I don't really like when they choose topics that don't give you any choice but to give them a high score. To me, Matvei's program is completely unclear without explanation.
I agree with you on the point about political / sensitive topics. But nevertheless, in this case particular case, I still enjoyed the performance because Matvey skated it very emotionally. You could feel the character's struggle, even if you still had no idea who the character was or why he was struggling
I don't see that at all. Makar & Sasha were great. Frolova was decent. Sadkova's program was clearly the most structured and coherent.
To be honest, these 3 programs were the most uninteresting ones of the show for me (together probably with Adelina's and maybe another one I'm forgetting about now). And Sasha/Makar's was actually the only one I did in fact fast-forwarded: the pair elements were very, very tentative, and the rest of the skate was very monotonous. The program felt super long to me and I just couldn't make it to the end of it
I think the dance was quite nice. It was appropriately folkish.
I agree, there were indeed some well-done choreographic moments. It's on my rewatch list together with Mark, Matvey, Liza, both Sofias, M/G, Andrey and a couple others.
"Tatar hospitality" she says.
Must remember to put Tatar into my travel wishing list, sounds like the right place to be
I don't think Petr winning is too embarrassing. He had a great program. I just thought Mark was a clear favourite. I don't think anyone else was obviously better than Petr.
Well, it is not downright outrageous, I agree, but it's still not fully deserved. He had a good program, with powerful music and skated with energy. He was good, yes, but was one among the good ones and not the clear best (for me, many other performances were actually better this time, see my rewatch list above for some suggestions
). In any other year, and with any other policy/context, he would not have won here. And this is more or less the same that has been going on all season. So, I think the "embarrassment" is not about this victory in itself as an isolated fact, but more about the accumulated results of the "chosen one" policy that was put in place for the sake of the Olympics and that seems to still live on strong afterwards.... and as I said, today it seemed to me that there were some signs that this is getting to Petr himself too.
Actually, the bottom line here is that I do really hope (even a touch more that I hope for Dima's return, which is a lot to say
) that this "chosen one" policy gets sent to retirement with the end of this season and does not carry on into the next. Even for Petr's sake. And even more for the sake of Russian Men skating, which I do care about as a whole and it's probably my favourite skating overall. They are already under so many constraints and pressures, the ban, the politics and a large etc, and yet they managed to overcome them and even thrive and improve way beyond where they were. They pulled through one year of this new reality, but I don't think they can hold on if this continues one more year. The situation is way too strained as it is in my opinion. And more so, the consequences of having a chosen-one are clearly visible for anyone to learn from it in international Men skating; here it will only be worse because of the added tensions. Hopefully, RusFed will not be so dumb as to aim for self-destruction; let's see in September
Would you happen to know which poem it is?
Thank you so much! I'm not familiar with the poet or his work, but by his biography in the great site you shared with me, he seems to have had quite a colorful personality and was even awarded the "King of Poets" title in a public contest.
