You are not the only one. I think Miki has improved a lot this season - I don't see how anyone can deny that. Her spins became better centered and faster, she uses original positions (sideway leaning sit spin, the illusion spin) and features (accelerating during the layback position). Her layback is as pleasing as it can be considering Miki's back injuries - akin to Michelle's, maybe it's not super bendy, but at least it doesn't have unattractive bent knee/unpointed toes, etc.. Miki's use of arms and facial expression, especially in the SP, has become perhaps even better than Shizuka's as a competetive skater (IMHO Shizuka, while an accomplished competetive skater, has truly come into her own as an artist during her pro career, although her spirals/Ina Bauer/posture were always lovely).
Daisuke Takahashi Talks About The Worlds And The Future
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You are not the only one. I think Miki has improved a lot this season - I don't see how anyone can deny that. Her spins became better centered and faster, she uses original positions (sideway leaning sit spin, the illusion spin) and features (accelerating during the layback position). Her layback is as pleasing as it can be considering Miki's back injuries - akin to Michelle's, maybe it's not super bendy, but at least it doesn't have unattractive bent knee/unpointed toes, etc.. Miki's use of arms and facial expression, especially in the SP, has become perhaps even better than Shizuka's as a competetive skater (IMHO Shizuka, while an accomplished competetive skater, has truly come into her own as an artist during her pro career, although her spirals/Ina Bauer/posture were always lovely).
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I find it hard to understand how anyone could watch Miki's Worlds SP and accuse her of not being elegant. This board was raving about it. The problem is that her FP was not on that high level, it was just competent.
Miki is a complicated and sometimes maddening skater. Sometimes her, or her team's, choice of music and costume don't seem to serve her very well. Also, it seems to me that, while she obviously excels in COP competition programs, she doesn't always manage to communicate emotion or lyricism at the same time (although she certainly did in this SP). I would like to provide a link to an exhibition she did a year or two ago to "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive" that showed how utterly charming and lovely she can be. I also think her "Bolero" exhibition (obviously inspired by Suzanne Farrell in Balanchine's Tzigane) showcases her unique glamor. Unfortunately I can't find high-quality vids of either one. Anyone? Note: I am *not* referring to her 2006 version of "Ac-Cent" - but to look at that one side by side with the recent version certainly shows how utterly she has transformed herself in the past few years. And that is one of the qualities of Miki that is so special. Like the US advertising slogan, she was number 2, so she had to try harder, and by golly, she did it.
Miki is a complicated and sometimes maddening skater. Sometimes her, or her team's, choice of music and costume don't seem to serve her very well. Also, it seems to me that, while she obviously excels in COP competition programs, she doesn't always manage to communicate emotion or lyricism at the same time (although she certainly did in this SP). I would like to provide a link to an exhibition she did a year or two ago to "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive" that showed how utterly charming and lovely she can be. I also think her "Bolero" exhibition (obviously inspired by Suzanne Farrell in Balanchine's Tzigane) showcases her unique glamor. Unfortunately I can't find high-quality vids of either one. Anyone? Note: I am *not* referring to her 2006 version of "Ac-Cent" - but to look at that one side by side with the recent version certainly shows how utterly she has transformed herself in the past few years. And that is one of the qualities of Miki that is so special. Like the US advertising slogan, she was number 2, so she had to try harder, and by golly, she did it.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vLW9j6ur6A
^^ Not HD but pretty good quality of her Bolero, which is probably my favorite exhibition of hers.
And I agree re: her SP this season. It was so lovely and elegant and she sold it really well. Miki has become a lot more elegant steadily since after the 2006 olympics, and in her programs (esp the SP and EX) this season, you really notice it, or at least I did. And her FS left quite an impact when she skated it clean like at Japanese Nationals and 4CC, it's just that at the Worlds she seemed to tense up for awhile in the middle, where she made the mistake, so it wasn't as effective. I'm not saying her performance at Worlds was great, I personally loved her SP but it wasn't the most technically difficult, but it's not her fault no one else stepped up to the plate. IMO she was the clear winner, even with the lackluster FS. If Kim had competed all season she maybe would have deserved to win with the mistakes she made, but she didn't and was clearly thinking through her programs as she skated them and that's the difference.
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- Mar 14, 2006
Thanks, Silverlake. I love her look in Bolero - she is so gorgeous and I've often wished her programs would accentuate that more. There is another version of this done from way above the ice by an audience member IIRC, which shows her wonderful body line - what Chris (or is it Nicky) is talking about when he says she communicates right up to the rafters. Great line is not usually associated with Miki, but at her best, she really does have it. It's nice to hear how these commentators appreciate her.
