Daria Usacheva

[flanker]

Daria was so beautiful and elegant today, wonderful costume, confidant performance. She is the best overall. However, I don’t like her SP, a little conservative to me. I really want her to try new style.

It's always the problem that when you get a "conservative" program to a skater, some people blame you that you don't develop, don't try new things, keep them in their comfort zone too much etc. And when you get them something different, unexpected, maybe progressive, there will be others who will blame you from the opposite, that it's out of the comfort zone, it doesn't fit the skater etc. It's eternal struggle

 

[Edwin]

Like with Kamila and the flowing dress, Dar'ya probably likes her new program very much and is determined to present it to the best of her abilities.

That's the only thing that counts.

The rest is personal interpretation on the spectators' part and a matter of taste.

Just remember, the Khrustalniy skaters are staged difficult and challenging programs on a purpose: to develop them.

 

[Chinrosy]

It's always the problem that when you get a "conservative" program to a skater, some people blame you that you don't develop, don't try new things, keep them in their comfort zone too much etc. And when you get them something different, unexpected, maybe progressive, there will be others who will blame you from the opposite, that it's out of the comfort zone, it doesn't fit the skater etc. It's eternal struggle

I guess we might be overcritical sometimes. For me, I always hope young skaters can try something new to find the most proper style. Maybe they cannot succeed every time, but it's worth challenging themselves.
As for her SP today, The start of the program really took my breath, she surprised everyone with her beautiful moves and gesture. But the whole program is too flat. Unfortunately, almost all of her programs have the same problems.
However, her interpretation is getting more and more dramatic, full of emotions. So, I really think she can try something new.
Ok... I'm picky again. She is the BEST today. She deserves all the compliments.

 

[flanker]

I guess we might be overcritical sometimes. For me, I always hope young skaters can try something new to find the most proper style. Maybe they cannot succeed every time, but it's worth challenging themselves.
As for her SP today, The start of the program really took my breath, she surprised everyone with her beautiful moves and gesture. But the whole program is too flat. Unfortunately, almost all of her programs have the same problems.
However, her interpretation is getting more and more dramatic, full of emotions. So, I really think she can try something new.
Ok... I'm picky again. She is the BEST today. She deserves all the compliments.

I guess the current situation doesn't allow much experienting, they rather choose the safe way. If this was first season after the Olympics or times weren't so escalated, maybe we would have seen more experiments.

 

[flanker]

Interview after the SP:

 

[flanker]

Alternative video of Daria's saturday's skate:

 

[Edwin]

 

[Vemvane]

Well done on the bronze, Daria! And well done on the second place in the free, with a beautiful clean skate!



I can appreciate her programme so much better now that I can watch it as a stand-alone, and she really did a super job with it. Though I feel that there was a missed opportunity to use something like Juliet as a Young Girl for her, as she has the grace and lightness to carry it off. Still, she skates with a great deal of passion, and performed her heart out today.

 

[flanker]

Big congrats to Daria on her two clean skates. She made huge progress since the test skates and gained consistency. If she would be able to gain 3A within the season, she will be serious threat for Anna, Sasha, Aliona and Kamila.

 

[Vemvane]

Daria has posted photos from the competition on her ig page.







There is so much more detail on her Juliet costume than I realised yesterday.

 

[Edwin]

From Dar'ya's interview:

"I lost out to a possible second place by two points. It's a shame. But I understand, everything could have been done better, striving for perfect execution.
This stage is my first competition at senior level, and I feel the difference compared to junior starts. Everything seems to be the same, but the atmosphere is different and my inner sensations are different. More responsibility, yet this does not scare me, but, on the contrary, motivates, spurs on, helps.
At such tournaments, I feel that I am growing, that I am already skating among the adults. It seemed that until recently I only dreamed about it, I watched the performances of adult girls on TV a couple of years ago, and today I am performing with them myself. This is so cool!

Of course I was worried. The excitement is always there. But at this tournament there was probably a little more of it, because it was an adult start after all. I was confident in myself, however, because I knew: I did everything in training, I skated everything. In principle, I am glad I coped with all my jumping elements, but I was upset because of the rotation I messed up in my closing element. I grabbed the blade with one finger and it slipped off. My fault. You need to be more concentrated during your skating run, choreography, image - everything is clear, but all the same, every element must be kept to the end.

