As Piona posted,
I cannot remember it clearly, but last season, there was a discussion that Lena was never in the limelight. As Vasileva (why is it Vlasova in google translate?) said, "it's more good than bad" ~ And I am glad how Lena fought for what she had achieved
It is Vlasova. Lyudmila Vlasova is the choreographer/trainer who works with Lena.
Perhaps one of the Russian speakers could translate what she said about Lena?
Here's the original interview:
http://rsport.ru/figure_skating/20161004/1104587375.html
I don't speak Russian, but reading GoogleTranslate, my impression was not that Lena was being forgotten, but that Lena keeps forgetting to do the arm movements they did in practice. She forgets to train her arms. And then Vlasova says that Lena was struggling with puberty, so they didn't push her to work on these things.
At least that was my impression, but I could be totally wrong. From what Vlasova says, it sounds like Lena only has done about 30% of what they want her to do with her arms at the competitions.
I hope that is right, because that is definitely my #1 complaint about Lena's skating! I'm glad that they're aware of it, even if they haven't been able to force Lena to work on her arms because she's been so busy working on other stuff (probably her jumps and skating skills).
Vlasova also was asked about Carolina Kostner and she said something like, "Radionova is more expressive, Costner is more romantic," which I can agree with. :agree:
She also said something about Lena improvising (?) but I couldn't really understand the GoogleTranslate...
@ Seruleane - Vlasova has worked with a ton of Russian ice dancers in the past and is currently working with Cappellini/Lanotte. She also works with Bazarova/Deputat, but Lena is the only singles skater she is working with.
For me, her life history was also fascinating to read because I'm a huge ballet fan too. Her second husband, Alexander Godunov, was also a ballet dancer and defected to the US in 1979, basically leaving her behind. I didn't realize that he danced here at ABT for awhile was Baryshnikov was the head of the company...whoa!
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Going back to the article Tyranid translated (thanks!!!)--I'm glad to hear that Inna is pleased with how Lena is training, BUT it doesn't sound that good. If "some things are working, and some things are not" in practice like she said, I think Lena can kind of fight through her programs like she did last year, but for her to make top 3 at Worlds, I think she really needs to be 100% solid and smooth on her jumps. And in that case, I'd expect her to be nailing EVERYTHING in practice...
But of course, I am totally hoping that Lena will prove me wrong and come out better than ever with amazing programs! :yes:
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Hmm, Lena's pretty dressed up! If I had to guess, maybe it was Sergei's birthday party??
Thanks!
