Yulia Lipnitskaya | Page 536 | Golden Skate

Yulia Lipnitskaya

borzaya said:
Well, don't scare the people :laugh: Someone who doesn't read in Russian may not get the irony...

But Lakernik is a jerk, indeed. :disapp: He said that the program sucks and that it doesn't meet Yulia's goals and that she should change it. :rolleye: I also hope that Yulia and Urmanov have enough guts to hold their ground, as to change the program now would be madness...
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Lakernik himself said it wouldn't be wise to change the program now, but did that stop him from sprouting his s**t? Eh. :sarcasm:
 
coldblueeyes said:
Lakernik himself said it wouldn't be wise to change the program now, but did that stop him from sprouting his s**t? Eh. :sarcasm:
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Typical political doublespeak. Yulia hasn't been "at the level of tasks" for two+ years with three different free programs and three different choreographers. The problem is not the program. The important point to remember is that her recovery is the focus of preparation with Kill Bill. She chose KB after she gave up finding music that appealed more, That's actually a positive because she can focus on technique without a burning desire to express her innermost feelings. Go back a few months to Skate America, go back a few weeks to test skate. Progress is huge. She and Alexei know what is wrong and what to do about it. With enough time they expect to vanquish the once-faceless ghost (call it Bill) that made her miserable. She is confident and realistic, she talks about having enough time and tells her fans that everything will be fine. Winning is not their immediate focus, it is a more distant goal. Whatever else she wins, the Badge of Courage is already hers. Sounds like another politician with an agenda.
 
I'll never forget how Lakernik said in 2014 that Julia is a subpar Olympic champion comparing to Adelina.
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The same. Lakernik isn't clever and good man, really, I'm unlike him so much.
 
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Is there any image in figure skating more iconic?

Maybe the Tonya, Nancy thing...but I mean something inspiring...
 
Spiral said:
Thanks for the link! I'm surprised Stephane said that sometimes he needed to push Yulia out of her comfort zone, because the SP is in the lyrical style that she must be very comfortable with by now, and because she seems to enjoy trying something new every season.
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I got the feel he said it more in the lines of the overall feel of the program. While she does have a connection to lyrical programs, perhaps he wanted something specific from her program. Anyway, he's very respectful and a much nicer person than half the people that seemed to surround her. I would love them to see working together again, because I love the SP.
 
Spiral said:
Thanks for the link! I'm surprised Stephane said that sometimes he needed to push Yulia out of her comfort zone, because the SP is in the lyrical style that she must be very comfortable with by now, and because she seems to enjoy trying something new every season.
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The original melody for Leaves is slow and lyrical, but when performed in jazz idiom its character is changed. In the first part of Yulia's Leaves instruments fill in gaps of the slow vocal melody with rapid scales and broken chords. Then the melody speeds up and is syncopated (where the audience claps). The instrumental section that follows is in improvised style and is based on the harmonies of the melody, it elaborates around those harmonies using lots of notes often with only a hint of the melody. This variety of expression is very different from the stricter lyrical form of Schindler's List and Leningrad, both use repetition development instead of contrasting layers and free alterations of basic structure. Yulia's challenge with Leaves is to integrate both the slow lyrical character of the melody and the looser characteristics of jazz. This is especially difficult for anyone who has a background only in stricter lyrical music which lacks the free expression which is basic to jazz. Her previous experience with "square" lyrical music may actually have made performing Leaves harder, just as jazz is difficult for classically trained musicians. Remember how she described trying to imitate Lambiel's movement which she saw as never the same. Stylistically Leaves is as foreign to her experience as was Elvis.
 
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I think it's impressive that in the middle of all her troubles she's done a really good job of challenging herself with new styles and approaches especially in the SP. Yeah she'll always be seen by some as doing the same style but I think they've just mistaken her uniqueness for similarity. I think more so than any other skaters she truly has carved an unmistakable identity on the ice that is unlike anyone we've seen before.

I don't look down on other skaters who are more classical in their approach or mimic their predecessors but I definitely recognize the natural style that truly seems to be born of her nature.

I hope next year she and Stephene work together on her greatest FS ever and she has a great Olympic year.
 
