2013 U.S. International Figure Skating Classic: Sep 11-15 [Salt Lake City, Utah]

[A.H.Black]

Haven't seen the ladies yet but I'm surprised at the results. Considering the protocols, I'm shocked by how badly two of the three US faves skated. It's hard to excuse a performance that bad, no matter what time of the year it is.

I'm happy for Courtney and, judging from the protocols, it looks like Samantha should have been second.

Samantha was too far back after short. As well as she skated in the free, the short program and its problems have to part of the whole.

The ladies event was quite ragged (as was the men's) but it was ragged last year too. I think pairs and dance fair better at the beginning of the season because they have to be in unison and together so the programs work better. I'm sure the ladies (and men) will do much better as the season goes on.

 

[apple123]

No, not "enough said." Which programs of D/W's do you think look the same? They've used the same lifts for some programs, yes, but I don't see how any of their programs look the same "to any music"--same goes for V/M. Both teams have had different programs throughout the years and evolved quite splendidly.

As I said, give it a try yourself. Most of their FDs are of the same dramatic and tragic-love-story genera. Talk about repeating yourselves again and again and again.

 

[FlattFan]

Gracie should go all Irina Slutskaya on everyone. Forget the fake smile, forget the stupid "more is more" choreography. Just practice the jumps, land the jumps, her SS pulls the rest of the components. Her GOE pull her TES.
7 clean triples will put serious heat on even Mao and Carolina.

Another girl with a team who just don't get it. Sleeping beauty? What the!

Something that is so obvious to many people should be obvious to her team, right?

As for waiting for Gracie to become Carolina, forget it. Let's nip that nonsense in the bud right now.

Here's Kostner at 16yo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZBz7juIsg4

You can see she had much more potential when it comes to performing and executing choreography, skating skill, line, speed, anything you can think of are superior to anything Gracie's put out. People don't become more musical with age. Irina served up her tackiness until she hang up her skates. And that's ok. Embrace it. Hire Frank to squeeze some extra PCS points. But don't expect people to like what you do. They won't.

 

[ice coverage]

Max SP: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPFSg4uwl9c

Thx very much for the link, ATR.
After one viewing, I like Max's SP a lot. Shows off such a different side of him compared to Tron. [And not only because of his hair. ] I look forward to re-watching it.
And I'm happy of course that he won the whole shebang in SLC -- as I remain mindful that he always has said that skating clean is his real goal. No doubt that he'll be working like a dog to nail the quad toe and everything else at Skate America. :thumbsup:

And I love your new avatar, ATR. Funny Face is one of my Virtue/Moir favorites.

 

[colleen o'neill]

it's the music ! maria de buenos aires is an OPERETA; is sing

Thank you ! It needed to be said ..

 

[Puchi]

Gracie should go all Irina Slutskaya on everyone. Forget the fake smile, forget the stupid "more is more" choreography. Just practice the jumps, land the jumps, her SS pulls the rest of the components. Her GOE pull her TES.
7 clean triples will put serious heat on even Mao and Carolina.

Another girl with a team who just don't get it. Sleeping beauty? What the!

Something that is so obvious to many people should be obvious to her team, right?

This x 1000!

 

[samson]

Davis and White are a class act and that program is going to be wonderful once they get it in full order. Meryl at the beginning is just unreal. Those ARMS, and the pictures they are making together all up through that first lift is magic to me. They definitely have work ahead of them, but that's a good thing. As they finesse it and add more details it's only going to get stronger.

Here's my feeling on the step sequences. I get what people are saying about Mao's steps feeling like the character of Shez... and the arm gestures certainly reflect what was in the ballet. However - I get the impression that the arms Meryl used are actually more accurate to Persian dance. It's also September. I'm not too worried about seeing a complete story told yet.They know how to do that, and I'm sure they will.

To me (and I still love the step sequence Mao did!) Tarasova's choreography for Mao suffers from Orientalism, which the ballet CERTAINLY does. You get that same "Egyptian Genie" arm pose that you'll find in any "ethnic" Russian Ballet. And it's kind of a standard image that I'm happy to retire unless it's truly accurate. Michelle used it in Taj. Kimmie used it in 2006. Ashley used it last year. Miki used it like crazy in 2010. It's just one option, but not necessarily the most interesting or valuable one.

For me, the more thrilling elements in Mao's Shez footwork were also the more thrilling things that existed in her Swan Lake footwork. Stunning twizzles and illusion spins and fast little spread eagles. I don't mean to highjack the thread in anyway, but if we're going to bring Mao's choreography into the discussion and compare it to what Meryl and Charlie did I think it's worth making that distinction.

Also, I don't buy the "all their programs look the same" theory for one second. I tried the music, choreography match up and it just doesn't work. I also did it with Virtue and Moir and the same result. Sure, every now and then there are moments of synchronicity, but that is bound to happen. Even if you put a video of Natalia Osipova playing Kitri with a Miley Cyrus song underneath. You're brain will find ways to marry the two ideas together.


But on to more important matters. Max's hair looks great.

 

[cynthia24]

Hello,

Could anyone post the videos of Andrei Rogozine please, I'm geoblocked :-(( Thank you so much

 

[Jaana]

LOL, Aaron shows exactly as little feeling towards his music as Stojko in his days did... Anyway, thanks for the clip! I like the music though.

