2017-18 State of U.S. Ladies Skating

[topaz emerald]

Just saw Karen's practice video on youtube...thank goodness she changed her lp music. Carmen is not only over-used, that choreography was so uninspiring, flat, no life.

what is her new music? It kind of sounds like an ennio morricone composition...whatever it is, it's a moving piece and her choreography is on point...good for her! The program is still rough, but can't wait to see her perform it to perfection.

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

Just saw Karen's practice video on youtube...thank goodness she changed her lp music. Carmen is not only over-used, that choreography was so uninspiring, flat, no life.

what is her new music? It kind of sounds like an ennio morricone composition...whatever it is, it's a moving piece and her choreography is on point...good for her! The program is still rough, but can't wait to see her perform it to perfection.

"Slow Dancing in the Big City" Bill Conti

Yuka Sato had this as a temporary LP in 93.

 

[topaz emerald]

"Slow Dancing in the Big City" Bill Conti

Yuka Sato had this as a temporary LP in 93.

Thanks, it's a beautiful piece. I think Bill also did the rocky theme, "gonna fly now". Good choice! Go Karen!! Hope she skates her heart out at Olympics. I see her in a pale pink or rose pink colored low backless dress. She just needs to fix those jumps and get in the best skating shape of her life.

 

[topaz emerald]

right before her last salchow jumps, Karen she should add an ina bauer or a spiral transition leading to the jump, it's gonna be gorgeous...

att the 3:24 mark https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWvo_j5X6cw

 

[Sugarpova]

btw speaking of Karen
I saw on social media that she wrote a book? is it true?
She seems to be very interesting creative person in & outside skating
Choreographs, writes etc
I wouldnt be surprised if she has heavy input in creating her costumes as well

 

[MarinHondas]

btw speaking of Karen
I saw on social media that she wrote a book? is it true?
She seems to be very interesting creative person in & outside skating
Choreographs, writes etc
I wouldnt be surprised if she has heavy input in creating her costumes as well

Yep. She wrote a book called “ Finding the Edge”, but it hasn’t been released yet.

 

[Bluediamonds09]

Is it really hard to add transitions? Like, really really difficult? I’m curious because the US ladies seem to have trouble with that.

 

[Icey]

So do I. I'm sick to death of biellmans.

Watching this, another element I miss is Sasha's perfectly upright, perfectly graceful I-spin. Every other I've seen is distorted, imbalanced, sometimes even creepy.

Quite a few who do it today, shouldn't imo.

 

[Icey]

Yep. She wrote a book called “ Finding the Edge”, but it hasn’t been released yet.

The book goes on sale 11/28 and is published by Harper Collins


Her brother Jeffrey is a skater too. Is he as good promising as Karen?

 

[concorde]

Is it really hard to add transitions? Like, really really difficult? I’m curious because the US ladies seem to have trouble with that.

If you start with stable fully rotated jumps, it is hard to get the transitions to work right with the music. You just need time to work out the kinks. That is why early season programs tend to look rough - the kinks have not been worked out.

But if your jumps are not fully rotated to start with, you really have to decide which is the better route - add the difficult transitions but realize you are going to get the < and << OR go for the less complicated transitions but probably wind up with fully rotated jumps.

 

[loopy1217]

Her brother Jeffrey is a skater too. Is he as good promising as Karen?

Her brother is ice skater. Won some novice/immediate? in recent US Championship. Not sure if he had skated internationally though

 

[loopy1217]

So today SP is a bit surprising to me. Karen, as much as I love her skating, missed the combo but still pull ahead of Ashley seems odd to me. I get that Ashley has two < but wouldn’t missing the combo automatically set you back by 5-8 points (again, im new so I could be very wrong). The protocol seems fair but just the results don’t feel right to me. Am I the only one???