All the programs the coaches give me are very rich. In each of them, everything is thought out into details, to the smallest detail, and you cannot relax for a second. It's difficult. But even as difficult as it is, it is just as interesting. When the program is rich, it is interesting to perform it than just to ride it out. With this wealth, you can display the image, expand and expose your entire program. It is more than just an entry - a jump, rather a program.

Of course, when we stage a program, for example, like Romeo and Juliet, I prepare it not only on the ice. I've watched the film and have read Shakespeare in English and Russian. Of course, it is difficult in English, but I tried. But at competitions you no longer need to think about this, because there is another task - to do cleanly what you did in training, to tune in with your head.

I have different feelings now. But there will be a second stage. We will prepare, work every day, skate out programs. It's like a foundation on which you build a house later. So, we will build"

She is as smart as they come, trying to read literature in English already.

Dar'ya's costumes, what can one say: exquisite, and so fitting on her, making her look sporty and aristocratic in the same image.

She has said multiple times already, the triksel is in the works. Being able of reliable and clean 3A-3T combinations in the SP and another 3A in the FP will put her in the world's top tier.

She is a star the making, if not already.

 

[Azikin]

Dasha sure continues to grow (on me)...

 

[Edwin]

d_usacheva_

My first adult start
Thank you very much to my coaches for preparation, support and help). Eteri Georgiyevna, Daniil Markovich, Sergey Viktorovich, you are the best
Thanks to everyone who was rooting for me and worried. The support of the people in the Megasport arena helped me a lot!
I am very glad that the competition was held with spectators. I really like it when the stands are full
There were some small mistakes, so we are working further
A start has been made, the season is open)

https://www.instagram.com/p/CGPSk5cJmmo/

Also: https://www.instagram.com/stories/d_usacheva_/2418158634067702974/ , Dar'ya with some of the gifts she received.

She should get her account authenticated asap, to protect it from hackers and haters.

 

[Edwin]

Shakespeare under the Crystal Dome, Dar'ya's new free program analyzed.

There are these rare cases when, as they say, "you cannot help but write" - I was so impressed by Dar'ya Usachyova's new Free Program last Sunday, at the second stage of the Russian Cup! As of late, I don’t want to write reviews at all - there has appeared so much stupidity, pettiness and dirt in our figure skating (either the pandemic affects everyone like that, either the current times are like that ...), but THIS skating run just made me sit at my computer. I would like to express my deepest gratitude and admiration to Dasha and the work of the entire training staff on this amazing, in my opinion, program.

The program was developed as a kind of "sonata cycle" of three parts.

The first part - with a piercing chord, like a flash of a thousand lightning bolts, begins the exposition of the theme of the Tragedy of human existence, irreplaceable loss and inexpressible despair in the face of ruthless Fate. And how talented this is in the choreography: the right hand thrown up, as if asking the heavens: "Why do I need this ?! Why me ?!", like a "silent scream" and immediately followed by a sharp drop down with bowing on one knee and both hands to the temples - grief and the realization of the impossibility of changing anything, but still a passionate desire, a desire to change contrary to all the laws of the Universe - therefore she gets up again, squeezing her fingers, as if collecting all her pain into a fist, and then throws out her left hand, but already not only up, but forwards, in a gesture of the last supplication and a call: "Don't leave me!" During these first 8 seconds of "exposure", the viewer sees the whole immeasurable tragedy of Shakespeare's story.

https://j.gifs.com/zv30EO.gif

It's a pity I can't embed gif with music (I'm not sure even if this is technically possible). The fact is that every gesture is executed perfectly in musical accents. Really down to goose bumps - hands to the temples at the moment of kneeling on one knee - just in the accent of the percussionists, taking a kind of "off-beat" from a weak beat - a very strong psychological effect - as if freezing for a moment over the abyss in anticipation of an imminent catastrophe:


