Wakaba Higuchi | Page 8 | Golden Skate

Wakaba Higuchi

OS

OS

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matmuh said:
Wakaba's new SP , i cant decide if i like it yet but i am sure its because its still new :biggrin:
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I really like Wakaba and I like the concept behind a Mambo program, but really this program suffers some choreographic issues that fail to highlight the rhythmic quality of Mambo, which is such a basic thing, how can it not 'get' the beat. Why is that first spin coming up with the most famous rhythmic change motif of the mambo? That made no sense, it diluted and dampened the excitement. The program need some tweaks and creative direction changes (more energy, rawness, almost unpolished movement but key is must showcase the beat), otherwise it feel too generic and dare I say a bit juniorish. She deserve a better program.

One more thing... of all fabulous Mambos, why did they pick this music version? May be it is the audio track, but I am not impressed by the sound quality of this version at all. It sound like some B rated big band who is not familiar with the genre rather than from the heart of Cuba played by real musician who feels the music from the street.
 
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Sam-Skwantch

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^Yeah I can see what you mean. It just feels like the music and movements have nothing to do with each other except for the timing of the jumps which is quite nice. I kind of have a feeling she'll be a bit of a Liza. Very impressive jumps but just the necessary interpretation and choreography. It's not a bad thing. Maybe it would be if her jumps weren't so strong and who knows....maybe she'll blossom a bit as time goes by. We all saw spurts of greatness in terms of presentation as last season went on.
 
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Sam-Skwantch said:
^Yeah I can see what you mean. It just feels like the music and movements have nothing to do with each other except for the timing of the jumps which is quite nice. I kind of have a feeling she'll be a bit of a Liza. Very impressive jumps but just the necessary interpretation and choreography. It's not a bad thing. Maybe it would be if her jumps weren't so strong and who knows....maybe she'll blossom a bit as time goes by. We all saw spurts of greatness in terms of presentation as last season went on.
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I actually think she has good musicality and like Liza can 'sell' moves, but this choreographic program simply doesn't allow her to display it. It usually comes down to who has the best program in the end. (even though cop judges don't always agree with me)
 
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solar

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Wakaba has a snapchat! It's wakabahiguchi. For fun, I added her as a friend, and then she added me back!
 
solar

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Too bad about the performance in Austria, hopefully she'll be able to keep her gp spot in Croatia!
 
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YesWay

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Wakaba's free skate in Austria tonight was redemption for her short program, just a couple of hiccups toward the end.
But not enough to threaten the podium - 5th place.

Now she has no chance to make the GP Final in Barcelona, so I am a very sad panda :-/
And I am worried JSF will pull her out of Croatia GP, to give Marin a better chance of reaching the final.

Is it just me, or does she look taller? Maybe she is in the middle of a growth spurt?
If so, perhaps we shouldn't expect too much this season...
 
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yyyskate

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Although it is kinda sad, but I am still proud of Wakababy!! I think she is not a headcase. she has strong fighter spirit, which showed in this comp.
This season, her program lay out has changed drastically, including 3Lz-3T in second half and 3lz-3lo, and beyond all this she is training 3A. Maybe a little too ambitious for this little girl.
Besides, her choreo this year has improved a lot from last year. it was a little monotone last year, but absolutely not the case this year. In this comp, she is a little focused on tech element. so some nuances and flairs (I wish she could articulate some of her hand gestures better), she didn't do it to 100%. But overall, I think presentation wise, she improved a lot. Hopefully, she can perform these 2 programs perfectly in the future once she get her confidence with her new lay-out.
 
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yyyskate

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YesWay said:
Wakaba's free skate in Austria tonight was redemption for her short program, just a couple of hiccups toward the end.
But not enough to threaten the podium - 5th place.

Now she has no chance to make the GP Final in Barcelona, so I am a very sad panda :-/
And I am worried JSF will pull her out of Croatia GP, to give Marin a better chance of reaching the final.

Is it just me, or does she look taller? Maybe she is in the middle of a growth spurt?
If so, perhaps we shouldn't expect too much this season...
Click to expand...

Wakababy is 153cm according to ISU bio and she said herself on her twitter she was 147cm during the summer.
So she grew somewhat.
Besides, I also think she is a little filled up than before...:hopelessness:
 
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FS_rrb

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I'm sure she will improve. Hers is a very ambitious program and even with mistakes she's showing great potential. Anyway, I can't help but feel she was underscored in the FS. Even without taking the SP into account, she would have been 4th! Maybe the problem is mine and I love her skating too much, but in my opinion a performance like that, with two extremely difficult 3-3 combinations, amazing speed and edge control and good (though not exceptional) presentation shouldn't be getting a score like that. Again, judges seem not to be able to score each PCS category independently...
 
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yyyskate

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yes and 3lz-3T in the second half... I dont know what more can Wakababy do.....
Well, her flip got dinged and her step sequence is only level 2. So there are still lots of room to improve.
You can feel instantly (at least in SP comp), when she came out, her skating skills and maturity(to me) is above everybody else.
 
solar

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FS_rrb said:
I'm sure she will improve. Hers is a very ambitious program and even with mistakes she's showing great potential. Anyway, I can't help but feel she was underscored in the FS. Even without taking the SP into account, she would have been 4th! Maybe the problem is mine and I love her skating too much, but in my opinion a performance like that, with two extremely difficult 3-3 combinations, amazing speed and edge control and good (though not exceptional) presentation shouldn't be getting a score like that. Again, judges seem not to be able to score each PCS category independently...
Click to expand...

I agree! But there's still lots of time to improve so hopefully the scores will go along with that!
 
solar

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yyyskate said:
a TV special featuring Wakababy, maybe posted here before,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obiF8ES98lY
It mentioned Michelle Kwan, I dont understand a word what they are talking about, but in the very beginning, I thought Wakababy had a body type very similar to Michelle:biggrin:
Click to expand...

Speaking of TV specials, ever since JGPF and Junior Worlds last season, there's been tons of media hype around wakaba, I wonder if the added attention and pressure has affected her at all :/
 
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yyyskate

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If media hype indeed affected her, this is a lesson she must learn in order to become a real champion (cannot complain). But I believe Wakababy really is a mentally very strong girl.
She has very strong basics, such as skating skills. I think all these will serve her well for the long run.
 
solar

solar

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yyyskate said:
If media hype indeed affected her, this is a lesson she must learn in order to become a real champion (cannot complain). But I believe Wakababy really is a mentally very strong girl.
She has very strong basics, such as skating skills. I think all these will serve her well for the long run.
Click to expand...

I agree, I hope she can improve her performance next time! I'm also curious to Jr. Nationals as well... Especially that she has more competition now
 
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YesWay

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pyri_mids said:
Speaking of TV specials, ever since JGPF and Junior Worlds last season, there's been tons of media hype around wakaba, I wonder if the added attention and pressure has affected her at all :/
Click to expand...
I'm betting on growth spurt, or recovering from an injury (strange that she was going to compete at Asian Open, but didn't in the end?)

But maybe there will be an interview with Wakaba when she gets back to Japan, and we'll find out if it was just "a bad day", or something else. (She is still in Austria right now... I could see her and the rest of the Japanese team in the stands, they were watching the end of the men's free skate...)

I agree that Wakaba (and all the Japanese skaters) must learn to deal with media attention, if they hope to be champions. And not be affected by skating last either...!
 
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solar

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Apparently she pulled out of of Asian trophy due to an injury, so I could see that being the reason why
 
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