Figure Skating Pet Peeves

[brightphoton]

I really like catch foot spins, bielmanns, and long step sequences on one foot ...



*shuffles away*

 

[dorispulaski]

brightphoton, clearly the ISU technical committees agree with you.

I have to admit an admiration for a well done, one foot step sequence. I'm thinking of Irina Slutskaya's

Catchfoots & Biellmanns were nice when everyone wasn't forced to do them to get points. They are still nice when someone who's really good at them does them.

I've got to agree with Buttercup about hating references to artistry being equivalent to PCS, particularly by commentators and competitors. That's just not how it is, and people who think so:
1. Haven't understood the PCS rules, or haven't read them.
2. Are bound to have their noses out of joint all the time, because "artistry" is not rewarded as much as they would like.

 

[Olympia]

And when I read She has artistry, my mind goes to She has one kilo of oranges. Maybe cause artistry in greek is a very abstract word to "have" it.


Olympia,I watched the Red Shoes just the past weekend, I remember you had proposed to me some time ago and I finally saw it and loved it

Seniorita, I'm so glad you saw The Red Shoes! It's a gorgeous piece of filmmaking, and Moira Shearer has a wonderful personality for film--not to mention that her red hair was perfect for Technicolor. When I see that movie, I'm made aware that it is possible (1) to have a plotline about an art form like dancing or skating that's interesting to people who aren't experts in the art form and (2) to find someone who's good at performing in the art form to play a main character believably, so you don't have to play obvious camera tricks to show a performance. Can you imagine a skating movie of this quality, both dramatically and artistically?

 

[Rachmaninoff]

First thing I thought of when I saw this thread: those weird little quirky gestures in the K&C for people watching at home, usually done by female skaters. Kwan used to tap her nose and tug on her ear repeatedly. Now I'm seeing a lot of women competitors drawing air hearts at the camera. What the hay is that?? Was sort of cute at first, but I've been watching some of the Vancouver Olympics on YouTube and I'm seeing it over and over and over. I don't recall ever seeing that in the nineties.

Other little annoyances:

• Agree on the leniency on visible errors. (Personally, I'm glad they've cracked down on flutzing and URs, but I'd like to falls and major stumbles penalized more as well).
• Agree on exhibition skates: most of them are a snore.
• The way Dick Button sometimes cuts himself off in the middle of a sentence, starts rambling about something else, and I never find out what he was going to say. (I hate when people do this in real life too).
• Long, slow spins that seem to drag on forever.
• Muzak (usually)
• That 'Angels and Demons' music: I've only seen a few programs done to it and I'm sick of it already
• Skaters who select a piece of music that I love and don't skate to it with any feeling. Leave it alone if you're not going to do it justice!

 

[ciocio]

endless footwork
kick-boxing moves during footwork
Tu(k)t and Sot
hip thrusting
depressing skaters with depressing programs to depressing music
"jump competition"
Scott Hamilton & Sandra Bezic

hm...I think there´s more...:scratch:

 

[gkelly]

Overused music I can't stand: Don Quixote and Requiem for a Dream

cutesy nicknames for skaters
referring to pair and dance teams by initials only without first establishing who's being discussed -- even worse when it's initials for a coaching team, or first names instead of last, or man's name first

choreography that consists of arm gestures and posing only, as if to make up for lack of skating content

 

[blue dog]

The Biellmannization of the layback spin. Sure, they come from the same family (the upright family, as opposed to camel or sit), but it seems to add difficulty, a lot of women (and even men) end their layback in biellmann.

