Wednesday Practices - Ladies | Golden Skate

Wednesday Practices - Ladies

Rosaleen

Medalist
Joined
Nov 22, 2003
Group 1

Fumie Suguri - short pgm / Bolero / missed 1st part of pgm / layback is very good - pos are held with nice variations / death drop is huge but spin got very slow and then she fell out of a camel spin / ftwrk is done as the music is really building and matches it well / I like the program /. After she seemed to struggle a bit with the 3z but I did see some clean ones / also saw her stuggling a bit with the axel / towards the end she did a lovely 3f2t - so quiet on both the takeoff & landing - seems like it’s an on & off practise for her with the jumps

Yu Na Kim - free pgm / delicate but somehow power ful music to start - she just did the opening pos and chor then a break and the combo spin / skating through all the jumps / camel spin is just wonderful perfectly centered great speed and positions that are held to admire them / moving very well through the ftwrk it just flows from both her and the music / I could watch her sakte all day (this coming from a not mormally ladies fan) / gorgeous edges on the spirals leg could be extened a bit more / great combo spin to end - this is a lovely program / after I didn’t see her miss a jump- saw a few 3t3t’s - she has gorgeous tight air pos /

Tugba - some nice chor (mostly body movement ) to open / fell on the 3t / 3s a bit wild on the free leg but clean / nice Arabian/buttefly into camel spin / 2a is good / layback has position changes timed to the music as does the O ftwrk / everything was done right on the beat of the music - later on she seemed to be doing better with the jumps saw a few clean 3t & 3s / just saw a wonderful ina from her

Alicia Cziny - 3z2t still has a fair bit of wrap on her jump / 3? 2t didn’t see takeoff of 1st jump / 3l after some nice transitions with a lovely split jump / 3f / 2t2t / some more really nice ftwrk that is with the music / 3z and the wrap seems to be there at the start of the jump but not at the end - it’s weird / end the program with 2 spins that are just great /

Katy Taylor - from a distance on the ice she remids me of Annabelle Langlois / she fell out of a triple but didn’t see the takeoff (again, I know - gotta start catching them) / 3z2t neither ump had much height but they were clean / combo spin is wellcen tered and good speed / afterwards she seemed to be hit & miss on the jumps I saw

I missed Yoshie’s run through - she was 1st but didn’t see her missng much in the way of jumps afterwards - she seemed quite pleased with her practise /
 

nymkfan51

Medalist
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Glad to hear Fumie's program is a good one ... I have been wondering how she will fare with such a deep Japanese field of ladies.
And I hope Katy can do better than SA. I feel very sorry for her ... her mom told us she was breaking in new boots and having a hard time of it.

Thanks again for all your reports ... they are very appreciated.
 

Rosaleen

Medalist
Joined
Nov 22, 2003
Group 2 -

During warm-up Mira was having someone look at the heel of her left skate - hope there isn’t something wrong with it /

Lesley Hawker - short pgm / starts her program with a layback to bells then into 3z as music build - bit wild on free leg and didn’t get 2nd jump in (if it was meant to be a combo) 2a is good then fell on 3f and something went wrong with a spin - she finished it way early / skated through next part of music then some nice (if a bit slow) ftwrk / combo spin is very nice with position changes to the music /
After she seemed to be doing quite well with the jumps - didn’t see her miss anything much and as I wrote that she missed a 3sal - she did it again and it was a 3s3l with the loop a tiny bit under rot

Mira Leung - short pgm / some good opening chor / popped flip / then skated through next bit / layback / 2a has very deliberate set-up - clean / I liked the O ftwrk / skated around for the next bit and then hit the closing pose
Mira must have done a dozen 3t right in front of me - haven’t been paying enough attention to her to know what else she’s done excep that I did see an iffy 2a /

Joannie Rochette - short pgm / some great movement in place to start / skated through I think was to be a 2a / skated through next jump / now doing the chor - I like it / bluesy music and she’s got the riht moves and body language / like the ftwrk with twizzles just at the right spots in the music / combo spin is very fast until the Y pos at the end / I like this pgm on her. After she seemed to be a bit hit & miss on the jumps - saw some lovely ones but also some misses - it’s hard to keep an eye on her when you’re also watching to other ladies run-throughs

Binshu Xu - free pgm / and a huge pause waiting for the music / very delicate music to start / 3z2t / 3t with ahand down / I missed something because Susanna just did a very nice 3z2t2l right in front of me / Binshu is jus tskating around for a bit right now / 2a step 2a / Binshu’s music is Mulan / and I missed some more while looking it up /

Alisa Drei - we have music but no skater - it’s Paganini

Susanna Poykio - free pgm / Munich soundtrack / I missed seeing the opening combo / 3z fell / 3s fell out / now just skating around / some chor into a 2a / doubled a lutz / took another break and is now back into the chor / she had some nice jumps after her run-through
 

flying camel

Medalist
Joined
Nov 16, 2005
Thanks for the report. Please keep them coming.
Wow, nice to hear Fumie has a good layback. I can't wait to see it. Sounds like Alissa may be getting back on track. This is shaping up to be good competition.
 