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Thanks for the link to Miki's Bolero. Wonderful interpretation, loved it.
This is a general observation but sometimes our preconception blinds us. It happens in every aspect of life and certainly does when it comes to figure skating viewing. Once we have decided skater X is superbly expressive, then we tend to marvel at that no matter what. Opposite is also true; once having decided skater Y has a problem with extensions, we almost deliberately look for his/her flaws, as if to prove ourselves right. We cannot help it sometimes. It's human nature. Mud sticks.
I wonder Miki is, amongst many others, one of those skaters who have been labelled as 'a jumping bean who cannot feel music' and that particular mud is sticking so stubbornly. She is not the most elegant, graceful skater ever on ice, but not the least either and she is making progress. But some of us fail to see it as the label stuck on her is so huge that it hides and shouts louder than her improvements.
Spun Silver, Eurosport UK commentators are perhaps the biggest Miki Ando fans I have ever come across. (Simon Reed actually admitted that during the World 2010.) Maybe they are under different kind of preconception too?
As for Miki's Bolero programme, a partial credit should also be given to its choreographer Kenji Miyamoto. He is so good at bringing out the unique strength in each skater he has choreographed. (Daisuke's 07/08 EX and 09/10 SP & EX, Akiko's 10/11 SP, and Shizuka's Yugao are a few examples spring to my mind.) As well as his promising talent as a choreographer, perhaps the fact that he's still young and knows his clients since they were young personally (sometimes as a friend) also helps him to understand the skaters on a different level.
I wonder Miki is, amongst many others, one of those skaters who have been labelled as 'a jumping bean who cannot feel music' and that particular mud is sticking so stubbornly. She is not the most elegant, graceful skater ever on ice, but not the least either and she is making progress. But some of us fail to see it as the label stuck on her is so huge that it hides and shouts louder than her improvements.
Spun Silver, Eurosport UK commentators are perhaps the biggest Miki Ando fans I have ever come across. (Simon Reed actually admitted that during the World 2010.) Maybe they are under different kind of preconception too?
As for Miki's Bolero programme, a partial credit should also be given to its choreographer Kenji Miyamoto. He is so good at bringing out the unique strength in each skater he has choreographed. (Daisuke's 07/08 EX and 09/10 SP & EX, Akiko's 10/11 SP, and Shizuka's Yugao are a few examples spring to my mind.) As well as his promising talent as a choreographer, perhaps the fact that he's still young and knows his clients since they were young personally (sometimes as a friend) also helps him to understand the skaters on a different level.
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i am happy for miki's win and appreciate the unique qualities she brings to the ice. to me she is plenty expressive, plenty capable of stirring the emotions of those watching. she has some imperfections, like all skaters, but she's improved on her imperfections more than anybody else i've had the privilege of watching. no skater appeals to everybody, people's taste differs, but i don't think you can read this board or FSU and conclude that nobody is happy for miki or thinks her deserving of this year's title.
now, i think yeonah and mao are carolina kostner are more graceful, but i prefer miki to alissa czisny and yes shizuka, grand and glorious and olympic champion though shizuka is, because... 1. i prefer the way miki holds her arms to shizuka's 2. when miki takes the ice i root for her from the bottom of my heart, even if there are other skaters whose skating i like better, because her vulnerability is just... anyway, to each his or her own, but miki has supporters too
now, i think yeonah and mao are carolina kostner are more graceful, but i prefer miki to alissa czisny and yes shizuka, grand and glorious and olympic champion though shizuka is, because... 1. i prefer the way miki holds her arms to shizuka's 2. when miki takes the ice i root for her from the bottom of my heart, even if there are other skaters whose skating i like better, because her vulnerability is just... anyway, to each his or her own, but miki has supporters too
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Mot, so interesting about the UK Eurosport guys. Those are some very knowledgeable, very distinguished fans! I will also keep an eye out for Miyamoto. Did he also choreograph Miki's "Ac-cent-tchu-ate"?
SKfan, ITA re: Miki's vulnerability. It's something that's always there no matter how happy, dramatic or triumphant the program. Alissa has something of that too but only when she has done poorly. With Miki it seems to be her nature... Sasha was like that too, but Miki has been able to overcome it in a way that Sasha couldn't. It's a very touching quality.
SKfan, ITA re: Miki's vulnerability. It's something that's always there no matter how happy, dramatic or triumphant the program. Alissa has something of that too but only when she has done poorly. With Miki it seems to be her nature... Sasha was like that too, but Miki has been able to overcome it in a way that Sasha couldn't. It's a very touching quality.
