Doris, that’s a hard question to answer - mainly because I can’t recall seeing his skaters in summer competitions. Perhaps @Haleth will know? I kinda think it’s a long shot that he’ll be in Philly, but he did say he’s going to do a benefit around that time though - I can’t recall where, but somewhere in the Northeast? Maybe @el henry knows, as I think she mentioned it.
Mrs P, in retrospect my last post comes off very strongly - but just to be clear, I didn’t mean to be critical of you for bringing up or even agreeing with Tonto K’s post. My apologies if it seems that way. I was pretty tired and didn’t edit my post as I probably should have - sorry about that. I agree with you that the constant layout changes were hugely problematic, and that they should have switched the FS sooner - but I can see why they didn’t. It’s a shame he’d already had Piano for two seasons, because I think he probably would have been able to add a quad more easily.
The truth is, last season seemed like a mistake to me from the very beginning - they were simply too ambitious on too many fronts, and they left everything too late - the FS music wasn’t even finished until the beginning of July, and he also had a taxing new SP. It seems to me they made a series of choices - the relatively last minute decision to have music composed, the decision to then make the FS choreography so complex, the decision to add into the mix a new, complex SP, and the decision to add two quads to both programs - that may have worked individually, but together were really problematic.
Starting the season with Piano could have been difficult - it’s the perfect vehicle for him, but I think he was tired of it. So a program building on the Piano - new challenges but still in a style that showed him off - was a good idea. Waiting until April to start the process, however, and then having music specially composed, wasn’t. I know he was focusing on his recovery and performing well at Worlds before that, but it’s silly to think that with such an important season looming, they couldn’t have found time to start the preparation process, say, the prior December.
So to me, the constant layout changes were the consequence of the series of poor decisions made earlier in the season, but it was kind of like trying to put a bandaid on a gaping wound. As to going back to Piano sooner, I actually wonder if that was even considered earlier in the season, and how it would have worked. It may be that they changed it for 4CCs just so he could end the season on a positive note.
Anyway, here’s hoping the next season- and the next quad - are better!
