With regards to the spirals, I don't know if adding in a full sequence is realistic these days (even though I personally miss them). However, I do think that if someone is going to attempt to hit a spiral shape on the ice, then there should be a minimum length of time with which they have to hold the position in order for it to count. It doesn't have to be forever, but at least a few seconds would show that the skater has real control over the element. They have minimum time requirements for lifts in ice dance, revolutions for spins, etc, so why not something similar for spirals?
I'm so tired of these overpacked programs where skaters randomly throw a leg in the air for half a second, then do it again four more times in the program for no good reason (choreography is supposed to serve a purpose.) Especially since I think that most of those skaters could probably achieve excellent positions in spirals, etc, if given half a chance.
Also, as a side note; someone earlier suggested that ice dance should require lifts to be different from one program to the other. I think this is a fabulous idea and I'd take it even farther and suggest that all creative position elements (spins, lifts, step sequences,) should be different in the short and free. Not sure how the skaters would take this, though.