Following the exposition, the first movement continues with a breathtaking development, where ominously and mysteriously "whispers" a choir stylized in the late Middle Ages (similar to Orff's cantata Carmina Burana) on an organ bass in C minor. And again we see the same symbolic gesture - throwing a hand and looking up, like a restless and lonely human soul again and again turns to heaven in the hope of hearing an answer. The approach to the Axel is beautiful, as well as the jump itself - flying, beautiful, with a cool departure, ideally suited to music and the dynamics of image development.

https://j.gifs.com/L7qNVD.gif

Then the development continues to "gain momentum", the already insane emotional intensity increases. The music is a contrast between the pulsation of descending "spaced" thirds in the soprano, a stroke of marcato "flying" from the third to the second and the first degrees of C minor, and, on the contrary, the ascending bass - from the first, to the second and to the third steps. This kind of mirror "opposition" is repeated several times, contributing to the strengthening of the meditative sensation, emphasizing the cosmism of the first part, helping the perception of each sign posture or gesture as a generalized symbol.

A gorgeous flying horizontal split jump right before entering the Lutz-Toeloop cascade, an amazingly expressive exit from the cascade, everything is exactly put to the accents - the wonderful development of the image continues.

Further, the "appeal to heaven" is resumed in the approach to the triple Rittberger with an extremely expressive spread eagle, in which now both hands first sharply upward and then open sharply to the sides (like a crucifix). 3Lo itself is gorgeous, with a wonderful exit; and soon after it - 2A - perfect in accent, so perfect that it takes your breath away.

And, finally, the first part of the program ends with an amazingly beautiful, difficult and sophisticated rotation of the 4th level, the special "highlight" of which was the last change of position for me - into a vertical split, which takes place exactly in the accent of the music, i.e. exactly at that moment when, after all the "ordeals of the soul", like a "finger of Fate" with a crushing blow of the brass section with a gong, timpani and cymbals, an inexorable C minor tonic bass rises like a pillar of fire from heaven to the very core of the earth. And it is on it that Dasha rotates in this vertical split with perfect centering, excellent stretching and speed ... - this tragic ending of the first part leaves a huge impression.

https://j.gifs.com/4QBgox.gif

The second part is pure lyricism, sublimity, grace: the quivering image of the young Juliet in love appears before us.

I would like to emphasize that such a convincing and clear change in the image and mood in the second movement is achieved not only and not so much by the transparent and sublime texture of the laconic piano D minor, but by the change in the "choreographic vocabulary". The sharp, expressive movements of the first movement are replaced by the touching and chaste beauty of the beautiful Juliet.

In the first moment she, as if waking up from the bliss of a long sleep, glances in the mirror and then begins her wonderful dance - refined and enchanting. Interestingly, choreographically, this is achieved through a sequence of amazingly beautiful spirals literally one following the other: the Y-helix "seamlessly" turns into the most complex Biellmann spin, followed by a very deep and smooth Ina Bauer.

Y-helix:


Biellmann:


Ina Bauer (photo from the opposite angle):


And all this is done so easily, in a spring-like manner, without any visible effort. But for these elements, a supreme elasticity is required, among other things.
https://j.gifs.com/oV5E13.gif

The development of the image continues with another beautiful spiral - a swallow. Then a very light cascade of Lutz-Euler-Salchow, which is very light and perfectly integrated into the music. Interestingly, this cascade (as well as its "twin" Flip-Euler-Salchow) usually looks a bit inorganic, since the Euler in the middle almost always resembles a step-out a little and slightly reduces the aesthetics of perception. But Dasha in this case managed to perform this cascade so delicately that even the Euler looked charming and did not spoil the mood. Then, after the second Bauer, there was the lovely 3F3T, also very light and elegant. In general, both of these cascades, performed in the bonus zone (i.e., in the second half of the program, when the legs were already decently tired), looked as if Dasha had to jump 3Lz by only blinking eyelashes - no effort is required. To be honest, this is amazing. I, of course, understand that some "couch critics" may object: "Why should she get tired at all if she doesn't jump quads?", But let's remember that not so long ago (literally 3-4 years ago) we with bogged down hearts watched the champion programs of Zhenya Medvyedeva, and before that - Yuliya Lipnitskaya, and then it never occurred to us to think that jumping in the second half of the cascades with the most difficult triplets (3Lz, 3F) is sheer "lightness". (A note in the margins: after all, how the EG with its Liza-Sasha-Anya-Kamila-Sonya literally taught us in just two or three seasons that, even without ultra-si, figure skating is still figure skating!)

