2015 Ondrej Nepela Trophy Men SP and FS | Page 15 | Golden Skate

2015 Ondrej Nepela Trophy Men SP and FS

mrrice

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 9, 2014
Keegan's coach is Ralph Burghart who was 7 time Austrian national champion.

His Coach is Rory's Burghart's Husband? I think that's her name. She had the Biggest Russian Split Jumps of any Female Skater I've ever seen. She also happens to be gorgeous.
 
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el henry

Go have some cake. And come back with jollity.
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Joined
Mar 3, 2014
Country
United-States
His Coach is Rory's Burghart's Husband? I think that's her name. She had the Biggest Russian Split Jumps of any Female Skater I've ever seen. She also happens to be gorgeous.

I didn't even think of that; yes, Ralph is Rory Flack Burghardt's (now ex) husband. She was the queen of Russian splits.:rock:
 

Rissa

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 11, 2014
good morning jason haters, i see you've all decided to make yourselves known now that he's won something, so predictable

Well, I'm a Jason fan and I must say that to me this program is just bad. The music is super boring, even more boring than what Josh had last season, and there were many elements just for the sake of being there and not because of music. But then again there are probably no elements out there that would go with this valium music since there is nothing about it to express. Jason is trying but if he were skating with sound off it'd be probably better off because I'd at least think he was expressing something. I'm so disappointed, what a waste of Jason's talent.

PS. Kudos for the spiral though. The only thing that I remember about this program.
 

Khoai

Match Penalty
Joined
Apr 3, 2015
The irony of some fans calling people who have different opinions as hatters. Grow up, ladies and gentlemen.

Mr. Brown's FS is better than during the summer, but I don't think it's a memorable program. The music is monotonous. His jumps still need a lot of work but it is early season so no rush.

At least the scores here look more realistic than Japan Open. I feel like I am walking on earth again. Japan Open is like the moon.
 

mrrice

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 9, 2014
I didn't even think of that; yes, Ralph is Rory Flack Burghardt's (now ex) husband. She was the queen of Russian splits.:rock:

"Ex Husband?" Maybe skaters shouldn't marry each other. It never seems to work out. Maybe they should Marry Hockey or Tennis Players.
 

Blades of Passion

Skating is Art, if you let it be
Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 14, 2008
Country
France
Mr. Brown's FS is better than during the summer, but I don't think it's a memorable program. The music is monotonous.

I like his program a lot, but it's missing that little bit of extra uumph. There are some more hard-driving sections to "The Piano" that were ignored here and allow a performer to have wild abandon.
 

Khoai

Match Penalty
Joined
Apr 3, 2015
I like his program a lot, but it's missing that little bit of extra uumph. There are some more hard-driving sections to "The Piano" that were ignored here and allow a performer to have wild abandon.
The point is there is no theme. What is Mr. Brown trying to display with this free skate? I struggle to think of a theme. There are some parts that were choreographed quite well but as a whole those good parts are not connected, they don't bring the feeling of a program as a whole.
 

Tavi...

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 10, 2014
The point is there is no theme. What is Mr. Brown trying to display with this free skate? I struggle to think of a theme. There are some parts that were choreographed quite well but as a whole those good parts are not connected, they don't bring the feeling of a program as a whole.

Maybe give it a bit of time. He's still struggling with the technical stuff. I don't think he necessarily needs a story (you may disagree of course) but I do think he needs to grow into it more so that eventually his movement is more in the music.
 

caitie

Medalist
Joined
Sep 14, 2013
I don't think there is a theme this season? It's not a story-telling or themed program. To me the program is about showcasing line and sustained edges. I would guess this program is partially (or perhaps even entirely) in response to the criticism last season that Jason's skating was juniorish. This style is much more mature and relies on a different performance aspect than people have seen from Jason in the senior ranks.

Anyway. I think it's great the threads are more popular this season, but definitely we seem to have outgrown the one thread per competition thing.
 

Khoai

Match Penalty
Joined
Apr 3, 2015
I don't think there is a theme this season? It's not a story-telling or themed program. To me the program is about showcasing line and sustained edges. I would guess this program is partially (or perhaps even entirely) in response to the criticism last season that Jason's skating was juniorish. This style is much more mature and relies on a different performance aspect than people have seen from Jason in the senior ranks.

Anyway. I think it's great the threads are more popular this season, but definitely we seem to have outgrown the one thread per competition thing.
I don't think the issue with Mr. Brown is being junior-ish or not. I think the issue with his current program is that it is very fragmented.
I don't need a story telling program, a theme doesn't need to be a story. A theme is some motif that represents the whole performance, the idea of it.
For now Mr. Brown's free skate is very flat to me. There are some nice steps and transitions, and that's it. I struggle to remember a defining image about it.
 