Fozzie Bear

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 24, 2004
Bolero for Fumie! I like how she's continually challenging herself with different types of music. :yes:

Thanks, Rosaleen!
 

JonnyCoop

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 28, 2003
What an absolutely FANTASTIC group of ladies there are at this competition! If they all skate up to their potential, the audience is going to be in for a real treat!!:rock: :rock: :rock:
 

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll
Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
thanks for the report... yeay for Munich being skated to... not so much the music but because of the composer (and film director) John Williams can do no wrong...
 

hrmsk8ngnutt

Final Flight
Joined
Jul 29, 2003
Thanks so much for these reports. I'm most looking forward to Joannie, Fumie, and Yu-Na. According the the ISU bio, Yu-Na is skating her LP to The Lark Ascending. Angela Nikodinov used this for her SP in the 98-99 season. When I first heard Yu-Na was skating to this, I thought it was a great choice. Also glad to hear that Fumie is skating to Bolero and that Joannie's SP to Little Wing (choreographed by Sandra Bezic) fits her well.

Herm (sk8ngnutt)
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Bolero? Oh, oh, that's tricky. Good thing it's only the short program. This is the work of which it's composer said,

"I have written only one masterpiece, the Bolero. Unfortunately, it contains no music."
 

demarinis5

Gold for the Winter Prince!
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 23, 2004
Thanks for the reports. Looking forward to some good skating from this talented group of ladies.
 

JonnyCoop

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 28, 2003
Bolero? Oh, oh, that's tricky. Good thing it's only the short program. This is the work of which it's composer said,

"I have written only one masterpiece, the Bolero. Unfortunately, it contains no music."

I must agree. I've gone on several tangents on this board about how "Bolero" is just NOT NOT NOT conducive to singles skating and should not be used at all. Fumie, you can do much better. But I love ya anyway.
 

Ashley

Rinkside
Joined
Oct 4, 2004
Thanks for the reports. I hope that Katy manages to pull it together for the competition!
 

Tesla

Final Flight
Joined
Dec 28, 2005
I hope Yu Na rocks and shows the world who the real WC threat is.
 
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La Rhumba

Supporting All British Skaters!
Medalist
Joined
Aug 9, 2006
Country
United-Kingdom
Bolero? Oh, oh, that's tricky. Good thing it's only the short program. This is the work of which it's composer said,

"I have written only one masterpiece, the Bolero. Unfortunately, it contains no music."

Gosh! I never knew that, thanks for the quote Mathman. :clap:

I wonder what Ravel meant? I have seen it described as like a swiss timepiece of layer upon layer of sound, but I personally think it's very tuneful and lyrical myself, and I love it, but don't necessarily believe it can be interpreted well in a singles programme, though if anyone can, Fumie can, looking forward to seeing it. :)
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
I'm not very knowledgable about this, but various musicologists have said that Bolero is intended to represent the harsh repetitiveness of the machine age. Sort of like Charlie Chaplin's famous silent movie, Modern Times, of the same era. (It is even claimed that the melody came to him while he was listening to a sawmilll grinding away near his house.)

The sense in which it has "no music" it that it is the same few bars of melody repeated over and over 18 times. It doesn't have any major and minor themes, counterpoint, first, second and third movements, tempo changes -- none of the things that make music music. The only thing that changes is the instumentation.

Ravel had a brain tumor (from which he died not long after composing Bolero), and maybe was suffering form other forms of mental illness as well. Psycholgists after the fact wonder if the constant and compulsive repitition exhibitted in Bolero is related to the behavior, for instance, of Alzheimers patients who sometimes take comfort in performing the same meaningless tasks over and over.

There is a famous story -- true, I think -- about the debut of this opus. A lady in the audience rushed up to the composer and said, "You're mad!" To which Ravel replied, "Ah, you understand the piece."
 

La Rhumba

Supporting All British Skaters!
Medalist
Joined
Aug 9, 2006
Country
United-Kingdom
:laugh: LOL! That's a very funny story! Thanks for the very interesting discussion about the piece. I guess our impressions of it today are created by memories of T&D and the film 10! ;)

Though T&D first used it as background music to warm up to at the beginning of their practice sessions, so that would tie in with the repetitive [some say monotonous] theme. Amazing how they created such a romantic story to a previously *industrial* piece. Though these days that layer upon layer style of instrumentation is quite the vogue for composers like Micheal Nyman or Philip Glass. I love Skating, for the fact we can have these discussions about the music aswell as the technical aspects of the sport! :clap:
 
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