I have a personal thought which I think it may be true: This year she is skating because she wants to skate because it's the thing she loves the most..last year she was skating because she HAD to skate, she had to win medals. I think that the disastrous long at the Olympics make her understand what she really wants from her skating! This year I can see a woman who is really loving what she is doing last year she wasn't herself!
I agree with this. Both Koster and Czisny are really out there with their hearts this year. The latter especially seems to have found a very definitive sense of self.
I will now fulfill Mathman's request about giving my suggestions for Alissa Czisny's program. These are fairly minor changes, it's such a wonderful program already and she has the best interpretation of the year. Here is her program as a reference:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXK3i98momk
* Everything up through the Triple Loop should be left as it is. The choreographic change I'd most like to see to the program is the element that comes right after that 3Loop - her Spiral Sequence. This move is kind of crammed into the corner and I also do not see the point of that forward catch-foot position. Unless you are going to do an "Arakawa" and release the hand and keep that free leg up, or add some kind of other panache to it, this isn't one of the most effective positions to hold out in a Spiral Sequence for a singles program (in pairs it works better). In a singles program that position is better when performed briefly as sideways kick up into the air, with a very short hold at most.
Given those issues, I feel Alissa should start her Spiral Sequence with a right forward inside arabesque down the width of the rink. It will curve around until she's parallel with the opposing wall and then she can switch feet and do her classic left forward outside arabesque. This sequence won't be jammed into the corner and the change of foot + classic extensions throughout the sequence will make it more impressive and allow her lines to be relished better.
* Her next series of jumping passes after the Spiral Sequence could probably be improved. Right now she is attempting:
3Lutz
2Axel
3Toe-2Toe-2Toe
Alissa is simply not good at doing 3-jump combinations. She almost never hits it, so planning it as her very last jumping pass doesn't make much sense. I feel like the pressure of knowing she has to do this 3-jump combo makes that last Triple of her program a lot less consistent, in fact. I think Alissa might be better off if she instead tried this:
3Flip
2Axel-half loop-2Sal
3Lutz
Alissa has greatly improved her consistency with the Flip this year and in fact was doing a 3Flip earlier this year in the very spot I've listed. She should go back to doing that. As for the 3-jump combo, Alissa can utilize the new rules for this season to attempt an easier 3-jump combination that will still look good. The half loop+2Sal is worth a whole point less, but considering she rarely hits the 2Toe-2Toe and it even hurts the consistency of any jump she attempts it with, I feel like she should just drop the planned content in this area and go for an easier combination. It is important to note how well this combination would work
musically with the program. Listen to the quick succession of piano notes at the point where she does her 2Axel. That is the ideal spot in the program to place a 3-jump combination and, despite being worth less point, a half loop+2Sal would look and flow much better than a 2T+2T.
Since Alissa would no longer be repeating the 3Toe in her program (this change would have her doing two 3Lutzes and two 3Flips in the program), what I'm suggesting here would actually slightly raise her base value for the program as a whole, despite that easier 3-jump combination. Having a second 3Lutz as the last jumping pass might raise a stamina issue, but considering how ineffective the 3Toe-combination has been for her in that slot, I think she'd actually be a bit more consistent with this. She has planned the 3Lutz that late in previous programs and been able to pull it off.
* The only other change I would possibly suggest would be with the footwork sequence, although I'm not entirely sure if it is a performance issue or a content issue. I'd have to see exactly how Alissa plans the sequence in practice. She has only received a Level 2 for her footwork all season and there's simply no reason to lose points here, considering that there already appears to be enough variety and quantity of turns and steps to achieve Level 3. I think the problem is that there isn't quite enough full-body rotation in the clockwise direction. Notice the clockwise toe-turn she does at the end of the sequence. Adding just one more of those should be enough to satisfy the rules.
