- Joined
- Jan 10, 2014
who care?
Someone who said s/he has a personal preference for Maiia's hands based on the cultural thing - which happens to be ballet, by his/her own word - might care?
who care?
Ok so there were issues with the jumps but he is like a combo of Toller Cranston and Jason Brown - such a lovely quality about his skating - too bad about his consistency issues. If he were more consistent he would have been able to compete with Jeffrey, Evan, Plushenko, Chan and Takahashi and all. Canada had some great potential in skaters like Sawyer and Sandu.
For those who think spirals are an American thing...
Get back to me after you watch this video, beginning with the exit of the death spiral at about 3:10 all the way until about 4:05.
You will not see anything more beautiful today. Maybe this week. Maybe this year. Revolutionary at the time, and 50+ years after the fact, still the GOAT.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrL54VzA1T4
Among the current skaters (along with Brown as I see now), I think Satoko Miyahara frequently demonstrates ingenuity in incorporating spirals into the choreographic sequence of the programs
Someone who said s/he has a personal preference for Maiia's hands based on the cultural thing - which happens to be ballet, by his/her own word - might care?
Because Uncle Dick's name was mentioned, I'll never forget him saying during a broadcast that a good spiral was woth more than a triple jump. And I thought "in whose universe!" He did love those spiral but then that was his world for a long time.
[Not quite pertinent to the intense discussion and hand-wringing about the competitive skaters this season. But I presume I can post on this topic on The Edge. If not, please move this thread to other categories as seen apt]
Why does a spiral move skating fans so much, or at least myself? For this gliding move over the ice, with the upper body and free-leg held erect and proud, evokes a pure, primitive joy of movement, almost approximating the freedom attendant on flight, if you will, for which humans have been known to possess a vague longing from time immemorial. When seeing it executed well and effectively to the highlight of the music, I experience a spiritual exaltation scarcely reproducible from any other move. No wonder it became a signature element in ladies skating along with the layback spin until a program under the IJS got too packed with other elements to leave room for a well-executed spiral.
These are some in which I REVEL. (* please excuse the fact that since I mostly ladies discipline only the list consists solely of women skaters)
4. Sasha Cohen: 2004 Worlds SP- Malaguena: https://youtu.be/sI-cbt1u1uc?t=100
Need I say more? The most immaculate flexibility and carriage in her position beggar description.
3. Carolina Kostner: 2007 Worlds SP- Canon: https://youtu.be/9qSCT15IRpU?t=113
Steady, elegant, if not wildly contortionistic, position, accentuated by the breathtaking speed, the solidity of edging.
2. Nicole Bobek: 1998 US Nationals LP- Liebestraum and others: https://youtu.be/Kfgs3gW82YI?t=5613
Nicole was one of the trail-blazers of the 'really-good-spiral-moves,' whom even Michelle Kwan emulated in improving her spirals. Watch her HOLDING THE MOVE like her life depends on it. Amazing. Something rarely seen among skaters these days.
1. Michlle Kwan: 2001 US Nationals SP- East of Eden: https://youtu.be/WuHu9rwqdrw?t=140
So much heart and abandon you almost feel as though she is not doing the move but becoming it, being transmogrified to the great work of art she is.
I so like this move that I'd like to share with other posters. What are your favorite spirals? By Whom? In what program?