 

[Mafke]

1. quads
2. fugly spin positions (strawberry picker, mushroom etc)
3. spazzy footwork
4. forced biellmann positions (nice when done correctly which hardly anyone does)
4. hand-switch death spirals
5. crotch flashing (whether in spiral positions or lifts)
6. long stretches of nothing but jumping passes (more than two in a row in the SP or three in a row in the LP is just poor program construction)
7. "meaningful" ice dancing (it's not a format for serious topics....)
8. flesh colored boots
9. leggings over the boots
10. wobbly changes of edge

 

[Macassar88]

I have a whole bunch of pet peeves, so I'll just list the major ones

Unclear edges going into jumps (lip, flutz, shaky edges)
A spins (the ones that most of the men are doing)
Catch-foot spirals (I don't mind when they grip their leg for support though)
Un pointed toes

 

[dcnative]

Hi

First Post.

I can't stand overly flamboyant costumes, simple is better.
Women's costumes that end up looking like a thong by the end of the performance, and NOT because they fell.
Ice Dancing spins and footwork that drag the program down.
The running/toe hopping that ice dancers are doing now to gain speed, it looks childish and ridiculous.
The quad.
The "A" spin or any spin that has a persons behind stuck out.

 

[skatinginbc]

Women's costumes that end up looking like a thong by the end of the performance, and NOT because they fell.

Welcome to the board, DC. Post long and often.

 

[Spun Silver]

I thought of another one: the way most skaters dip their free knee before catching the blade for a donut spin. It's really not pretty. Alas, there are just a few skaters who can do a donut without the knee dip.

 

[dorispulaski]

Isn't that the truth! That's the real hole in the donut spin's attractiveness. There are however, a few skaters that can do a donut without sticking their butts up in the air in an unattractive fashion. Plushy is one!

 

[Violet Bliss]

I like a donut spin only if the Timbit is round.

 

[louisa05]

*Over-the-boot tights
*Wedgies. Briefs that stay put are possible. Go ask Vera Wang how she made them.
*Tights six tones darker than the skater's arms
*Yards of illusion fabric. Especially when it is used for sleeves for a pretend strapless costume.
*Really obvious costumes--feathers for Swan Lake, flame themes for Firebird...

*Spirals with the back so low that the skater's chin is about to scrape the ice.
*When an announcer compliments the leg extension on such a spiral. Of course she has good leg extension with her back that low.
*Pair girls contorting themselves into ridiculous positions in lifts for points.
*Hunched shoulders in sit spins.
*Butt spins
*Slow Biellmans done for points/levels.

*The obsession with quads as some have already stated.

*Cheesy competitive programs with lots of mugging at the crowd and judges. Save it for the exhibition.
*Exhibitions to the latest flat pop hit that has no musical variations in tempo, volume, nothing--just boring music the performer is skating over.

 

[jettasian]

Gosh, how can people miss the most sin of them all, the lady's hair style, or lack off. Almost all of them have the same freaking hair style, that is, wrapping everything into a giant bun. So to cushion the back of the head in case of a fall? :disapp:

 

[louisa05]

Gosh, how can people miss the most sin of them all, the lady's hair style, or lack off. Almost all of them have the same freaking hair style, that is, wrapping everything into a giant bun. So to cushion the back of the head in case of a fall? :disapp:

I guess I just see that as a typical "ballerina bun" thing...basically required for dancers. No big deal as long as it is neat, and I'm sure they want their hair out of the way.

It is the hair messes that aren't a bun that irritate me. The Hughes girls and their odd fetish for "clippy" barrettes comes to mind. Or whatever it was that Rachael Flatt was attempting to do to her hair at the Skate Canada LP this season.

 

[jettasian]

*Cheesy competitive programs with lots of mugging at the crowd and judges. Save it for the exhibition.

THAT is artistry, to some!

Oh, and I forgot to add, I can't stand guys wearing gloves. Guys, you are not eating breakfast at Tiffany's, okay!

 

[Violet Bliss]

Re. hair buns. Not sure about figure skating, but I once saw a photo finish of wmen's 100M sprint won by a top knot.

 

[jettasian]

I guess I just see that as a typical "ballerina bun" thing...basically required for dancers. No big deal as long as it is neat, and I'm sure they want their hair out of the way.

Well, the females in Dance and Paris don't seem to have much issue with their hair...