I also can't help but admire the gracefulness with which the Biellmann spiral was performed with a backward move right before approaching the 3F and the jump itself was also wonderful.
https://j.gifs.com/3QA7WM.gif


And at the end of the second (lyrical) part, Dasha brilliantly performed one more complicated combined rotation of the 4th level, which ended in the purest Biellmann. This rotation (as well as the previous one - in the final of the 1st part of the program) was marked by the judges with a special letter "B" (Bonus) as a sign of recognition of its highest quality and level of difficulty.
https://j.gifs.com/mO3Bv0.gif

I would like to note both the speed and accurate centering, which practically did not get lost even on the "rocking chair", and a wonderful backward tilt and an excellent position in the final Biellmann, inside which there was still a barely noticeable acceleration (which TAT loves very much for those few skaters who do this).

The third part is the finale and apotheosis of the program.

Although there were no jumps here, and while there were obvious errors on the final spin, nevertheless, artistically, it was the third part that impressed me even more than the first two. In general, this famous theme of Prokofiev's "Montagues and Capulet" is very difficult to put on ice well: it is so sweeping, wide and "steep" that the dynamics and strength of the dance are almost always lacking to match it in energy. This music, as a rule, overwhelms the choreography, and dancers and / or figure skaters look somehow too static and inexpressive against its background.

But Gleikhengauz / Tutberidze, in my opinion, succeeded in this program almost impossible: the choreography performed by Dasha is completely adequate and corresponds to this great music. I could not even imagine how exactly this can be achieved. I will not go into all the details, but I will note a few of the brightest and most memorable moments to me.

First, an extremely expressive choreographic pattern (very unexpected, among other things), which I tentatively called the "joker archetype":
https://cdn.tribuna.com/fetch/?url=https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/kqjh4oUdOMQjPbRguvnprK3RJ1pViosi2Z-kArAOFcIhMeT3ntUJ2nSWPV7PVgt7xOaMFv2ZFUE92S9s6sRSIDg4iMJrURkEEOteL6jBXs5nbXJqUYu8WgGtLXg5Uv0H3t_3WFyVmCmFdCCoNJILB-JD9IUSFHvX0k4Ho42yg5yqSl_H_i_9iFUEzBNIYbr6lmLYhVgTcyeZBQQ
Un arlequín en tiempos modernos | Revista dínamo

A very, very "creepy" image, which goes back through the tradition of the commedia dell'arte to the most ancient mystical symbols. According to bizarre associations, this pattern is immediately extremely acute and even somehow suddenly turns on in the viewer awareness of the root cause of the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet: eternal discord between people, intergeneric, interclass, interethnic strife, intolerance, war ... .. . these are such destructive energies that they strive to destroy all living things in their path, to drive a person crazy (as, for example, Herman in "The Queen of Spades"), and only true Love is able to withstand this bottomless chaos and even conquer it in the end. The mystical image of the Joker, Harlequin, who can appear to a person in any guise, be any "card". Alexander Blok began with these words the poem "Retribution": "Life without beginning and end. // We all have a chance. // Above us - the inevitable dusk // Or the clarity of God's face."
https://j.gifs.com/ROzWpL.gif

