Looking for quite a lot of step outs, stumbling and crash landing during the OP and the first two stages I wonder if the good amount of troubles is actually the poor quality of ice?
2020-21 Russian Ladies' Figure Skating
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- Aug 11, 2018
Rarely. As a rule, no. They just do their job. But if you try, for example with a joke or a compliment, then you will get a sincere smile as a reward.
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- Sep 13, 2020
Very interesting, thank you. I didn't know it was gender-related. I did experience it in a relationship, though. If youth but knew and age were able...LOLI have not heard "cheap smile" as a common expression but it is a big country. Maybe it is used somewhere.
This song, covered by Sia, makes it clear how smiles are viewed in the USA.
"You Are Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile."
Sia - You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile (2014 Film Version)
Get “You’re Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile” on iTunes now: http://smarturl.it/AnnieSiaSmile?IQid=yt From the Annie Original Motion Picture Soundtrack ou...youtu.be
If you are a woman, especially a nice looking woman, you will even be harassed by random people because you are not smiling.
Women and Smiling
www.theatlantic.com
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- Feb 10, 2018
She's able to do that after a quad (notably at 2019 Junior Worlds after a 4Lz and 2020 Russian nationals after a 4F)
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- Feb 10, 2018
Partly when I was a boy, partly later as an adult at some life experience, not always connected with job (though one memorable sentence: "bring a shirt, a tie and a good mood" was
). But that's not important. As for the skaters. Well, e.g. sometimes I see people wondering why skaters don't smile at the K&C when they had good skate. I can say it is usually after the SP, when they know they went still only a half way to the podium, and they know how muchy is still before them, or when they still have to wait how others will skate. It is different when a skater who is expected to finish like around the 10th place overcame himself and did much better than expected (though still knows it won't be enogh for the podium) - such skater si just happy with what was done, or a skater who fulfilled the "compulsory expectations" and who still has to wait how others will do. And then of course there are cases more personal, like alina, who was asked at the press conference after the olympic competition whether she even enjoys her victory. Alina's answer explains it the best, I think 
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- Dec 22, 2017
Hahaha...
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- Jan 5, 2019
Yurga, in the remote Khanti-Mantiiskiy region rightfully proud over the achievements of their skater Anna Romasyuk in the Russian Cup.
The commentator on the livestream told the whole population of Anna's hometown can fill the stands of Megasport.
The commentator on the livestream told the whole population of Anna's hometown can fill the stands of Megasport.
Nugumanova is such a lovely skater. She lost one level on two spins here, and she tends to do that, which is mind boggling to me as she is such a great spinner.
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- Dec 7, 2019
I don't know if that's true or not, but that's a reason why this competition formula is not interesting at all, except for the joy of seeing some good skate especially from some unknown people you would not even watch if all the big guns where there.
Same for GP. Last year was an exception because the 3A filled all the rounds, but suppose that only Aliona was there: she would have won 2 rounds plus the final. Whoever was matched with her would have no real chance for gold even scoring 225-230 while the same score on the others 4 rounds would mean to win.
Alpine Ski WC (to remain in winter) is interesting because all the best face each other anytime.
There are no easy win for no-show of the favorites and when you win you do it in front of all the best.
I would like something like that for skating: a top competition traveling around the world every 2 weeks with a cumulative point standing.
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- Jan 5, 2019
Here is young Sof'ya Vazhnova's top routine from today's Panin Memorial short program in the girls:
Sof'ya earned herself 3 bonus marks!
Upthread here on in the Panin thread somebody commented Sof'ya is a poor jumper??? Sof'ya only got an ! on her 3F+3T in the bonus zone.
It will probably sour the Sankt Peterburg skaters a Moscow girl stole the honours, but again, studying the rules and going after these spin bonuses pays off.
Sof'ya earned herself 3 bonus marks!
Upthread here on in the Panin thread somebody commented Sof'ya is a poor jumper??? Sof'ya only got an ! on her 3F+3T in the bonus zone.
It will probably sour the Sankt Peterburg skaters a Moscow girl stole the honours, but again, studying the rules and going after these spin bonuses pays off.
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- Jan 31, 2019
I am going to submit Andrei Makarevich’s song to show that Russians also do the whole smile when you are down or smile to show social engagement.
exhibit A: She drifts through life laughing (ona id’et po zhizni smeyas’) is a song about a girl who presents a smiling/laughing facade of a social butterfly, while she cries all night long.
I have no trouble with Usacheva not smiling during the skate, and to be honest, it is hard to judge anyway, because there is no close-ups on the face, the way they do when they try to dramatize a skate.
I, however, have a weird feeling that just like Valieva is a direct replacement for Zagitova, which I see even in a similar make-up they apply to Valieva to make her look like Zagitova and the aim to put her into Olympics at 15, it seems that Usacheva is a replica of Kostornaya.
