couldn't resist commenting on this one...
I've been lurking for a while, in a depression, to be honest, but I couldn't pass this one up...
I was just thinking that, after a few more LP meltdowns, Sasha may just have nipped that problem in the bud for good...they are getting smaller and smaller (this year at Worlds wasn't exactly a meltdown...it seems as if they're going from meltdown to let down...to "get down"?:-D). And then I read Mathman's comment (Hi Mathman!) about Sasha hitting a plateau, and I agree with that as well, so I'm torn. It seems to me that every missed opportunity to make off with the gold in competition from the post SLC season to Turin may well turn out to be a dress rehearsal for the big one next February. If so, then it will have been well worth it for Sasha. Don't know if that makes much sense, but I haven't been making much sense lately, so don't mind me
It's funny because I enjoy her skating sometimes and sometimes seeing how intense her fixation on being the best in competition is (her own comments support this theory) leaves me cold, as it seems to permeate her presentation; presentation, IMO, is the element in which the sheer joy of skating should come through--maybe I mean expression, artistry, whatever, you get the picture
Anyhow, I don't think any of these skaters at this level are skating merely for the sheer joy of it, and yet striking the delicate balance between focused ambition and the illusion of effortless joy of movement seems to be the key to a great expressive--and technically successful--program. Sasha often seems, to me anyway, to be overdoing the ambition end of it, and yet this fight, this determination, served her well this year at Worlds.
As for the rest of the field, I really enjoyed Carolina's short program and I found her coltish style to be rather refreshing; I think her jumps are a seamless part of her fast, fluid skating, and I wouldn't mind seeing her make off with gold at home, if the skates she puts together are deserving of it on those nights. Shizuka will have to put herself in the frame of mind that did it for her in Dortmund; Irina's health will have to hold up; MK will have to bring it like she's never brought it before, and it seems like a challenge that she'd relish, the prospect of a dogfight for top honors (quite a departure from what she's been used to), as she clearly doesn't do well as the heavy favorite going into the Olympics.
Every one of them, by virtue of the years of hard work and dedication that it takes to be at the elite level, is deserving, IMO, but the skaters whose skating I enjoy the most are Carolina and Shizuka, and I'd throw Sasha and Michelle in there as well. I think Carolina's programs will be beautifully put together; I expect the music choices and the choreography to be original, refreshing, chosen to showcase her at her best, as was the case this year, IMO.
For all their dominance in the sport, the American ladies' music choices and choreography haven't been the most original of late; Michelle really needs to give Lori Nichol a call, as many posters have already remarked. As for Sasha, she'd do well to drop the warhorses and stretch a bit more emotionally, musically, and artistically, but I don't know if she has now (or will ever have) the emotional depth and maturity to dig that deep.
Having seen Michelle try out different things, as with Miraculous Mandarin, The Red Violin, SOTBS et al, lets me know that she's capable of it, but her lovefest with American audiences, which her disappointing SLC experience hiked up a notch (a great sympathy party, you're great, Oly gold or no), has, IMO, contributed to the complacency I see in her programs, at least as far as choreography is concerned. I may be completely wrong, but I am only expressing and airing out opinions here; feel free to rebut:-D
Best,
Sarah M
are not up to the wrath of the judges, we are left with the teenagers for the judges to choose from.
