2015 Glacier Falls Summer Classic, July 30-Aug. 2, Anaheim, CA

[Layback11]

Gracie's program: oh, Gracie, why didn't you skate to this sooner?!? It's perfect for you!

Nobody has even said they hated it yet, and that's usually all they have to say about her programs! The dress is beautiful (subtle enough to be pretty but still clearly firebird-I was scared she were going to go the Anna route ), and she FINALLY had a good early-season outing! And her 2A continues to look better. I liked the footwork, although I agree with the poster who said some of her transition poses are strange... that can be fixed easily. Overall, the Gracie FS we've been waiting for since 2013.

 

[Jaana]

I think that Polina´s costume is beautiful and suitable for Gone with the Wind. Wasn´t Scarlett about 16 years old as the story began? In the movie she had plenty of various light coloured dresses, started to wear stronger colours some time after her 1st husband died, didn´t she?

 

[aromaticchicken]

Well, we had the Team Australia ladies turning heads last year, this is the turn of the men! I have seen him land them before, but consistency has been an issue in the past as well...I hope a three-quad long means that he's got it all together! ^__^

Karne wanted to make sure you saw that tsl has posted Brendan's free.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=1Wc2K7xNNng

 

[yyyskate]

Gracie's 2A is better :yes::yes:
BTW, without her previous seasons' hard work, learning ballet, challenging outside her comfort zone style wise. try to control her arms. We wouldn't see great performances like this today.

 

[Layback11]

Polina: beautiful program. Footwork section is ! Arms still on point...dress is lovely except that the panties don't even remotely match the skirt (one of the most annoying things about her tinkerbell dress). Shame about the jumps. Biellman is slightly less sketchy than last year.

Courtney: love this music for her. Like her SP last year, it brings out the power in her skating very well. Weird 3-3 turnout...is that planned? She did it in the SP too. Couldn't see the costume very well. Some cool positional jumps. I really like this program!

Mariah: everything I love about Mariah Bell in one program. Just yes.

 

[andromache]

Where's the link to Polina's full LP? I know TSL posted about 2 minutes of it...maybe the full one has been posted in this thread already and I'm just blind.

 

[Layback11]

Well now that it's over, hopefully I'll be able to go to sleep earlier at not wake up at 9:30 in the morning (Which I consider late. Yup Thanks to me going to middle and high school where it started before 8 in the morning).

I feel ya...

My consider 7:30 late

Because I always wake up at 6 to work out.

 

[StitchMonkey]

I appreciate what they are trying to do with Jason's costume. But as someone earlier said it needs to be pinned down to the chest and not free. I do kinda like a "Worf Sash" with it continuing on down the arm, but the color is off. The 90s Jazz Cup color scheme makes it look a bit dated (though Jason may be too young to see it that way). I think the pastels are too much softness in the program. As understated as the program/music is, I think some bold colors would be welcome here.

I like the idea of them using more sunset tones in it. The warm tones would look good on Jason and would match his personality. Plus going for a sunrise over a frozen vista look would work well I think on ice. I also think just replacing the purple with more of a deep rich bold emerald green would be an improvement. Green looks good on Jason and would work if they want more of a cool (temperature wise) look. Or even a fabric that looks like rich wood like this http://www.sauter-pianos.com/pictures/Spaichingen2008/Factory/IMG_1042.jpg would be an improvement. Maybe go with the piano theme. Anyway something more bold less soft would be better here. You can use bold colors and be subtle about it.

He is still learning it but I think it will be lovely once he gets the kinks ironed out.

 

[caitie]

Sylvia on FSU pointed out that Jason's costume seems to be Rohene's 2008 costume: http://m5.i.pbase.com/g3/92/723192/2/94494785.6bmUXhql.jpg

So maybe it is not his actual costume and just a loaner?

 

[aromaticchicken]

Polina: beautiful program. Footwork section is ! Arms still on point...dress is lovely except that the panties don't even remotely match the skirt (one of the most annoying things about her tinkerbell dress). Shame about the jumps. Biellman is slightly less sketchy than last year.

Since when was her Biellmann sketchy? Her Bielmann is ridiculously stable, actually. To the casual observer it may look like it loses center, but she actually does a change of edge on it, which is insanely difficult.

See the CoC Eurosport commentary here at 6:15: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jzv8GSKqtH4&t=6m15s

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

Since when was her Biellmann sketchy? Her Bielmann is ridiculously stable, actually. To the casual observer it may look like it loses center, but she actually does a change of edge on it, which is insanely difficult.

See the CoC Eurosport commentary here at 6:15: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jzv8GSKqtH4&t=6m15s

I've always liked Polina's spins but difficult or not....even with the change of edge. I always felt like her Biellman looked wobbly.

Gracie is the best spinner that isn't Russian IMO.

 

[FSGMT]

I think that Jason's program might be one of the most challenging in the Men's field ever in terms of transitions and lines: just look at the entrances for those two 3As! Loooove the step sequence and like the fact that he's fighting for the quad, even if he still has a long way to go before landing a "real" one (sadly). I can't wait to see how this marvellous piece of choreography (hopefully) evolves into a true masterpiece, bringing him closer to real maturity as a complete artist
(But before that, please change the costume to something less darkish please )

 

[HanDomi]

I think that Jason's program might be one of the most challenging in the Men's field ever in terms of transitions and lines: just look at the entrances for those two 3As! Loooove the step sequence and like the fact that he's fighting for the quad, even if he still has a long way to go before landing a "real" one (sadly). I can't wait to see how this marvellous piece of choreography (hopefully) evolves into a true masterpiece, bringing him closer to real maturity as a complete artist
(But before that, please change the costume to something less darkish please )

Actually those 3A entrances are not THAT difficult overall. They look nice but they are not even as difficult as spread eagle

 

[Mrs. P]

Actually those 3A entrances are not THAT difficult overall. They look nice but they are not even as difficult as spread eagle

He probably will not win the contest for most difficult entrances EVAH (that goes to your boy Yuzuru! :biggrin), but he's not using up half the rink to enter them either. And comeon..how easy would it be to do a y-spiral for a bit then jump into a single axel, let alone a triple?!