Icey

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 28, 2012
"Ex Husband?" Maybe skaters shouldn't marry each other. It never seems to work out. Maybe they should Marry Hockey or Tennis Players.

Flack now resides in Washington, D.C. with her fiancé, Delonte' Roi Mitchell Sr.
 

el henry

Go have some cake. And come back with jollity.
Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 3, 2014
Country
United-States
Mr. Brown can spiraling throughout the program then.

And if he did, it would be a lovely program.
For the folks for whom perfect four rotation jumps each time out are important, I understand Jason will never please them. And I will hear quad quad quad blah blah blah for the rest of my Internet life. But criticizing a compliment to Jason's spirals? :confused: wow, just like, wow....
 
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blue_idealist

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 25, 2006
My two cents on Jason's program... I do think it's very boring compared to what he has put out there other years. It reminds me of the underwhelming excitement level of Takahashi's 2013 programs after his iconic Blues for Klook and Into the Garden of Souls in 2012.
 

draqq

FigureSkatingPhenom
Record Breaker
Joined
May 10, 2010
I think Jason's free program shows off his subtlety, musicality, and his ability to stretch out the music literally and figuratively. Some are commenting that his music choice is boring, but I think it brings out his artistry as a point of difference to the rest of the skaters. What would help, though, is if he can express the music a bit more since the the music is forlorn, touching, and romantic - I get about 60% of that in this performance (of course, it's still early in the season). The one thing that will help him a lot is fully rotating that quad and getting more height on those triple axels. He's changed the entry into them a few times already, so I think he just needs to stick with a particular entry to get it more consistent.

Coincidentally, a lot of the same can be said about the Shib's free skate to Coldplay. I'm glad they're going with something different this year and their expression and fluidity shines throughout the piece. Their interpretation of the lyrics is well-choreographed, though I think the story could be clearer. But what they really need to do is to go back to the drawing board with the step sequences, and add more difficult turns and more difficult holds and transitions within those holds (however, I think the first step sequence should been graded a level 3 and the second a level 2). Everything else was beautiful performed, especially the twizzles, though I think the first and fourth lifts could have had as much impact as the second and third lifts.
 

TCAngel18

Medalist
Joined
Feb 19, 2006
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I think Jason's free program shows off his subtlety, musicality, and his ability to stretch out the music literally and figuratively. Some are commenting that his music choice is boring, but I think it brings out his artistry as a point of difference to the rest of the skaters. What would help, though, is if he can express the music a bit more since the the music is forlorn, touching, and romantic - I get about 60% of that in this performance (of course, it's still early in the season). The one thing that will help him a lot is fully rotating that quad and getting more height on those triple axels. He's changed the entry into them a few times already, so I think he just needs to stick with a particular entry to get it more consistent.

Coincidentally, a lot of the same can be said about the Shib's free skate to Coldplay. I'm glad they're going with something different this year and their expression and fluidity shines throughout the piece. Their interpretation of the lyrics is well-choreographed, though I think the story could be clearer. But what they really need to do is to go back to the drawing board with the step sequences, and add more difficult turns and more difficult holds and transitions within those holds (however, I think the first step sequence should been graded a level 3 and the second a level 2). Everything else was beautiful performed, especially the twizzles, though I think the first and fourth lifts could have had as much impact as the second and third lifts.

I don't know if I am being overly harsh, but I REALLY don't like this Program for Jason. I have never been a fan of this music, even when DelShoes or Laetitia Hubert skated to it. I understand the story behind the music, but just don't like it, tbh. I think he is a very musical skater, though, so I would love to see him truly challenge himself with some Shostakovich. Something like the Forced celebration of The 5th Symphony, or the bleak nature of the 7th would really force him to emote melancholy on the ice without being lugubrious. This music is just too monotonous, and forces him to skate above the music, and not WITH it.
 

Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 27, 2009
This music is just too monotonous, and forces him to skate above the music, and not WITH it.

I'm intrigued by the idea of skating "above" the music v. skating "with" the music.

I want to be careful not to overstep and assume too much, but the vibe I'm getting based on Kori's interview and what I read is that they want this program to highlight the purity of skating, i.e. the edges, and be less driven by the performance to the music, which is what Jason is obviously really good at. So perhaps, the skating "above" the music is on purpose because he doesn't have the music to push him along and it forces him to use his skating skills to push the performance.

One thing worth noting is that the audience responded to the performance, in spite of the monotonous music. I hope maybe those folks who are at Skate America next month, can speak to whether the monotonous music is a deal breaker or that it somehow works.

BTW, I don't think you're being harsh. I think it's clear this music has evoked really strong contrasting opinions.
 
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