Caroline Zhang's 2009-10 season

[gocaroline]

i saw a red/black hair ornament -- don't know if that means anything. she did a run through of the SP and LP in a blue dress with white/silver trim this weekend. we'll know for sure at golden west!

Thank you! What a great coincidence! I had no idea whatsoever what her dresses would be like when I made the suggestion. But I agree that Blue/Silver dress doesn't give her the best look, sort of weak, lacking something strong and standing out hues. And I really love Kristiene Gong's red/gold dress

 

[starrysky]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFJ4UXRGDS4

 

[Tinymavy15]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFJ4UXRGDS4

Thanks so much for posting. It is tough to form an opinion from such a far-away shot, but I do like the lay out of the program in that she does not do all three jumps back to back in the begining. I do feel as though the music in the spiral sequence did not highlight the moves enough...but that is just me. Nice to see that she is not doing the same positions as last year. Her double axel still looks rather pathetic. Nice triple loop, I guess she is sticking with that as her solo jump. I guess she landed the 3/3 judging from the audince reaction, but who knows if it was clean or not.

 

[R.D.]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFJ4UXRGDS4

Ah, I can tell, you filmed that with an IPhone the vertical orientation is unmistakable.

 

[HCOSurfer]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFJ4UXRGDS4

Thanks for the upload :thumbsup:. I'm thrilled to see she's using her charlotte spiral in her spiral sequence instead of a biellmann.

 

[PolymerBob]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFJ4UXRGDS4

Yes, I saw the forward charlotte. That should be a real point getter. Of course, her pearl spin ends in a biellmann anyway. Thanks for the video. Did she get rid of her mule-kick?

 

[feraina]

Thanks for the upload, an early preview of her new SP.

 

[demarinis5]

Thank you for posting.

 

[Andalusia]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFJ4UXRGDS4

Thanks.

From what I can see, I like the way the programme is constructed, and I've come to adore this music (I can't believe I once said I couldn't stand it!). I like the little flourishes in the footwork, and the SFL into the 2A is nice. She also got into two forward Charlottes; one at the beginning and one during the spiral sequence, so it's nice to see she's added some new moves to her repertoire. However, she still looks deathly slow, and the loop and axel looked as tiny as ever. I'm about to give up hope that she'll ever be even a moderately fast skater; hopefully, she just didn't turn it up a notch because this was only a practice session.

I noticed in that link cornell08 posted that Caroline's new goal for this season, as far as her actual skating goes, is to improve her speed. No more wanting to show more detailed choreography or refine her technique; now she just wants to get faster. It looks like she's finally clued in to our main gripe about her skating.

Oh, and that 2A was tiny, but it's at least better than last season, when she entered into it from practically a standstill.

 

[Sylvia]

Mingzhu Li is now officially listed as Zhang's coach again:
http://web.icenetwork.com/skaters/detail.jsp?id=100051&mode=I

 

[liketotally]

Mingzhu Li is now officially listed as Zhang's coach again:
http://web.icenetwork.com/skaters/detail.jsp?id=100051&mode=I

This has gotta be the quickest switch back ever.

Anyone know the reason why?

 

[cornell08]

Mingzhu Li is now officially listed as Zhang's coach again:
http://web.icenetwork.com/skaters/detail.jsp?id=100051&mode=I

:scratch:

Her height has also been updated so I'm thinking that coaching field was consciously changed.

With regards to that video of her SP as of now, I really do not understand why a coach or choreographer would, knowing how slow she skates, have her do a double axel from a circular/curving entrance as this would decrease the speed and interrupt the flow more than say, if it were a longer straight line entrance like her flips/lutzes-- she could use the greater speed too. I really hope she's not returning into her cocoon for the sake of just landing jumps (that get terrible GOEs).

 

[Andalusia]

I really hope she's not returning into her cocoon for the sake of just landing jumps (that get terrible GOEs).

She doesn't really get terrible GOEs on her jumps, though. In her last few 7-triple skates, she either got overall zero GOEs or slightly positive marks for her jumps. If all her jumps were being graded very badly, there's no way she would've been able to score higher TES than the elite ladies no matter how many triples she landed.

I'd like to know more about the coaching reversal, too.

 

[cornell08]

Hmmm thats true. Still though, I cringe when she jumps and that I know for sure.

 

[gold12345]

Darn, the video is on private. Why?

 

[PolymerBob]

I really do not understand why a coach or choreographer would, knowing how slow she skates, have her do a double axel from a circular/curving entrance as this would decrease the speed and interrupt the flow .....

Her image in the video is maybe 1 centimeter tall or less.
Are we really getting a good impression of how fast she is?

 

[cornell08]

Centimeter or not, you can still observe her entrance into the double axel—and it is the exact same circular/curving entrance as she has always done albeit less of a standstill perhaps... Its one thing to have a habit of doing something, and entirely another to have it choreographed into one's program.

 

[starrysky]

Darn, the video is on private. Why?

saw that the vid was linked to a blogger's site this morning...word travels fast!. my iphone video operating proficiency aside, i was watching her 3-3 (landed cleanly though I can't vouch for under-rotations) and avoiding the attention of the EWIP staff/CZ's mom. i can give you the link if you PM me.

 

[ae9177]

Mingzhu Li is now officially listed as Zhang's coach again:
http://web.icenetwork.com/skaters/detail.jsp?id=100051&mode=I

Wow, that's a big surprise! Looks like her very short relationship with Charlene Wong is officially over. Poor Charlene, does she have any elite pupil at this point?

 

[R.D.]

Guess the "rumor" was "right" after all.

That was fast.