Pay attention to this fixation: the right leg is bent at the knee at 90 degrees, the left leg is stretched outwards (also with the knee bent at 90 degrees) on the blades' rear, the arms are extended to the sides, the fingers are "spread out", the head and partially the body are turned back for a moment, against the course of the subsequent movement, as if with a small "quickdraw". And then, after raising from the knee, simultaneously throwing forward the left leg and right arm, again, as it were, "in the opposite direction." A very precise and characteristic association that appears for a moment with the archetypes of Harlequin and Pierrot, as if "descended" from old 16th century engravings. After all, the action of "Romeo and Juliet" takes place precisely at this time and precisely in northern Italy, in Verona, near Venice, where, as you know, the comedia del arte was born at around the same time. I don’t even have the proper epithets to express my delight at how this hits the "bull's-eye" of the choreography in the central theme and storyline of the Program. This is an example of truly talented work. Eteri Georgiyevna and Daniil in their work were able to achieve multidimensionality and sophistication, which is extremely rare even in the highest classical art, with the means of expressiveness available in figure skating. I don’t want to throw too loud comparisons, but I still got the idea that this is already some sort of "Glass Bead Game" on the ice.

Secondly, I also cannot fail to note the phenomenally sophisticated accents. The music itself pushes them towards them, but Dasha also gets them, as it were, with a certain "delay", which exactly corresponds to the "heavy tread" of Prokofiev's theme:
https://j.gifs.com/p83GOX.gif

Be sure to check out this piece of music - from the start of the twizzle to the very beginning of the final spin. On YouTube's Channel 1 video, it's about 3:49 to 4:07 appr. Here, every accent is a work of choreographic art. There isn't a single accidental movement or gesture. Everything is thoroughly thought out and completely works for the image.

In my opinion, the dress deserves separate words of delight. This spectrum from turquoise through all shades of green to brown is simply pure Shakespeare. I can’t even analytically justify or explain it right away. But the image is created by this dress instantly, and exactly how image should be. As I understand it, Olga Ryabenko, as always, was the cerator of the costume. If so, then another bow to her for this amazingly accurate and with colossal taste created work of designer art!

In conclusion, I would like to once again express my deep gratitude to Dar'ya, Eteri Georgiyevna, Daniil Gleikhengauz, Sergey Dudakov and the entire creative team of Khrustalniy for the true happiness which you so tirelessly continue to give us - again and again, in spite of any surrounding obstacles, stupidity, harm and inappropriate tantrums of dishonest people. It is a pity that even those experts of the figure skating beau monde, who, it would seem, could already be truly independent (at least because of their age), nevertheless continue to pursue some latent political interests in their public statements, instead of just sincerely admire their, without exaggeration, magical work that moves us to tears.

----
From: https://www.sports.ru/tribuna/blogs/mikhailk/2842383.html

The animated gifs do not work in-line, I am sorry.

 

[Giltedge]

Darya is emphatically up there with those skaters who can hold their own with performances omitting "ultra-si" (Kamila, Anna Shch, Аlёnа Ko) against others with "ultra-si", as she proved here, coming within just a few points of overtaking Sasha.

(I actually think she would have scored closer to Sasha, had not Kamila skated first and erected a barrier (not detracting from Kamila's exquisite skates, just, well... fed politics. Nuff said.)

(Not that I'm suggesting that Darya isn't working towards incorporating tA or one of the q jumps.)

 

[Vemvane]

Here come more Daria photos from the weekend, SP and free both.









I love how happy she looks in the last set of photos. Long may she continue to enjoy skating!

 

[Edwin]

Dar'ya is getting spoiled by her fan group:


Makes picking gifts for the skaters more and more difficult.
They already have more plushies they'll ever need,
Trolleys, cases, earphones ...

We thought about buying gift certificates from figure skating stores, perfumeries and such, but doing business with Russian shops without Paypal is difficult and expensive.

 

[flanker]

Apollinaria is performing One Day I'll Fly Away, Daria's SP:

 

[Edwin]

Apollinaria is equally talented and such a fan of figure skating. She can even join 'the longest hair' league. And her English is improving too.

Perhaps she will meet some of her idols in Rostelekom Cup, where probably a lot of young skaters will be in the audience?

Apollinaria is deserving of her own VIP ticket to the premier stands.

 

[flanker]

Apollinaria is equally talented and such a fan of figure skating. She can even join 'the longest hair' league. And her English is improving too.

Perhaps she will meet some of her idols in Rostelekom Cup, where probably a lot of young skaters will be in the audience?

Apollinaria is deserving of her own VIP ticket to the premier stands.

That's a cool idea, she really should receive one.