2020-21 Russian Ladies' Figure Skating
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Me, I suppose, but I'm still thinking more about the upcoming midweek showdown of Akatyeva vs. Zhilina, featuring Osokina and Muravyova and introducing Daria Sadkova.
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- Mar 16, 2019
Tbh, I really doubt Rozanov’s thinking was that deep, when he did the choreo. Meaning, he didn’t randomly think “Sasha looks exactly like an evil fate of Romeo and Juliet!”Crossposted in Sasha's fanfest but I would be curious to confront this thought of mine to other opinions
Regarding Sasha's FS choreo, I feel very lonely out here but I really liked the hip shimmy xD and I missed it yesterday. I understand how some people might find it vulgar or inappropriate, but to me it was a playful move that hinted a bit of characterization for Sasha's evil fate of love persona.
Also ever since test skates I found myself wishing for her to smile during the whole step sequence - not ever a princess-y smile, but more of a dark mischievous grin, to embody the evil fate rejoicing of Romeo and Juliet' tragic fate. That would be a challenge for Sasha to interpret that but I think it would be really cool and could really boost her artistry and help her get more into the character she portrays in her skate. But maybe I'm putting too much thought and fondness for antiheroes into this x')
What are your thoughts on that ?
What I think happened is that they needed a powerful music + lyrical music in one piece, which could accommodate and highlight powerful quads, but also give space to show diversity of the imagery. So they chose this music and then thought that Sasha can be neither Romeo, nor Juliet, hence she has to be an abstract image of something in the story.
i think that’s also true for most choreos, they pick the music first and then go from there.
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- Mar 16, 2019
I would also add COVID Break seems to have affected everyone differently, every single skater was impacted in their own way.you guys. please.
Aliona had time away from the ice from covid/quarantine plus the coaching switch, adding up to close to 3 months off the ice. that is A LOT of time away, even if you are still working off ice. there is a reason you don't see skaters take more than a week off a year. but Aliona is expected to be in top shape after missing almost THREE MONTHS? that's absurd.
on top of this, her FS is still very very young, not even 2 months old and not choreographed in person. the other girls have an extra 2-3 months of mileage on their programs over her. but she's still supposed to have that Aliona magic, right? she's supposed to whip out a few triple axels right? and since all of that is obviously gone and out the window, she's clearly regressed
AND she had a bad fall on a 3A a couple weeks ago, broke her boots, and couldn't train normally for a week. yes, it takes a week to break in new boots. yes, not training your programs normally for a week is a big deal.
please, THINK about the circumstances before you crucify a skater. you HAVE to be in top form to interpret, pull the audience in, perform jumps as good as you do outside the program, perform fast spins with good positions, skate fast and use the ice efficiently. being out of shape effects literally every single part of her skating-- her lack of speed, slow jump rotation, no 3As, everything.
why would any of you expect perfection from her at this stage? it's not realistic and is so unfair to her. she will get there, give her time. be patient. mark my words, by nationals you will see a much different skater. these girls are humans, not machines.
while someone like Sofia Samodelkina or Sofia Akatieva, or even Kamila and Sasha seem to have not been impacted at all pretty much (not only did they easily restore old jumps, but learned new ones), others like Anna, Aliona seem to need longer time to get back to their peak.
no 2 skaters are the same.
But yeah... Russian competition is really brutal and skaters are expected by the Fed to perform their best every single time, or their spots are at risk. I would say Aliona is still one of top 3-4 in Russia, so I wouldn’t be too concerned for this season.
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- May 19, 2011
Thoughts on the competition:
Sasha: She's definitely in fighting shape and she's going to make it hard on everyone this season. Her 3A is still in progress but I don't doubt she will get that jump to work for her eventually. Her presentation still needs a lot of work. The choreography is on the more artistic side but her delivery is still falling quite short. Sasha is a powerhouse and I love that about her; but she's not innately graceful a la Anna/Alena/Kamila. She is going to have to work very hard at it. There's still a clunky/messy aesthetic to her skating. It's about finishing each move and having it flow to the next; more articulation in her head and upper body; and of course there should be some kind of emotional performance as well. None of those things are there yet. Granted, when you are nailing multiple quads it doesn't really matter but, for her own growth, I'd like to see her team really dig in and work on those things. She seems more confident and sure of herself this season and that's good to see. Congrats to her!