While Valieva is interesting in her own right, Usacheva has some of Kostornaya’s cleanliness and godliness, but I don’t see soul in her performance, that Kostornaya once in a while flashed at me.
Usacheva is skating to the song about a girl dying of consumptions who wants to fly away. She skates with measured, controlled movements, trained and polished. What TAT used to call ‘she is well-taught’.
Do I see a girl dying of consumption who wants to fly away? I don’t.
Do I see what Usacheva is like as a person in this skate? I also don’t.
If you do, awesome!
She doesn’t just skate to music, and I can see that. It always makes me raise a brow when they talk about skaters being not-musical or not artistic—I am pretty sure only musical and artistic kids go into figure skating. Je Suis Malade was the most emotion-punch-packing song she skated to, and she needed it. So far I don’t see a source of drama and performance inside, smile or no smile. Maybe as season progresses, she will project better. Maybe not...
and, yes, good luck to her.
exhibit A: She drifts through life laughing (ona id’et po zhizni smeyas’) is a song about a girl who presents a smiling/laughing facade of a social butterfly, while she cries all night long.
I have no trouble with Usacheva not smiling during the skate, and to be honest, it is hard to judge anyway, because there is no close-ups on the face, the way they do when they try to dramatize a skate.
I, however, have a weird feeling that just like Valieva is a direct replacement for Zagitova, which I see even in a similar make-up they apply to Valieva to make her look like Zagitova and the aim to put her into Olympics at 15, it seems that Usacheva is a replica of Kostornaya.
While Valieva is interesting in her own right, Usacheva has some of Kostornaya’s cleanliness and godliness, but I don’t see soul in her performance, that Kostornaya once in a while flashed at me.
Usacheva is skating to the song about a girl dying of consumptions who wants to fly away. She skates with measured, controlled movements, trained and polished. What TAT used to call ‘she is well-taught’.
Do I see a girl dying of consumption who wants to fly away? I don’t.
Do I see what Usacheva is like as a person in this skate? I also don’t.
If you do, awesome!
She doesn’t just skate to music, and I can see that. It always makes me raise a brow when they talk about skaters being not-musical or not artistic—I am pretty sure only musical and artistic kids go into figure skating. Je Suis Malade was the most emotion-punch-packing song she skated to, and she needed it. So far I don’t see a source of drama and performance inside, smile or no smile. Maybe as season progresses, she will project better. Maybe not...
and, yes, good luck to her.
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- Jan 19, 2005
That's a little too deep for what I look for in a performance.
I don't see either thing, and it doesn't bother me at all.
And frankly at her age of 14, I wouldn't expect to see it from her.
What I see is a skater that has a natural affinity for the music.
She skates with the music and to the music. She does not just skate "through" the music.
I certainly don't see it as just her "following instructions really well".
It is much more than that for me.
She may not understand what the song itself is about (or be able to convey it on the ice)
But to me, she certainly understands the music and how to effectively react to it with her skating.
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- Jan 31, 2019
She skates with the music, I agree. My whole post is to counter the correlation between smiling and artistic delivery. I am explaining why she is not as interesting to me as the other skaters, and it has nothing to do with smiles.
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- Apr 17, 2018
I honestly felt like that CCoSp should've been level 3, if not 4. She had 1. two difficult positions so level 2 (upright forward and sit forward) 2. a change of edge in the camel spin so level 3, I might even say 4 because I saw more than 8 revolutions in her last position.
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- Apr 17, 2018
I understand you are talking about smiling/not smiling but still, let's take Romeo and Juliet for example. 3 wonderful skates, all of which I am assuming portray Juliet:
1. Gubanova's
2. Kostornaia's
3. Nugumanova's
None of them show me a young girl deeply in love who, at the end of the story, dies of suicide.
I think the moral of the story is that you can't expect a 4 minute program to show the entirety of what a song or theme is trying to portray. Programs that are designed to be stories, like Yulia's Schindler's List or Zhenya's programs circa 2015-2018 portray an entire plot, but they were designed to be that way, with intricate movements in choreography reflecting that (the costume in Yulia's, the telephone movements in Zhenya's 9/11 program, the train sounds in Anna karenina etc.) I don't see any aspects of Daria's program that reflect that she's supposed to be Satine or that she is dying (I mean some people say the makeup, but I'm not sure that was on purpose).
And re: do you see what she is like as a person. While it is wonderful to put your own touch on every program, I don't even really see that with Kostornaia or Zhenya. They both perform super well with each program, but I can't really see their personality through their skating, because each program highlights a different aspect. To be able to hide your true personality and take on another on for just one skate is much more difficult.
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- Jan 20, 2019
Yes, that's my point. Nugumanova has fantastic spins and she should get level 4 on all of them, but time and time again she loses levels and that is just sloppy imo. She should know better.
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