***
Thank you Baby T for allowing mommy time to see many of the FS videos posted so far!! And overall, it was an enjoyable watch!

The U.S. Ladies wont' be Ladiezzzz given all the different FS I've enjoyed watching so far.

Gracie -- In general, I did not hate the other programs as much as others here, but this program just FITS, if you know what I mean. She gets that fun/flirty vibe but there's also an essence of power too. The bird movements were so cool and fun and it's choreographed well to show her speed and ice coverage. The jumps lacked flow, but nitpicking really here. This will probably end up being a program I will watch multiple times and consider a favorite.

Mariah -- Another I love the lyrical nature and there are so many cool movements and she does such a good time holding them. It is not a carbon copy of Nancy Kerrigan's '92 program at all, though I can definitely see Rohene was definitely inspired by it. And she's up the tech for sure with a 3F-3T and a 2A-1L-3s combo. You can tell she's still trying to build some stammina but I think it was definitely a great start.

Courtney -- Props for trying the 3A! And another winner from Rohene ( along with Mariah and Jason's programs). This is a program that will challenge Courtney to improve her flow and skating skills but also enable her to make use of her power. Her jumps, as always, are so huge, almost so big she has trouble controlling them.

I will reserve full judgement for Polina's FS because I only seen the 2 minute clip. Gut feeling, however, is that I think she should drop the idea of "playing Scarlett" and skate the music, because there are some just cool choreographic moments I saw that had nothing to do with Scarlett but were just beautifully played. I think on the whole Polina has two really good choreographed programs and I look forward to seeing it develop.

The only men program I've seen is Jason's. It's an attempt at what is clearly a difficult program. I don't expect to see this program clean for a while. There's just a lot going on and the tech content is difficult --- he's going for a 2-6 layout and trying to put the quad. The quad attempt was probably the best i saw him do ever but yes, it's still a work in progress. This is a longtail program -- Jason is going to have to suffer through I think if he wants the ultimate payoff. I know people have said he needs to work on his speed and some would argue that he ought to take out some of the transitions and MITF to do it, but that is what I think makes the program interesting (especially given that the music is so quiet). The other men are competing by adding more quads. Given that Jason is behind in that department, he has to find another way to stand out...and the choreography is the way to get there (not to mention getting +GOE for the jumps (via interesting entrances etc) and of course his spins).

 

[Layback11]

Since when was her Biellmann sketchy? Her Bielmann is ridiculously stable, actually. To the casual observer it may look like it loses center, but she actually does a change of edge on it, which is insanely difficult.

See the CoC Eurosport commentary here at 6:15: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jzv8GSKqtH4&t=6m15s

Well...it kind of looks like she's going to fall over. I'm sure her limb length has more than a little to do with that.

 

[FSGMT]

Actually those 3A entrances are not THAT difficult overall. They look nice but they are not even as difficult as spread eagle

:shocked: He's doing a double change of edge and then taking off staying on the same foot... that's insanely difficult, I can tell you! BTW, have we ever seen a 3A successfully landed with this type of entry? (I'm not even remotely denying that Yuzu's entries are spectacular, too, of course!)
However, I should have made clearer that that was just an example, I was referring to the program as a whole, which is packed with extremely intricate, original and graceful moves

 

[solani]

Well...it kind of looks like she's going to fall over. I'm sure her limb length has more than a little to do with that.

I think it's the edge change, it just looks unusual because the spinning circle gets a little wider. We're not used to seeing this in combination with the bielman position.

 

[aromaticchicken]

I think it's the edge change, it just looks unusual because the spinning circle gets a little wider. We're not used to seeing this in combination with the bielman position.

Agree. and I'm the first one to admit when I first saw it I thought she was losing center (didn't yet recognize it was change of edge). Perhaps this confusion is part of the reason that she has omitted this trick in her new programs.

Gracie is the best spinner that isn't Russian IMO.

Yes!! I have always felt that Gracie and Polina both have been underrated for their spins. I actually think that Gracie's actually often look more beautiful than the Russians, too, even if she doesn't have as insane flexibility. (Her spins are definitely prettier than Pogo's, IMO). Seeing them live this past weekend at Glacier Falls only cemented that, she was doing layback/Bielmanns soooo fast and centered.

I still don't understand the criticism toward Polina's Bielmann. Her limbs are long, yes, but how could anyone question the sureness of any part of this layback spin?!:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tm28_9KsW8s&t=52s (0:52)

 

[tulosai]

I am really glad someone finally had the good sense to give Gracie some music that suits her. To me she can't pull off princess or melodramatic phantom of the opera, but she can pull off fiery and both the SP and LP have excellent potential for her IMO, while still being 'classical' enough music that it's sure no judges will be put off. Good for her/her team.

I was disappointed by Polina's LP after a short that, to my surprise, I REALLY liked as well.

Awesome that Hicks is trying a 3A.

Mariah Bell is one of my favorites no matter what she does.

That's about all I have to contribute for now.

 

[funnyiscute]

Does anyone know where else Jason is competing for the rest of 2015/2016? Does he have any more competitions that will be on the West Coast?