Alena: Great to see her back out there competing. I'll admit, I was worried about her. I didn't expect her to skate well here so it was good to see her have a solid competition. Without her 3As she's still a phenomenal skater albeit less competitive with those who have harder elements. I'm not a fan of her programs this season. Given her abilities I expect more. The FS seems a little empty/unfinished to me. Maybe it will evolve as the season goes on. I thought she got very lucky in the SP (I wouldn't have had her first) but she did well in the FS. Unfortunately, without the 3As she had no hope of catching Sasha. As for the podium incident, it looked to me like she wasn't aware the medalists were hugging. Given there's a pandemic and they weren't wearing masks on the podium, I don't blame her. But when Maia came out and gave a hug she just went with it and gave Sasha a makeup hug. By her shrugging and the giggle they shared I think it's pretty clear there was no malice in what she did.
Maia: I'm so critical of Dani G.'s choreo but, oddly enough, I think I preferred both of Maia's programs over the other two though I was confused by the choice of Red Violin combined with Agony Tango for the FS. Still, I like that Maia performs so well. She seems engaged in her choreo and selling it to the audience, particularly in the SP. I really worry about her jump technique on her toe jumps though. That "myth" about the full blade takeoff isn't a myth for her. Her toe pick goes in the ice but she launches into the air from the rocker portion of her blade. She basically spins on the rocker before leaving the ice which is why her takeoffs look a little odd to me. Team Tutberidze needs to work on that with her. I'd imagine she'd get more height in her jumps if she were using the pick correctly on her takeoffs. The 4S looked nearly rotated so hopefully that will work out for her. Overall, good job!
Sasha: She's definitely in fighting shape and she's going to make it hard on everyone this season. Her 3A is still in progress but I don't doubt she will get that jump to work for her eventually. Her presentation still needs a lot of work. The choreography is on the more artistic side but her delivery is still falling quite short. Sasha is a powerhouse and I love that about her; but she's not innately graceful a la Anna/Alena/Kamila. She is going to have to work very hard at it. There's still a clunky/messy aesthetic to her skating. It's about finishing each move and having it flow to the next; more articulation in her head and upper body; and of course there should be some kind of emotional performance as well. None of those things are there yet. Granted, when you are nailing multiple quads it doesn't really matter but, for her own growth, I'd like to see her team really dig in and work on those things. She seems more confident and sure of herself this season and that's good to see. Congrats to her!
Alena: Great to see her back out there competing. I'll admit, I was worried about her. I didn't expect her to skate well here so it was good to see her have a solid competition. Without her 3As she's still a phenomenal skater albeit less competitive with those who have harder elements. I'm not a fan of her programs this season. Given her abilities I expect more. The FS seems a little empty/unfinished to me. Maybe it will evolve as the season goes on. I thought she got very lucky in the SP (I wouldn't have had her first) but she did well in the FS. Unfortunately, without the 3As she had no hope of catching Sasha. As for the podium incident, it looked to me like she wasn't aware the medalists were hugging. Given there's a pandemic and they weren't wearing masks on the podium, I don't blame her. But when Maia came out and gave a hug she just went with it and gave Sasha a makeup hug. By her shrugging and the giggle they shared I think it's pretty clear there was no malice in what she did.
Maia: I'm so critical of Dani G.'s choreo but, oddly enough, I think I preferred both of Maia's programs over the other two though I was confused by the choice of Red Violin combined with Agony Tango for the FS. Still, I like that Maia performs so well. She seems engaged in her choreo and selling it to the audience, particularly in the SP. I really worry about her jump technique on her toe jumps though. That "myth" about the full blade takeoff isn't a myth for her. Her toe pick goes in the ice but she launches into the air from the rocker portion of her blade. She basically spins on the rocker before leaving the ice which is why her takeoffs look a little odd to me. Team Tutberidze needs to work on that with her. I'd imagine she'd get more height in her jumps if she were using the pick correctly on her takeoffs. The 4S looked nearly rotated so hopefully that will work out for her. Overall, good job!
- Joined
- Dec 31, 2019
Yeah, I agree. It also happened to Anna at the beginning of last season and actually continued during the season, it happened to Alena before she got her 3A last season, then it happened to Sasha when Anna and Alena started outscoring her. It's happened to skaters before them and unfortunately seems like it will continue. (In fact, the pressure to land increasingly difficult elements and win medals is actually increasing and happening progressively younger.) It's an unfortunate side effect and result of people having v strong opinions of their favourites and therefore actively dismissing the strengths/talents/accomplishments of their peers and pushing them aside or even outright cheering against them - you realize they're for the most part children, right? And then on top of that, they're all caught (and almost made pawns) in the politics and drama of their coaching teams.