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Sam-Skwantch said:
I think it's impressive that in the middle of all her troubles she's done a really good job of challenging herself with new styles and approaches especially in the SP.
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This is part of the Great Mystery. In Feb. 2016 after Tyrol, Yulia said during an interview: "My plans for the season were more grandiose, than I really have now." (best translation https://vk.com/topic-31036833_30065910?offset=1200 ). This is the clearest insight into her state of mind at the beginning of her work with Zueva that I have seen. She was optimistic that she and Eteri and Marina would succeed. She and Marina selected Elvis because she hoped to go to Boston. She didn't appreciate the extent of her troubles until Skate America. She always did well with the short programs despite problems with R&J, Leningrad and Kill Bill. We might have lost her had she not been buoyed by her success with SPs. The FS problems surfaced only in competitions, not practices, so she got a false sense of security. Yulia couldn't understand what was happening. Alexei told an interviewer "For a long time Yuila has been carrying a colossal psychological burden, but after coming to Sochi, she warmed up a bit" ( http://tass.ru/sport/2559713 ). He seems to get it (whatever "it" is) and the results are amazing. I have yet to see an interview that tells us about selection of Lambiel (who suggested Leaves). Alexei did say "Earlier in skating Julia was more fuss, bustle. Somehow it was too small and girlish. For me, women's figure skating has always meant booming, smooth, some hovering over the ice." ( http://www.sport-express.ru/se-vele...at-chto-ona-pytaetsya-pokazat-na-ldu-1043961/ ). Yulia's summer dance coach Ekaterina Rubleva was part of his solution, and it may be that Lambiel's graceful, free style was also.
 
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Sam-Skwantch said:
I hope next year she and Stephene work together on her greatest FS ever and she has a great Olympic year.
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Based on the youtube fan interview and Leaves I am 90% in agreement, Sam. The long list of pluses includes: Lambiel puts skaters first, music second and his ego last; explores music with skaters to increase sensitivity, does not command skaters; focuses on feeling that the music creates in the skater; leaves detail of gestures to skaters; offers music for skaters to select; great personality and fine teacher; likes and respects Yulia, Yulia cooked a lasagna dinner for him; experienced; Leaves is a success. Lambiel is the perfect match for Yulia's method: find music she likes, immerse herself in it, then project her feelings back onto the music during performance. The role of choreographer is limited with Yulia, which is fine with Lambiel.

So what's not to like? My one reservation, can he work outside jazz? Can the man who loves to improvise also do well with SL? Yulia's best work has been Megapolis, SL and Leningrad. Yes Leningrad, the masterpiece that was not to be. I found this video when thinking about this comment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0o-d8e9uVQ I recommend it to everyone, you owe it to yourselves to finally see and hear Leningrad. This is the only video where you can hear the music properly, the usual ice arena noise is replaced with an edited studio recording in full rich sound. Leningrad depends on the quality of sound for its affect (for example, the cold hollow sound of the piano at the beginning expresses loneliness as much as does the melody). Good speakers are important, if you have a pair of headphones that is best. In the first 25 seconds we see an ideal union of movement and music--speed, gesture, even dynamics match beautifully. In the final minute and 20 seconds (from 2:35) Yulia speaks from the heart of the music. We see her waltz with her sweetheart, fly with him on the wings of love, then lose him when she is jolted out of her daydream with that wrong note at 3:19. Camera work is excellent.

Yulia's Leningrad is an especially sophisticated interpretation of sophisticated music. It depends on classical structure and a very solid message. Jazz rarely combines these qualities. Maybe the best current solution is Lambiel for jazz, Marina for the rest.

Here is Yulia like I hadn't seen her before: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=675JscLYJq4
 
sjid said:
Yulia's Leningrad is an especially sophisticated interpretation of sophisticated music. It depends on classical structure and a very solid message. Jazz rarely combines these qualities. Maybe the best current solution is Lambiel for jazz, Marina for the rest.
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Leningrad was a really beautiful program :love:, I never understood why people prefered Elvis. Too bad she never skated it at 100%. And with her dress and hair it seemed like watching skating of another time, very cool.
 
chapis said:
Leningrad was a really beautiful program :love:, I never understood why people prefered Elvis. Too bad she never skated it at 100%. And with her dress and hair it seemed like watching skating of another time, very cool.
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I suspect it is because Leningrad is written in an old fashioned style. Most people don't listen to music that way, they don't have a background that helps them relate to it. William Joseph is a classically trained pianist. Leningrad didn't come out of nowhere. Here is its other parent: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idbaPu1gDPg Yulia's performance is Leningrad's beautiful twin.
 
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I talk for myself, of course, but Leningrad was not my favorite program, especially those early versions. By the Russian Cup, which I think was her best outing last season, it was barely a dilapidated pieece of what could it be, but there was something about that program that just didn't sit that well with me. I think it's because she's a lyrical skater, and everyone that worked with her probably thought it was her only way of skating, but it had too many notes from SL, and even things from RJ, and sometimes it almost felt to me like and afterthought of a program.

Wasn't it a good program? It was, but maybe in some years she would be more comfortable with it, even this season. These past years she's been losing that innocence from childhood, and Leningrad felt too mature for her back then. Maybe that's why I like her programs this year. One has a more mature mood, even if it doesn't force her to feel older than she is, and another program let's her enjoy the music, and has a mysterious aura, almost sexy at times, and she should definitely play more with that.
 
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