2012 GPF Ladies' Short Program | Page 5 | Golden Skate

2012 GPF Ladies' Short Program

SXTN

Final Flight
Joined
Jun 5, 2008
Mao's Flip was definitely underrotated and she is in 1. Place.

Merry Christmas in advance!
 

mary01

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 20, 2011
Mao's music choice for LP isn't any better either.

well I for one loved Mao's programs the most, and I think her swan lake is absolutely breathtaking, can't wait to see her tommorow, for me she is the highlight of every event she attends!
 

calstudent

Rinkside
Joined
Mar 30, 2012
Mao's music choice for LP isn't any better either.

You think so? I think Swan Lake is a great choice of music for Mao. It is overdone and quite cliched in the competitive skating community but I love what she did with it, the upper-body movements, the hand gestures, the twizzles - little things that help her sell the program. Mao has a light, effortless air to her and the program really brought out her strengths. Can't believe Tatiana Tarasova choreographed both the Bells of Moscow LP - I hated it - and this year's Swan Lake.
 

Nadia01

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 10, 2009
You think so? I think Swan Lake is a great choice of music for Mao. It is overdone and quite cliched in the competitive skating community but I love what she did with it, the upper-body movements, the hand gestures, the twizzles - little things that help her sell the program. Mao has a light, effortless air to her and the program really brought out her strengths. Can't believe Tatiana Tarasova choreographed both the Bells of Moscow LP - I hated it - and this year's Swan Lake.

I don't mind Swan Lake the music itself in general, but I hate what she doesn't do with the music. I feel that there's nothing to her program that's specifically Swan Lake, and I find her SL passionless.

Perhaps I'm very particular since I really really love Swan Lake the ballet, and have seen multiple performances of it.
 

calstudent

Rinkside
Joined
Mar 30, 2012
I don't mind Swan Lake, but I hate what she doesn't do with the music. I feel that there's nothing to her program that's specifically Swan Lake, and I find her SL passionless.

Perhaps I'm very particular since I really really enjoy Swan Lake the ballet, and have seen multiple performances of it.

Well you can't judge a program by what she doesn't do but by what she does. After all, we are talking hours worth of music and dancing condensed to 4 minutes. I think she is using every note of the music, bringing something different after every music cut and Mao has a lyrical, balletic style to begin with. I do concede that Mao somewhat lacked energy at the NHK trophy after making numerous mistakes on her jumps.

But I totally understand where you're coming from. I love Swan Lake too =]
 
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Ilvskating

Final Flight
Joined
Dec 30, 2010
Thanks a lot for the video! I think the judges are correct this time and I agree with the ranking. Love Mao, she did a great job with the program although it's not the type of program prefer. Ashley did a great job too and I love her SP. She also skated with attack, even with a couple of small glitches it was still the best I ever see her skated. This SP is a keeper. I don't like her LP, very empty. Kirra didn't skate as well as she did during the last two, but still decent. She was a bit stif this time around, like the old her in the past seasons. Hope she does better in the LP. Congratulations to Akiko for doing all her jumps. Liz, would you please get rid of the black tight, or at list make it see through? Ir looks so heavy that I worried how she would be able to lift herself:). Hope Gao does better in theLP.

LADIES SHORT PROGRAM - VIDEOS & RESULT

1. Mao ASADA (JPN) - 66.96 Short Program, 2nd Copy
2. Ashley WAGNER (USA) - 66.44 Short Program, 2nd Copy
3. Akiko SUZUKI (JPN) - 65.00 Short Program, 2nd Copy
4. Kiira KORPI (FIN) - 63.42 Short Program, 2nd Copy
5. Elizaveta TUKTAMYSHEVA (RUS) - 56.61 Short Program
6. Christina GAO (USA) - 48.56 Short Program, 2nd Copy
 

naan

Rinkside
Joined
Oct 6, 2012
As much as I love Mao I must say that the scoring at this competition was really unfair. Her triple floop was CLEARLY underrotated and should've received <. Why didn't the technical specialist give her the < sign? On purpose or just overlooked it? Mao should be behind Ashley and Akiko.
They didn't do at COC and NHK, either. Mao's 3F, and even her old friend 3Lo look clearly underrotated these days.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed her skating the most. I thought the music and choreography were juniorish at first, but it suits Mao very well :)
Ashley was great, but I prefer her LP.
I was worried about Korpi, but she did very well in spite of her injury and stomach flu.
Did Liza gain some weight? I think she was a bit underscored compared to other skaters.
 

