These two articles are side by side on the current front page of Icenetwork. I thought it was interesting that Walden, a former competitive skater, and Wagner both listed as part of their motivation [for writing a novel], or [for posing in the Body Issue], as to go against cultural images that don't give the complete picture.
"I had seen Ice Princess, Blades of Glory, all the silly and goofy skating movies," Walden said. "I wanted to show that, in reality, there's so much more going on. It's messy, it's imperfect, but for some reason there's this weird cultural layer where we only want to see it in this sparkly light. I wanted an honest skating story so other skaters could read it."
From Graphic Novel Puts Unique Spin on Figure Skating[/I], by Sarah S. Brannen
http://web.icenetwork.com/news/2017/07/17/242589314
And from the other article:
Portraying figure skating as a sport that demands peak athleticism is something Wagner feels strongly about. ...
"I think people understand that figure skating is a difficult sport, but I think sometimes they don't see it as an athletic sport," she said. "They see that it's beautiful and graceful, but they don't really understand the muscle, the strength, the power, the control that goes into making the movement as beautiful as it is. You need strong back muscles, a strong butt, a strong core, to make the movement happen. I hope they will see that we are strong athletes as well as graceful performers."
FromThree-Time U.S. Champ wants skaters to be portrayed as 'strong athletes' (this is the more descriptive subtitle of the article), by Sarah S. Brannen
http://web.icenetwork.com/news/2017/07/07/240971480
"I had seen Ice Princess, Blades of Glory, all the silly and goofy skating movies," Walden said. "I wanted to show that, in reality, there's so much more going on. It's messy, it's imperfect, but for some reason there's this weird cultural layer where we only want to see it in this sparkly light. I wanted an honest skating story so other skaters could read it."
From Graphic Novel Puts Unique Spin on Figure Skating[/I], by Sarah S. Brannen
http://web.icenetwork.com/news/2017/07/17/242589314
And from the other article:
Portraying figure skating as a sport that demands peak athleticism is something Wagner feels strongly about. ...
"I think people understand that figure skating is a difficult sport, but I think sometimes they don't see it as an athletic sport," she said. "They see that it's beautiful and graceful, but they don't really understand the muscle, the strength, the power, the control that goes into making the movement as beautiful as it is. You need strong back muscles, a strong butt, a strong core, to make the movement happen. I hope they will see that we are strong athletes as well as graceful performers."
FromThree-Time U.S. Champ wants skaters to be portrayed as 'strong athletes' (this is the more descriptive subtitle of the article), by Sarah S. Brannen
http://web.icenetwork.com/news/2017/07/07/240971480