 

[Antiloquy]

As I said, give it a try yourself. Most of their FDs are of the same dramatic and tragic-love-story genera. Talk about repeating yourselves again and again and again.

The burden of proof's on you since you're the one claiming that they're all the same. Frankly, I'm annoyed at the lack of originality in a lot of dance couples, especially with regards to the free dance. D/W do theatrical romantic tragedies, V/M do "look at how in love we are" programs, P/B are always kinda playful and odd.

I wasn't all that impressed by either of D/W's offerings, but I almost always end up liking a program more at the end of a season than at the beginning, so we shall see.

 

[Robeye]

Davis and White are a class act and that program is going to be wonderful once they get it in full order. Meryl at the beginning is just unreal. Those ARMS, and the pictures they are making together all up through that first lift is magic to me. They definitely have work ahead of them, but that's a good thing. As they finesse it and add more details it's only going to get stronger.

Here's my feeling on the step sequences. I get what people are saying about Mao's steps feeling like the character of Shez... and the arm gestures certainly reflect what was in the ballet. However - I get the impression that the arms Meryl used are actually more accurate to Persian dance. It's also September. I'm not too worried about seeing a complete story told yet.They know how to do that, and I'm sure they will.

To me (and I still love the step sequence Mao did!) Tarasova's choreography for Mao suffers from Orientalism, which the ballet CERTAINLY does. You get that same "Egyptian Genie" arm pose that you'll find in any "ethnic" Russian Ballet. And it's kind of a standard image that I'm happy to retire unless it's truly accurate. Michelle used it in Taj. Kimmie used it in 2006. Ashley used it last year. Miki used it like crazy in 2010. It's just one option, but not necessarily the most interesting or valuable one.

For me, the more thrilling elements in Mao's Shez footwork were also the more thrilling things that existed in her Swan Lake footwork. Stunning twizzles and illusion spins and fast little spread eagles. I don't mean to highjack the thread in anyway, but if we're going to bring Mao's choreography into the discussion and compare it to what Meryl and Charlie did I think it's worth making that distinction.

Also, I don't buy the "all their programs look the same" theory for one second. I tried the music, choreography match up and it just doesn't work. I also did it with Virtue and Moir and the same result. Sure, every now and then there are moments of synchronicity, but that is bound to happen. Even if you put a video of Natalia Osipova playing Kitri with a Miley Cyrus song underneath. You're brain will find ways to marry the two ideas together.


But on to more important matters. Max's hair looks great.

Nice post, samson. I like all your points, except maybe the last, on which I have no opinion .

 

[karne]

Max SP: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPFSg4uwl9c

OMG! I LOVE THIS! It's so fantastic! Really fun and flirty and sassy. And the work on his artistry is so obvious, this is just amazing, especially when compared to Tron (though I also really liked that program).



Now I hope videos emerge of LPs...

Thankyou to all who are risking their Youtube accounts for us!

 

[apple123]

The burden of proof's on you since you're the one claiming that they're all the same. Frankly, I'm annoyed at the lack of originality in a lot of dance couples, especially with regards to the free dance. D/W do theatrical romantic tragedies, V/M do "look at how in love we are" programs, P/B are always kinda playful and odd.

I wasn't all that impressed by either of D/W's offerings, but I almost always end up liking a program more at the end of a season than at the beginning, so we shall see.

I love that V/M are dragged down here despite no fact backs it up. The truth is NONE of V/M's FDs in the past few years is remotely similar to each other, or is just "look at how in love we are".

 

[susanf]

Meryl and Charlie were ethereal.. Could be their best program ever. I will not get my hopes up yet though because they came out of the blocks on fire with their Die Fledermaus program and that did not yield the desired results in the end. I like the W/P program also but the male vocals are awful!

W/P's free skate music is from the 1968 Piazzolla tango operita "María de Buenos Aires." And the male "vocals" were written to be spoken, not sung. Others can loathe the music--- I happen to love it, and have for years ever since I first heard it in the arrangement by Gideon Kremer. I just am not sold on it's been appropriate music for a freedance.

P.S. I just saw the post by freedance on this...... Yes, freedance is right, and called it first.

 

[TontoK]

I love that V/M are dragged down here despite no fact backs it up. The truth is NONE of V/M's FDs in the past few years is remotely similar to each other, or is just "look at how in love we are".

I love how some people present themselves as knowledgeable, unbiased observers and commentators... and then when you do a search of their posts you find that they're just fantards in disguise, posting rapturous uber-slobberings of their favorites, while tearing down their favorites' rivals.

Not mentioning any names, of course.

 

[TontoK]

LOL, Aaron shows exactly as little feeling towards his music as Stojko in his days did... Anyway, thanks for the clip! I like the music though.

I like Max's overall approach to skating, but this music screams for parody, and I see hints of it.

But, didn't Ryan Bradley already do that with this music?

 

[apple123]

I love how some people present themselves as knowledgeable, unbiased observers and commentators... and then when you do a search of their posts you find that they're just fantards in disguise, posting rapturous uber-slobberings of their favorites, while tearing down their favorites' rivals.

Not mentioning any names, of course.

Someone is projecting their own image onto others, I would say.

 

[TontoK]

Yeah. That's probably it.

Sure.

 

[apple123]

Yeah. That's probably it.

Sure.

Live in your own world, happy happy world

 

[FSGMT]

a big THANK YOU to the YouTube user lyric skate!!!