vibrant this year, but this is how her team wanted to package her. she's good enough that the program and costume really don't matter much if she skates well. but mathman makes a good point, maybe she can't skate it well because the music and choreography holds her back in some respects.
 

brightphoton

Medalist
Joined
Jan 23, 2009
The long program in which Alissa skated to that soft, quiet music in a dress that looks like was made from blue toilet paper? That was pretty good.

I was going to say the long program with soft quiet music only, but then I realised that applies to nearly all of her programs.
 

tampro1

Rinkside
Joined
Oct 30, 2005
No, it would be a terrible idea. It would be her and her team second-guessing herself, and a second-guessing Alissa is an Alissa that splats (more than usual).

Totally agree! Someone described it as skating to her own funeral music lol As terrible as this music is as it makes her seem really slow and doesn't highlight her at all, it's too late. She should just go with it and do her best. Luckily the international judges do like her. If she skates clean and some of the other top ladies make mistakes, she could end up on the podium. Though it would be ironic if she ends up on the podium with easily her worse program ever. Maybe the judges won't notice the music and just see the striking picture she creates on the ice.
 

Serious Business

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 7, 2011
i agree with macy. her programs just aren't vibrant this year, but this is how her team wanted to package her.

I love her current SP, La Vie en Rose, even though I agree with most other posters that her FS is a total drag. The SP, on the other hand, is romantic and charming. The footwork sequence is a particular highlight, which I don't think was true of any other programs of hers. I would even go so far as to say it should be her signature program. Regardless of how you feel about it, it's a huge contrast in tone and sentiment to her FS.
 

clairecloutier

Final Flight
Joined
Aug 27, 2003
I love her current SP, La Vie en Rose, even though I agree with most other posters that her FS is a total drag. The SP, on the other hand, is romantic and charming. The footwork sequence is a particular highlight, which I don't think was true of any other programs of hers. I would even go so far as to say it should be her signature program. Regardless of how you feel about it, it's a huge contrast in tone and sentiment to her FS.

I think La Vie en Rose is a good vehicle for Alissa. I don't love it, but it's a good program for her. I'd like to see her skate it more strongly and convincingly though. And maybe with just a few less winsome smiles, which somehow I find annoying.

I don't know about the LP. I haven't liked it all season. And yes, the way she skated it at Nationals, it seemed like there were no transitions at all, just long setups for her jumps. Yikes. But, at the same time, I agree that going back to last year's LP might mess with Alissa's fragile confidence. I guess my thought would be to press on with this year's program, but try to freshen it choreographically before Worlds by adding in some more transitions.

Last year's programs were a big step forward for Alissa, but this year's programs are disappointing. At the start of the season, she said in an article that her team was really focused on the technical side and wanted to essentially play it safe choreographically "with classic Alissa programs," as she put it. Not sure if that was a good call. Alissa's strength is her artistry and elegance on the ice; she needs to constantly highlight and improve that area, rather than going with the status quo.
 

R.D.

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
If she continues to skate past this season, she really needs to consider pushing herself- and I'm not talking different type of program, necessarily- I mean by using her increased confidence to add more elements in her programs, and perhaps even go for 7 triples. Sort of like what she did at SA...even though it was a bit messy, it still got her 1st over a solid Kostner. Personally I think that's what she should do at worlds...even with one fall, if she can hit everything else she'd still be a podium threat.
 

macy

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2011
If she continues to skate past this season, she really needs to consider pushing herself- and I'm not talking different type of program, necessarily- I mean by using her increased confidence to add more elements in her programs, and perhaps even go for 7 triples. Sort of like what she did at SA...even though it was a bit messy, it still got her 1st over a solid Kostner. Personally I think that's what she should do at worlds...even with one fall, if she can hit everything else she'd still be a podium threat.

honestly i don't think adding a 3+3 would be a good idea for her right now. with 6 triples last year a fall cost her a bronze medal. if she attempted the 3Lz+3T like earlier in the season it would probably be downgraded to a double and then negative GOE's on top of that. i think if she skates a clean six triple program she will do well, and then take the time in the summer to really push her technical content.

as for la vie en rose being her signature piece, i already see "the swan" being that. her performance of that program at 2009 nationals was just amazing and i think a lot of people know who she is because of that performance. many have said it is one of the best ladies SP's ever for nationals.
 

hrmsk8ngnutt

Final Flight
Joined
Jul 29, 2003
I like Valse Triste, and I like her LP. It must have received good feedback and she did well with it at both of her GP events. I understand for some it is not as exciting. If they were going with Sibelius, maybe they should have used Finlandia? But I do agree with someone who said that if she is going to stay in then she needs to do something completely different, out of her comfort zone. An American in Paris? Maybe Philip Glass? I've always wanted to see someone use his music (although I believe Christina Gao used some for her SP a few years ago and Dube/Wolfe skate to some Glass for their LP). Astor Piazzola? I know ice dancers have used his music, but I think she would do well with a tango - but not Adios Nonino since quite a few have skated to that. Trying to think of some soundtracks that could work but nothing coming to my mind right now....

But back to the question at hand: No, I don't think she should go back to last year's LP. She should stick with Valse Triste. Maybe in the time between Nationals and Worlds it will look completely different.
 
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