 

[pearly]

So today SP is a bit surprising to me. Karen, as much as I love her skating, missed the combo but still pull ahead of Ashley seems odd to me. I get that Ashley has two < but wouldn’t missing the combo automatically set you back by 5-8 points (again, im new so I could be very wrong). The protocol seems fair but just the results don’t feel right to me. Am I the only one???

Karen did the combination, she added a 2T after her 3L (originally choreographed to be a solo triple). She did lose points because she didn't have a 3-3 combo as planned.

 

[ice coverage]

Congratulations to Courtney Hicks for fourth place in the SP today at Skate Canada International -- leading the pack for the U.S. ladies.

Good luck to Courtney, Karen, and Ashley in the FS.

---

... Her brother Jeffrey is a skater too. Is he as good promising as Karen?

Her brother is ice skater. Won some novice/immediate? in recent US Championship. Not sure if he had skated internationally though

Jeffrey Chen, Karen's brother, is an ice dancer.

Jeffrey and his previous partner were 2016 U.S. Juvenile champions and 2017 U.S. Intermediate silver medalists.

Jeffrey and his current partner train in Canton. They won Novice Dance at U.S. Challenge Skate in September.
(And IIRC, they recently placed first or second in Novice at regionals.)

Given that Jeffrey just turned Novice, it is completely understandable that he has not (AFAIK) skated internationally.

 

[frida80]

Her brother is ice skater. Won some novice/immediate? in recent US Championship. Not sure if he had skated internationally though

Her brother is an ice dancer. 2nd in intermediate last year.

 

[MarinHondas]

So today SP is a bit surprising to me. Karen, as much as I love her skating, missed the combo but still pull ahead of Ashley seems odd to me. I get that Ashley has two < but wouldn’t missing the combo automatically set you back by 5-8 points (again, im new so I could be very wrong). The protocol seems fair but just the results don’t feel right to me. Am I the only one???

Well Karen did do a combo. She did 3loop-2t(tano). The base value for the combo Karen did is 7 points(about) plus she got good GOE. Which made her combo worth 7.74 points. When Ashley under rotates the combo she only gets 7.30 points bc of negative GOE plus the ur. So, their combos were worth about the same. Either way they are SO close scoring wise. Literally less than half a point separates them.

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

Congratulations to Courtney Hicks for fourth place in the SP today at Skate Canada International -- leading the pack for the U.S. ladies.

Good luck to Courtney, Karen, and Ashley in the FS.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but Courtney has my favorite SP this season among the American women. She's still not the most polished skater, but she has improved a lot in that regard, as well.

 

[Shani]

I can't believe I'm saying this, but Courtney has my favorite SP this season among the American women. She's still not the most polished skater, but she has improved a lot in that regard, as well.

Totally agree. The move to Todd Sands and Rohene's program have an impact. Best I have seen her skate.

 

[loopy1217]

Karen did the combination, she added a 2T after her 3L (originally choreographed to be a solo triple). She did lose points because she didn't have a 3-3 combo as planned.

Oh, I didn’t know you can add it later if you missed it before. (I always thought you have to stick to your schedule...now I know, thanks!!!) thankful for Karen fight back at the end!!!

Her brother is an ice dancer. 2nd in intermediate last year.

Oh god, did I really write ice skater??!!!(smh)....Thank you to you and others correcting it. Must be feeling overwhelm after today SP:/ my apologies!

 

[hippomoomin]

Feel Ashely's prime time is gone. It seems after a world silver, she lost her motivation last year. And this year, more so. Repeat for both SP and LP, in the Olympic year. Yes, it takes time to learn new programs, but didn't Evgenia change her LP in a matter of a few weeks? Marin changed her SP, though not good, and Karen changed her LP after the season started? With the domination of Evgenia, rising Canadian ladies, and the renewed Japanese ladies, World Silver is as far as she can possibly go. Staying at where she was does not work anymore. With Gracie gone, the ladies' field is quite interesting now. But I wouldn't be surprised if Ashely does not go to the Olympics.