These skaters are all trying their best, are probably even more aware then we are of their peers achievements/strengths/talents, and are skating under tremendous pressure. You've seen their reactions after a "bad" skate. I hope they all have clean skates - to the best of their abilities - and leave it all on the ice. That's all they can control anyway. I hope regardless of what happens they're happy and proud of what they've done. Unfortunately, that's probably easier said than done.
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- Dec 31, 2019
Kamila has also got a 3A now. However, as you mentioned she's still a junior this year. Really it's about playing the long game and looking towards Worlds and the Olympics - although for the Olympics Kamila and Daria will be age eligible.
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- Dec 31, 2019
Considering they train at the same rink and have been seen talking together (without masks) I doubt COVID was the concern - they're essentially in each others bubble. I don't think it was necessarily malicious but regardless of if they're friends or hate each other - and remember they're teenagers so that can change and things always seem dramatic - it has no bearing whatsoever on what they do on the ice and that's really all we're entitled to haha.
Not sure if they're at different rinks but they train separately with different teams. Only Plushenko works with both. (This was another point of drama between fans)
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- Dec 31, 2019
Oh I know. But considering they have the same coach who doesn't wear a mask haha and have been seen talking together - they're in the same bubble.
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- Jun 27, 2012
I don't know anyone was talking about it but I believe Aliona is in puberty. Probably she will have problem with it in this year. Look at her! So they have to do lots of work but they don't have to rush.you guys. please.
Aliona had time away from the ice from covid/quarantine plus the coaching switch, adding up to close to 3 months off the ice. that is A LOT of time away, even if you are still working off ice. there is a reason you don't see skaters take more than a week off a year. but Aliona is expected to be in top shape after missing almost THREE MONTHS? that's absurd.
on top of this, her FS is still very very young, not even 2 months old and not choreographed in person. the other girls have an extra 2-3 months of mileage on their programs over her. but she's still supposed to have that Aliona magic, right? she's supposed to whip out a few triple axels right? and since all of that is obviously gone and out the window, she's clearly regressed
AND she had a bad fall on a 3A a couple weeks ago, broke her boots, and couldn't train normally for a week. yes, it takes a week to break in new boots. yes, not training your programs normally for a week is a big deal.
please, THINK about the circumstances before you crucify a skater. you HAVE to be in top form to interpret, pull the audience in, perform jumps as good as you do outside the program, perform fast spins with good positions, skate fast and use the ice efficiently. being out of shape effects literally every single part of her skating-- her lack of speed, slow jump rotation, no 3As, everything.
why would any of you expect perfection from her at this stage? it's not realistic and is so unfair to her. she will get there, give her time. be patient. mark my words, by nationals you will see a much different skater. these girls are humans, not machines.
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2018
You forgot Gorbacheva!
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2011
i wouldn't doubt it. that much time off the ice will spark it.
- Joined
- Apr 17, 2018
I just watched the clip of Sasha and Alyona forgetting to hug each other and I cannot understand how anyone could say that this was some result of their feud or drama or whatever. If you look at their reactions for when they did actually hug, they were both smiling and clearly comfortable with the hug, and their body expression after kind of just went like "oops, that's so awkward, how did I forget?" It's like in elementary school when you go around with your valentines day cards and forget about your friend, but then you remember and there's no hard feelings because... they're your friend.
Sasha didn't forget anything.
Her task as a winner is to stand proudly and receive congratulations.
To be honest, Shae Lynns program for Liza Tuk wasn't good either so I didn't expect much. I think I'm just not feeling her style
https://m.sport-express.ru/figure-s...chto-ya-pomerla-v-seredine-programmy-1727326/
Alena mentions here that she screwed up the choreography, added her own (sounds like she could've forgotten parts of it?) and she's scared to see what Shae-Lynn will think when she sees it. So obviously, that performance isn't even close to what the finished product will look like.
Alena mentions here that she screwed up the choreography, added her own (sounds like she could've forgotten parts of it?) and she's scared to see what Shae-Lynn will think when she sees it. So obviously, that performance isn't even close to what the finished product will look like.
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