Little details in FS that you care for? | Page 5 | Golden Skate

Little details in FS that you care for?

lyverbird1

Final Flight
Joined
Apr 18, 2015
The amount of Elena bashing on this thread makes me want her to come back successfully even more.
 

Verit

Rinkside
Joined
Mar 15, 2017
Ohh, great thread, thanks for some links. (Rika Kihira’s SP fits with the music beats wonderfully, wow!!)

Like:
– most of all, music is super important to me. It can sell or break a program, and I need to already love the music/fall in love with it (it can even be a warhorse – but then, I haven’t been watching fs for that many seasons) to really love a program, I think. But more than that, even, it’s the skater being “attuned” to music. Some of it is obvious – hitting the musical cues, step sequences being right on beat, but some is more subtle – there is a sort of… feel, the expression of the music, and moving the whole body like the music absolutely sells the program to me. The best (good) example of this for me is still Yuzuru’s Chopin – the feeling of a soft piano captured perfectly, with arm movements and his whole body just moving like those notes, soft legs and arms and everything, and then bursting when it gets fast. Or Patrick's SP this season. :) Shoma in general, both in SP and FS, is almost like a vehicle for the music, I really love that.
– women in suits! women in pants! (also, generally appreciate more… unique? costume choices in ladies skating and not just shiny “princess” dress – I’m generally a bit tired of the “princess” packaging, what I usually call it, though there are some great skaters and/or great programs with that, absolutely. I understand figure skating is a conservative field, but it’s 2017… I appreciate creative choices there, is what I’m saying. At least do it in gala.)

Dislike:
– bad cuts of the music and when the program has NOTHING to do with the lyrics of the music. That hasn’t happened much, actually, as many people still choose instrumental music, esp among singles who I follow more, but at Helsinki I saw an SP with Cell Block Tango and I was actually kinda hopeful first (maybe it would be an instrumental version!), but then the lyrics started and it was so bad. I think I can sorta imagine a program to it, but just gliding across the ice/doing elements to the lyrics about gleeful murder is… so weird. (And I’m actually all for using more – less known, though – songs from musicals, but this was just… bad.)
– also about music – when the movements in general jar with the music, like they are too intense or bold or sharp while the music is soft, or vice-versa.
– not hitting the musical cues brings me so much out of the program, I just start thinking all the things that would have improved and… yeah.
– excessive movements in choreo. I see this so much, too, like so often the arm movements are just… unnecessary? They don’t fit into this, they don’t do anything or express anything. TBH, sometimes I feel like a lot of the movements go from one skater to another, or one program to another without actually having anything to do with the music/program.
 

sandraskates

Final Flight
Joined
Oct 31, 2006
Country
United-States
I used to make a lot of skating costumes so I always look at those details.

They seem to have subsided now but there were a few years when some competitors had these “half and half” costumes. For example: the look of a coat with a lapel on one side, and a soft shirt on the other side. Even some of the women had costumes like that. Sometimes the costume was made to look like it was ripped off in the wind for that look, but it was not executed very well and looked harsh.

I also hate when instead of the illusion fabric used to mimic where skin would be shown on a “regular” dress, it's used to stick pieces of fabric on in any willy-nilly place that could never happen in a real dress. (I hope that makes sense).

As other have noted - I'm also not a fan of over the boot tights, the tights that come over the top of the boot and leave the rest of the boot exposed. Just put your footed tights into the boot and polish your boots so they look good.

General skating:

Enough of the use of arms in a layback that look like one is playing the trombone. It's been done for decades; we've seen it for decades; do something unique.

A couple 'tanos in a program is nice and unique; ever jump with 'tano arms (yes, Med) is too much. Show me some classic technique.

I admit it - I'm a dinosaur and a purist.
 
Last edited:

lyverbird1

Final Flight
Joined
Apr 18, 2015
I used to make a lot of skating costumes so I always look at those details.

They seem to have subsided now but there were a few years when some competitors had these “half and half” costumes. For example: the look of a coat with a lapel on one side, and a soft shirt on the other side. Even some of the women had costumes like that. Sometimes the costume was made to look like it was ripped off in the wind for that look, but it was not executed very well and looked harsh.

I also hate when instead of the illusion fabric used to mimic where skin would be shown on a “regular” dress, it's used to stick pieces of fabric on in any willy-nilly place that could never happen in a real dress. (I hope that makes sense).

As other have noted - I'm also not a fan of over the boot tights, the tights that come over the top of the boot and leave the rest of the boot exposed. Just put your footed tights into the boot and polish your boots so they look good.

General skating:

Enough of the use of arms in a layback that look like one is playing the trombone. It's been done for decades; we've seen it for decades; do something unique.

A couple 'tanos in a program is nice and unique; ever jump with 'tano arms (yes, Med) is too much. Show me some classic technique.

I admit it - I'm a dinosaur and a purist.

Big kudos for the trombone analogy!!!!
 
Top