Mirunna

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 12, 2009
They didn't do at COC and NHK, either. Mao's 3F, and even her old friend 3Lo look clearly underrotated these days.
.

They DID marked her 3F as UR in China, 3 out of 3. And while her 3Flip was questionable today, her 3Loop was good
 

Bluebonnet

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 18, 2010
Hard to pick the winner among the top four. Mao's SP was not impressive. Akiko did great in jumps! Ashley was very well all around. Korpi's skating was beautiful and dreamy. I prefer Ashley. Wish all of them good luck tomorrow!
 

Nadia01

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 10, 2009
Well you can't judge a program by what she doesn't do but by what she does. After all, we are talking hours worth of music and dancing condensed to 4 minutes. I think she is using every note of the music, bringing something different after every music cut and Mao has a lyrical, balletic style to begin with. I do concede that Mao somewhat lacked energy at the NHK trophy after making numerous mistakes on her jumps.

But I understand where you're coming from. I love Swan Lake too =]

The problem is that she does so little with the music. Yes, I understand she's trying to put the ballet into 4 minutes. But I'm not sure what she's trying to do with the music. Is she trying to tell the story? Is she trying to portray a character from the ballet? Or she just wants to hop around and look pretty in a feather-motifed dress?

Swan Lake is intensely passionate and full of high drama (the curse, love, pledge/vow, betrayal, etc. etc. etc.), yet there's no passion or intensity in her program. She could be skating to any other music, and it won't make a particle of difference to her program. That's what I mean by "what she doesn't do with the music." And that's why I dislike certain skaters who skate over whatever music that happens to be playing in the background.
 

naan

Rinkside
Joined
Oct 6, 2012
They DID marked her 3F as UR in China, 3 out of 3. And while her 3Flip was questionable today, her 3Loop was good
IIRC, one of her 3Lo combination (2Lo, I guess) looked UR, but didn't get <. And her 3F in the SP at NHK...
You're right, Mirunna. Her 3Lo was great today :)
 

calstudent

Rinkside
Joined
Mar 30, 2012
The problem is that she does so little with the music. Yes, I understand she's trying to put the ballet into 4 minutes. But I'm not sure what she's trying to do with the music. Is she trying to tell the story? Is she trying to portray a character from the ballet? Or she just wants to hop around and look pretty in a feather-motifed dress?

Swan Lake is intensely passionate and full of high drama (the curse, love, pledge/vow, betrayal, etc. etc. etc.), yet there's no passion or intensity in her program. She could be skating to any other music, and it won't make a particle of difference to her program. That's what I mean by "what she doesn't do with the music." And that's why I dislike certain skaters who skate over whatever music that happens to be playing in the background.

Not every program has to tell a story. Yes, it's skated to Swan Lake and Mao doesn't take complete advantage of the highs and the lows of the Swan Lake ballet but she took the music from the ballet and created a program that is beautiful and quite artistic.
 

mskater93

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 22, 2005
Maybe they decided that they don't need the jump to win so they all deleted it from their repertoire? Makes sense, esp. for those getting e on 3Lz.

Ashley has not been attempting 3Lz in SP since the 3Lo's base value was increased as she is more likely to get a higher score on a well-exected 3Lo than on a 3Lz (e)
 

Nadia01

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 10, 2009
Not every program has to tell a story. Yes, it's skated to Swan Lake and Mao doesn't take complete advantage of the highs and the lows of the Swan Lake ballet but she took the music from the ballet and created a program that is beautiful and quite artistic.

No it doesn't. You're right.