It's David Wilson, I believe. (Miyamoto was still competing as an ice dancer back in 05/06, so definitely not him!)
Link to Miki's 'Ac-cent-tchu-ate' 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vD6jehkolwETA: skfan, I am also with you when it comes to Miki's vulnerability. Actually, so much so that I am afraid I cannot be a level-headed critic of Miki's performances. That's the reason why I try to stay away from Miki discussions in general. She's another skater who gave me an absolute pleasure of witnessing how a little girl blossoms into a graceful, respectable woman, both externally and internally, in just a few years. I just adore her to bits.
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- Mar 14, 2006
Oh, thank you. That may be my all time favorite Miki performance - it's pink champagne... so delicious! When she skates like that she doesn't need any qualifications (such as "she's much improved"). Many skaters have tried that boop-boop-ba-doop style, unfortunately. No one does it this well.
I TRULY do not find the UK Eurosport guys to be all that terrific commentators. I think the British accents and the breezy chatty softly excited style makes for all good "TV" and comfortable "commentar" but ... quite often, I find them either incomplete in their knowledge or trite in their assessments. So "breathless" sometimes it is too...
I think that in nineties Howarth and Slater were really great and knew their facts, but as Reed replaced Slater, I did not admire them so much anymore. Way too much over-eager gushing, especially from Reed. Later I was forced to have to listen Finnish Eurosport commentators and now I don´t have Eurosport anymore.
From Vancouver I watched some Br. Eurosport clips and got the impression, that maybe CoP is a bit too difficult for those commentators, LOL.
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- Sep 10, 2009
The best commentators are those who are QUIET!!!! At least during the performance. That's why I normally watch Rossiya-2.
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- Nov 12, 2009
Out of fairness to the Eurosport commentators, I don't think they were in the minority last season when they were pissed Miki lost World bronze to double jump queen Lepisto, especially if you were to watch their respective freeskates one after the other.
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- Jun 16, 2010
MIki most definitely did not deserve the bronze at Worlds last year. Phaneuf did.
It's David Wilson, I believe. (Miyamoto was still competing as an ice dancer back in 05/06, so definitely not him!)
Link to Miki's 'Ac-cent-tchu-ate' 2010
ETA: skfan, I am also with you when it comes to Miki's vulnerability. Actually, so much so that I am afraid I cannot be a level-headed critic of Miki's performances. That's the reason why I try to stay away from Miki discussions in general. She's another skater who gave me an absolute pleasure of witnessing how a little girl blossoms into a graceful, respectable woman, both externally and internally, in just a few years. I just adore her to bits.
Wow I've never seen Miki this charming or letting go on the ice. She's both adorable and sexy in this video and those are words i usually don't associate with Miki.
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- Nov 7, 2007
I like the British Eurosport guys mostly because 1) they don't talk too much during the performances 2) they have their favourites but generally refrain from being egregiously biased towards/against any skaters and 3) they have a great sense of humour.
But yeah, I agree that CoP is not exactly their strong point at times.
But yeah, I agree that CoP is not exactly their strong point at times.
What Simon, Chris and Nicky at British Eurosport do is very much in line with other sport commentary over here - they try to help viewers to enjoy the experience of watching sports. A bit of technical information and explanations, a bit of backbround knowledge, a bit of gossip and jokes thrown in too. (BBC's commentary is a bit different - a lot more serious one by Robin Cousins)
It's a cultural thing too, I guess. And reflecting the majority of viewers and what they want from their viewing experience. Japanese commentary (often by Takeshi Honda and Shizuka Arakawa) is more technical in comparison. They are so careful not to make any direct comparisons between skaters - which is better, or more likely to be placed higher, etc. I personally prefer British Eurosport commentary - it's fun to cheer for all skaters with them, as they usually try to find something great about each skater. I also try to find North American clips if I want to know more technical information or purely about skating. Horses for courses.
It's a cultural thing too, I guess. And reflecting the majority of viewers and what they want from their viewing experience. Japanese commentary (often by Takeshi Honda and Shizuka Arakawa) is more technical in comparison. They are so careful not to make any direct comparisons between skaters - which is better, or more likely to be placed higher, etc. I personally prefer British Eurosport commentary - it's fun to cheer for all skaters with them, as they usually try to find something great about each skater. I also try to find North American clips if I want to know more technical information or purely about skating. Horses for courses.
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- Nov 12, 2009
Forgot about Phanuef but a case could be made for that too. Any way you slice it, Laura deserved that medal less than both Miki and Cynthia did, and maybe some other skaters as well.
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