But there's no point in using music that so many are familiar with and does...whatever she does. I don't understand what she is trying to do on the ice. I don't see artistry, but rather lazy interpretation of the program and music. It would've been better if she selected a piece without any well-known story or characters and created a program.

And to make another point -- the music was composed specifically for the ballet. It's not like people decided to grab a bunch of pieces by Tchaikovsky and dance to them (compare this to: Swan by Saint-Saëns, which was never meant to be a dance/ballet piece, or non-narrative Les Sylphides which is danced to a collection of compositions by Chopin, which were never meant to be ballet music). So to me, it's an odd thing to pick Swan Lake, a piece w/ such a strong story & intent to tell the story and yet do none of those things and just skate around aimlessly w/o any attempt at character portrayal or storytelling, while wearing a swan dress. I do not understand what artistic point Mao is trying to make at all, or if she ever had any artistic intent to this particular program. I like it far less than her Vancouver LP or Debussy.

ETA: I should add that this doesn't mean Mao's good skating qualities are not noticeable or gone. They're still there, but again, they don't serve the program because of the weakness in the program from my point of view.
 
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calstudent

Rinkside
Joined
Mar 30, 2012
No it doesn't. You're right.

But there's no point in using music that so many are familiar with and does...whatever she does. I don't understand what she is trying to do on the ice. I don't see artistry, but rather lazy interpretation of the program and music. It would've been better if she selected a piece without any well-known story or characters and created a program.

And to make another point -- the music was composed specifically for the ballet. It's not like people decided to grab a bunch of pieces by Tchaikovsky and dance to them (compare this to: Swan by Saint-Saëns, which was never meant to be a dance/ballet piece, or non-narrative Les Sylphides which is danced to a collection of compositions by Chopin, which were never meant to be ballet music). So to me, it's an odd thing to pick Swan Lake, a piece w/ such a strong story & intent to tell the story and yet do none of those things and just skate around aimlessly w/o any attempt at character portrayal or storytelling, while wearing a swan dress. I do not understand what artistic point Mao is trying to make at all, or if she ever had any artistic intent to this particular program. I like it far less than her Vancouver LP or Debussy.

I think we've come to a point where we should agree to disagree because clearly we have different ideas on the nature of an artistic achievement. Yes, I can see your point but at the same time, it doesn't convince me because what you are saying is there can only be one way to interpret Swan Lake, the way Tchaikovsky wanted in the first place, and I'm saying it doesn't have to be. Swan Lake is a wonderful score and most people that do not even know the storyline or understand the psyche of the characters that the music is portraying recognize and appreciate the beauty of the music. Mao does a great job of picking up on the notes, incorporating beautiful moves and creating a wholesome program that captures Mao's light and lyrical skating style.
 

calstudent

Rinkside
Joined
Mar 30, 2012
No it doesn't. You're right.

But there's no point in using music that so many are familiar with and does...whatever she does. I don't understand what she is trying to do on the ice. I don't see artistry, but rather lazy interpretation of the program and music. It would've been better if she selected a piece without any well-known story or characters and created a program.

And to make another point -- the music was composed specifically for the ballet. It's not like people decided to grab a bunch of pieces by Tchaikovsky and dance to them (compare this to: Swan by Saint-Saëns, which was never meant to be a dance/ballet piece, or non-narrative Les Sylphides which is danced to a collection of compositions by Chopin, which were never meant to be ballet music). So to me, it's an odd thing to pick Swan Lake, a piece w/ such a strong story & intent to tell the story and yet do none of those things and just skate around aimlessly w/o any attempt at character portrayal or storytelling, while wearing a swan dress. I do not understand what artistic point Mao is trying to make at all, or if she ever had any artistic intent to this particular program. I like it far less than her Vancouver LP or Debussy.

ETA: I should add that this doesn't mean Mao's good skating qualities are not noticeable or gone. They're still there, but again, they don't serve the program because of the weakness in the program from my point of view.

So, just out of curiosity, do you feel the same way about Meryl and Charlie's SD this year?
 
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